Holy Family Blog: Why do Catholics do that?

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"Smells & Bells"
During the 70's - 90's we stripped our worship of many things that were quite distinctively "Catholic" in American Christian worship. Sadly, along with leaving these things behind we left behind the sense of wonder and awe that ought to accompany the worship of God. Of course, maybe that is part of the reason that these things went away. As we will discuss later, with regards to music, we made a sad transition from worshiping God to celebrating ourselves, with a nod to God - and doing it as quickly as possible.

In the last few years you will have noticed that bells have not only returned to Catholic worship, but their use has increased even in those parishes where they never left. So, why are bells used? What do they signify?

It turns out that bells are very helpful. First of all, they recall and focus our attention at a time when something important is occurring. The first bell, which has returned after a long absence in most parishes, calls us to attention at the epiclesis. The epiclesis is the "laying on of hands", that ancient sign of calling down the Holy Spirit on some person or thing. Thus, at the epiclesis in the Mass, the Holy Spirit is called down upon the gifts of bread and wine as we implore God to take these gifts and turn them into the living Body & Blood of His Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. That is certainly something we would want to be attentive to, especially since we are called to unite our thoughts, prayers, and intention with that of the priest who offers these prayers on behalf of us all.

The bells are heard again at the consecration of the bread and then of the wine. These bells call us to adore Christ who has again come among us in living flesh and blood. It is because the host and cup are now the Body & Blood of Christ that there are three rings of the bell.

Read the whole thing at Holy Family Blog - Arcadia

Great article Father!

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