Inside ML

Will you let me be your servant, let me be as Christ to you;
Pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant too. 

It’s not always easy to maintain a firm sense of identity, not in a church seemingly more committed to creating hierarchical boundaries than to promoting unity. Richard Gilliard, whose “Servant Song” (© 1977 Scripture in Song) is quoted here, captures the essence of what we are called to be as servants even in the midst of conflict and division. Answering the call to ministry is really the easy part. Having the humility to be a servant and welcoming the grace that allows others to serve us is the hard part. 

We are pilgrims on a journey, we are travelers on the road,
we are here to help each other walk the mile and bear the load. 

Baptismal identity calls us to walk with one another on a unique journey, in the company of those who seek God. In this issue, Gail Morris offers ways to honor that identity while maintaining the balance of all initiation events of the Lent season. 

I will bear the Christ-light for you in the night-time of your fear,
I will stretch my hand out to you, speak the peace you long to hear. 

Bearing the Christ-light and speaking not merely peaceful words but peace itself challenges us to an identity that is transformative. Gil Ostdiek, in the fifth installment of ML’s Liturgical Literacy series, explores the many dimensions of liturgy beyond words. In “Not by Words Alone,” he invites us to reflect with him on the ways that liturgy speaks to us in the language of space, time, enacted symbols, and silence. 

I will weep when you are weeping, when you laugh I’ll laugh with you.
I will share your joy and sorrow, ’til we’ve seen this journey through. 

Staying in the moment all the way to the end of the journey is the challenge here. Marie Therese Archambault shares some of the Native American imagery used in home Masses that inculturates and connects lived experience and history with ritual events. Paul Wisniewski offers a unique perspective on prison ministry, reflecting on the ways of maintaining and communicating identity in an often hostile and volatile environment. Paul Turner gives us a tour of the revised Roman Missal. With resources like this, perhaps we can avoid the anger and hurt that has so often accompanied ritual change in the past. Then our liturgy may be the song of praise we offer as we wait for the eternal liturgy to begin. 

When we sing to God in heaven, we shall find such harmony,
born of all we’ve known together of Christ’s love and agony. 
ML

What do YOU Think?
Send an e-mail to ML Editor or post an entry on the ML Current Issue Discussion Board. (All submissions become the property of RPI and may be edited for length.)