As we work our way through our Lenten preaching series, "A Well Examen-ed Lent", each week I will take the particular stage of the Examen prayer that we are looking at, and explore how it relates to our prayer together at Mass. - JR
One of the aims of Ignatian spirituality is to find God in all things. We are conditioned for some reason to see God as distant, but nothing could be more un-Christian. God doesn't just exist outside our reality, God breaks into it constantly, in every conceivable way, most notably becoming flesh through and in Jesus. It's our mission to seek out and reveal God to others.
When we gather together for our liturgical celebrations such as Mass, God breaks into our reality in multiple ways, but the church identifies four clear means that God is present to us. These are helpful to identify because they give us concrete places to discover God's presence when we gather for worship. They are most clearly expressed in the beginning of paragraph 7 from the Second Vatican Council document "The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy":
To accomplish so great a work (the salvation of humankind), Christ is always present in His Church, especially in her liturgical celebrations. He is present in the sacrifice of the Mass, not only in the person of His minister, "the same now offering, through the ministry of priests, who formerly offered himself on the cross", but especially under the Eucharistic species. By His power He is present in the sacraments, so that when a man baptizes it is really Christ Himself who baptizes. He is present in His word, since it is He Himself who speaks when the holy scriptures are read in the Church. He is present, lastly, when the Church prays and sings, for He promised: "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:20).
The first one is probably the thing we all think of. Christ is present in the "Eucharistic species", i.e., the consecrated bread and wine, which we believe become his body and blood. One could spend a lifetime (and many have) contemplating this mystery!
The second way Christ is present is through those who minister the sacraments, especially priests and deacons. So, for instance, when a priest or deacon baptizes a child, it is as if Christ himself baptized the child. When a priest offers me absolution in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, it is as if Christ himself forgave my sins.
The third way the church identifies Christ's presence is in the spoken word, when the scriptures of the Bible are proclaimed during the liturgy. This is God speaking directly to us, in this time and place.
Finally, the fourth way that Christ is present is in the gathered assembly, praying and singing together. The liturgy is not a performance by the priest or altar servers or choir. It is all of our responsibility to participate together with our brothers and sisters to pray and sing to be Christ present for one another.
As we reflect on the second part of the Examen prayer this week, aware that God is looking at us with love and concern at each moment, let us be attentive to the presence of Christ when we gather together for liturgy.