Paragraphs 44 and 45 of Pope Francis’s apostolic letter Desiderio Desideravi speak of the importance of symbols and how we need to understand and embrace them. The Pope writes in paragraph 44:

The task [becoming capable of symbols] is not easy because modern man has become illiterate, no longer able to read symbols; it is almost as if their existence is not even suspected. … To have lost the capacity to grasp the symbolic value of the body and of every creature renders the symbolic language of the Liturgy almost inaccessible to the modern mentality. And yet there can be no question of renouncing such language.

In paragraph 45 he says:

So, the question I want to pose is how can we become once again capable of symbols? How can we again know how to read them and be able to live them? We know well that the celebration of the sacraments, by the grace of God, is efficacious in itself (ex opere operato), but this does not guarantee the full engagement of people without an adequate way of their placing themselves in relation to the language of the celebration. A symbolic “reading” is not a mental knowledge, not the acquisition of concepts, but rather a living experience.

As I read these paragraphs I asked myself what symbols are there? Am I even aware of what all the symbols are that we experience during Mass? Do I know what they symbolize?

Some symbols are easy to understand, others not so much. The beauty of the liturgy is that it uses simple elements of our daily lives and turns them in worship symbols. The art and architecture, the furnishings, the objects (vessels, books, etc.), the clothing (ours and the ministers), the people, and — as Anne pointed out two weeks ago — our gestures.

This is a reminder to me to be more aware, to experience the Mass. I need to take one symbol each time I participate in Mass and become more aware of and appreciate it on a deeper level to help me encounter God more fully in the Mass.