Some time ago I visited a couple of my friends, a family of mixed nationalities. Both of them spoke French, but I didn’t. The wife and I spoke Polish, but not the husband. He and I spoke English, a language she didn’t speak. So despite knowing three different languages, we didn’t have any common one to be able to chat and to be understood at the same time. So by using mime and hand gestures it seemed to be a solution for this kind of problem. Not so. In my home country two fingers stretched and the hand upwards means ‘victory’, and it’s an entirely positive sign. The same gesture here can be very rude, if the wrong side of the hand faces the other person; I know that from my own experience…
If we think about it, practically all our means of communication use coded signs and signals. We spontaneously use and understand them, taking it for granted, because we have been learning them since we were born. We can only realise how complicated the whole system is when we come across something knew, something ‘coded’ in a way unfamiliar to us. Think about different alphabets, or different languages. A few of you have Polish surnames; you’ve kept their original spelling, but not the pronunciation. The same letters of the Latin alphabet are used in the Polish and English languages, but they code different sounds. Our means of communication are complicated.
Humankind has developed (and in fact this process has never stopped and never will) these symbolic or coded ways in order to share information about material and abstract matters in faster, more convenient and efficient ways. E.g. a friend of mine was able to use a written recipe to make a delicious cake on her own rather than waiting for me to come along and show her how to do it. By coding information we actually can describe indescribable realities. And here we touch base about the whole set of words, signs, symbols and action that make up this very celebration, the Holy Mass. Most of us automatically decode it and use it as a vehicle to the much greater spiritual divine reality. While attending Mass we reach far beyond these repetitive words, symbols and actions. But sadly, for the increasing number of people this is only a meaningless, dull and sometimes superstitiously magical ritual. There’s no need to get upset about it. Their perception is like that because they are unable to decode it, to read it, to understand it, and therefore unable to get involved. They get bored instead.
A couple of years ago I went down to Edinburgh to watch Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ produced and staged by a Polish theatre from Warsaw. The whole play was in Polish, while most of the audience were English speakers. The latter had roughly known the plot, but as the play had been modernised and changed, guessing wasn’t the best way of watching it for three hours. The production company had found a simple but effective solution: subtitles displayed along with the play. The mix of the audience’s knowledge of the plot and new technology helped to decode, to understand and to get involved in watching.
As tonight we are celebrating the institution of the Eucharist (another coded name for Mass) let’s think about two things. Firstly, how much do I understand of this ritual I’m partaking in? Do I get in touch with the divine through it? When your answer is positive (though obviously limited) you can think about finding ways to help others – your family or friends – to learn the meaning of Mass and to find it a deeply spiritual, enriching and meaningful experience. This can be our labour of love.