The Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time – October 5, 2025
When I was eight, I joined my parish choir because I was certain it would lead me to stardom! I eventually learned that true liturgical ministers do not seek gratitude for serving God’s people but merely say, “We have done what we were obliged to do.” None of us is perfect at this, but thankfully, the Spirit uses the imperfect for Christ’s mission nonetheless.
However, sometimes our assemblies want to show gratitude for the work we do. This is often expressed through spontaneous applause at the end of Mass. In light of today’s Gospel, should we try to stop this?
Embodied worship requires an embodied response.
It’s only normal to express thanks for work well done. When the assembly wants to applaud, I have found it better as a music minister to simply applaud them right back to show them that the work of the liturgy is one we share together done for God’s glory alone.
Still, there is another aspect to applause that the Black Catholic community has taught me. That is, embodied worship requires an embodied response. These communities usually do not applaud at the end of Mass but during it whenever the movement of the Spirit is so palpable within them that it must be expressed. Here, the gratitude is clearly directed toward God who has served us abundantly. And why would anyone want to hinder that?
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