Homily

Recently someone told me that they wanted to bring some Latin rite friends to Liturgy but thought it would be best to wait until Lent is over. I thought about that for a second or two and then I asked, “Is it because of the Anaphora of St. Basil?” Yes. It’s long. It’s really long. So let me say that I get it. I really do get it. It can be difficult for us modern people to stand through it, so I thought I would make a few points today that could perhaps help a little.

The anaphora contains beautiful language, words we do not often use, such as immutable, boundless, revered, regeneration, upsurge, tenacious. There is a richness of words we should pay attention to, especially since we live in a time when most people respond to any statement, event, or situation with the word “awesome” and most of the time it is used for something that is absolutely not awesome. Let the language lift us up from our daily routine and point our eyes and ears towards heaven.

The anaphora contains great images. In the 4th paragraph Jesus is spoken of, described in 16 different ways. And even those are not enough to adequately define all that He is. Each one of those descriptions is worthy of spending some time to think about and meditate on. How about these words: “Holy are You; truly most holy! Immeasurable is the majesty of your holiness.” Immeasurable! So great that it cannot be confined, it cannot be contained, we cannot see its beginning, we cannot find its end. His holiness is majestic and immeasurable. As with so many of the descriptions used in the anaphora, it is worthy of our attention.

How about this image: “Descending by the cross into the realm of Death that He might fulfill all things through Himself. He loosed the bonds of Death.” Jesus traveled on the road that is the cross, with all its pain, torture and life-ending brutality, and He took that road to travel to the kingdom of Death, to fulfill all things—because there was this enormous cavity, this horrific canyon that separated us from God, that kept us apart from being able to share in His divine life as God intended when He created man. Death is that canyon which must be filled in so that we can draw near to God once again, and so that the power of Death to distract us from God loses its grip on all those who believe in Christ Jesus. He fills in that great hole so that no one need be stuck in the kingdom of death, but all who choose can find their path to God. We’re told that He has harvested, gathered together all the righteous dead and He stands at their head as the first to come back from the dead, for He is indeed the Lord of Life.

I think it’s a very beautiful image. Now I want to contrast that with one of the gold miners on the TV program, “Gold Rush.” He only has three expressions that he can use to describe any situation. If it is a positive situation, he says, “We are going to kick butt.” If it is a negative situation, he says, “We got our butts kicked.” For variety, he sometimes substitutes the “a” word for butt. And what is his 3rd expression? “Awesome.” And of course he’s from Oregon. He seems to have a vocabulary of about 100 words, I’m not trying to say we are as equally impoverished (do you like that word?), but we live in a world today that often has little regard for the richness of the images we find in the anaphora, and where language is used only in the most pedestrian and utilitarian ways. “Just tell me yes or no, good or bad or awesome and let’s get on with it, okay? Where the phrase, “Let’s do this thing,” is considered poetic. Let us pay attention to the images we will be reading in that prayer.

Friday, the check-out guy at the supermarket, in the new style of customer intimacy, asked me if I had any plans for the weekend. I answered him, “No, not really.” And thinking about the sermon made me realize my mistake, and one that I’ve made like this many, many times. What I should have said was, “Yes! I’ll be in church worshipping God, and thanking Christ for all that He has done for me.” And I’ve made up my mind to say something like this in the future every time. Like the anaphora, I want to leave a good and positive image in the minds of these store clerks and bank tellers. I want to share this wealth. The prayer starts out, “It is truly proper and just and befitting the magnificence of Your holiness to praise you, to sing to you to bless You, to worship You, to thank You, the only true God . . . . .” That is a wealth worth sharing.

There is a progression in the anaphora prayer. It begins with the praise of our Heavenly Father and then moves on to speak of His gift to us in Christ. Next it reminds us of our creation, our fall from grace, the work of God in the Old Testament, and then the Incarnation of Christ. Next we speak of Jesus’ saving work, His death and resurrection and ascension, and how He left us this Holy Sacrifice so that we might partake of Him under the forms of bread and wine. And then finally the last sections are all about praying for the needs of the world, the living, the dead, the clergy, the laity, the poor and the sick and the leaders of our country, the needs of every home and family. Each section starts with, “Remember. . .” Remember, remember, remember O God. . . all of these, all of these and bring them life and grace.

Yes, the anaphora is kind of long but I hope we can find within it words of praise or thanks, expressions of hope or trust, requests for ourselves and our loved ones, statements of faith and belief in God. Who loves us, descriptions of life and of glory—I hope we can find within it not simply a whole bunch of words but that we enter into it as much as we are able because although I say the words it is only on your behalf that I pray them. It is our prayer; it is our anaphora. And I know it’s very easy to be distracted by things out there, or things in here but I urge you to do your best to pray this prayer in some way, in some thought, in some reverent gesture as your prayer too.