8. The Entrance Procession

• To properly understand the procession with which Mass begins we need to call to mind this reality:  this world isn’t all we get. We are just passing through, we are sojourners, travelers, not settlers in this world.  There is no better reminder that we have no permanent home in this world, than the reality of death.  The words of the Bible and our Sacred Liturgy affirm this truth with an accent on Hope.  The basic message of faith is that Christ has conquered death, by going to death himself and destroying it.  We sojourners have nothing to fear!

• The Procession at Mass may simply seem like an “arbitrary” way to start our celebration, as if it is just an action we do to accompany the music.  In truth, the Procession of the priest and ministers down the main aisle of Church is an important symbol of the idea that “we are just passing through.”  If our Promised Land were really a physical place on Earth, we might form a caravan just as the Israelites did when they followed Moses in the desert.  At the head of our Caravan would be the sign of our salvation, the Cross of Christ.    We know that it is through the Cross of Christ that we are saved.

• As it is, our Promised Land is not a place on Earth, but a supernatural reality outside of space and time, the Kingdom of Heaven.  Nevertheless, life still has the character of a “sojourn” or a “Just passing through.”  We begin Mass with a procession to symbolize this.  The Priest and ministers follow a Cross down the aisle to remind us that this is what our true life is.  It is a life on the move, and not a life meant to settle-for, or settle-in the world.

• We also include candles in a procession, on special solemnities or feasts, to indicate that “who” we follow is the light.  And that at the end of our journey is the light of God pure and holy light.

• If incense is included for a special solemnity or feast, it also becomes part of our procession.  One meaning of incense is to symbolize prayer and sacrifices rising up to God, (in a sense, it makes our prayers visible to us).  We do not make our journey without constantly praying for the help of God’s Grace.  The procession Ends with the priest’s entrance into the Sanctuary, and the veneration of the Altar.  Likewise, our faith journey is to end in the presence of God, in the heavenly sanctuary.

• The veneration of the Altar, is the recognition of what is about to happen on that consecrated table . . .the Lord will become truly present in the form of spiritual food to sustain us on our journey. Jesus Christ is the New Manna…the Bread of Life for this Procession toward the Kingdom of Heaven.