Stand Up

I was paging through my Magnificat during Zahm-Cavanaugh Emmaus Monday night, and I came across a startlingly beautiful bit of text that jarred me a bit.

The prescribed Gospel Acclamation verse for Sunday, November 14th (33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time) is, "Stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand."

The phrase "at hand" has kicked me around a bunch in life, especially as I dig into my thesis research on the Kingdom of God and the complexities of the idea of the kingdom being "at hand". On a simple level, it means happening and present but in progress, implying a lack of completion or fulfillment.

In this case, I understood it to be a case more so of incompleteness on my (our) part. The Word is there, being proclaimed in the mass, the words of everlasting life. However, we kind of casually or inattentively let it wash over us, grabbing a nugget of wisdom from the homily or maybe straight complaining about it.

This acclamation is a beautifully stark and plain reminder of the reality that kinda really jarred me from my daze. Unfortunately, our conversation had gotten away from the readings before us at Emmaus, but I am hanging on to this beck and call.

We stand at the time of the Gospel reading to elevate our focus and attention and sacramentally demonstrate the high truth proclaimed therein. I think it's a sweet way to refocus after 10 minutes of sitting and listening. As long as this idea stays fresh, I think I'll be much less likely to lean on the back row of the risers up in the loft on Sundays or hesitant to lean on the pew or shuffle my feet as I acclaim the Gospel.

The Gospel Acclamation can become such a mechanistic kind of thing, especially as the mass parts settle on using the Celtic Alleluia week-in, week-out--a beautiful setting but one that lends itself to absent-minded recitation after so many uses. This is a pretty dang sweet snap-out-of-all-that text for us to have.

Often times, we bow our heads and close our eyes to enter a space of quiet deeper within and seek prayer there. In the case of the Gospel and its acclamation, it is an opportunity to be communal and enter the public space of the Church and its celebration of the Word and Eucharist.

Stand erect.
Raise your head.
Your redemption is at hand.