I have tried in this article to exhort my readers to do everything in their power to become engaged in an “intelligent” worship of our God. For our worship to be intelligent, we must be mindful of the prayers that we say, intend the prayers to be an expression of our own thoughts and intentions, and become fully engaged in the ritual in which we participate. This means that we have a sense of what the actions of the Liturgy mean and then, cognizant of their meaning and desire to make them represent before God what we truly intend.

Less this sound too ephemeral, let me try to express it in a much more mundane fashion. The main   actions of the Liturgy are intended to have us join with Christ in offering our lives to the Father in thanksgiving for the gift of life.  We must think about the bread and wine, since they are the symbols of life, as representing us. We must, together with Jesus, offer these gifts to the Father, offer our lives to the Father.

The gifts, however, that represent life are only made possible when we are in “union with” others. Remember that many grains of wheat and many grapes must be crushed together to form bread and wine. We cannot make bread out of one single grain head of wheat or wine out of one grape. Many grain heads of wheat and many grapes must be ground together in order to make bread and wine. Therefore, the bread and wine that we use at the Liturgy only becomes a true symbol of life when we are in “union” with one another. This, I believe, is truly a very important concept. We must make every effort to be in “harmony” and “love” with the others who worship with us. In fact during the Liturgy we pray: “Let us truly love one another so that with one mind we may profess.” When we are not in harmony with those we worship with, we cannot truly profess believe in God Who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Again, I share this not because I think we are not in union with those with whom we pray, but, rather, to   remind us to think about it when we pray the Liturgy. When we think about this, our worship takes on a whole new dimension. We are called to truly pray for one another. In have this intention, we truly become Church.

The Divine Liturgy is not a personal devotion. It is communal prayer and we must think about it in this way.