The homily that follows the readings, given by either a priest or deacon, is meant to apply the meaning of these ancient texts to our present age and life circumstances. Paragraphs 65 and 66 of The General Instruction on the Roman Missal give these directives regarding the homily: that it should be an explanation of some aspect of the readings from Sacred Scripture or of another text from the Mass of the day, “taking into account both the mystery being celebrated and the particular needs of the listeners.” This means that the homilist has the responsibility of making either the Scripture or liturgical text meaningful and applicable to the lives of the particular group of people assembled. In a parish where there is a great diversity of ages and even cultures represented, this makes for quite a challenge! I hope you’ll forgive us if not every homily resonates in quite the same way! The homily is then followed by some sacred silence, to allow both the Word of God and the words of the homilist to be digested. We then move on to profess our faith, generally using the Nicene Creed. This expanded form of the Apostle’s Creed came out of the Church Councils of Nicea (325AD) and Constantinople (381AD) which made clarifications to our understanding of Jesus’ humanity and divinity as well as the relationship of the Holy Spirit to the Father and Son. The liturgy also provides for the option of reciting the Apostle’s Creed, especially during the Easter Season. Whichever Creed is recited at Mass, we once again affirm our core beliefs that we ourselves professed or were professed on our behalf at Baptism, and reaffirmed once again before being Confirmed. The Creed is then followed by the Universal Prayer (aka General Intercessions or Prayer of the Faithful.) These prayers are composed by those preparing the liturgy on any given Sunday, and are meant to include the general needs of the Church and world (hence the name). Although we may remember particular individuals or intentions at a given Mass, more properly these prayers focus on communal needs, such as for our Church and its leadership, our public authorities and for the salvation of the world, the general needs of the community assembled for prayer, those burdened by any particular difficulty, especially for the poor and the sick, and for those who have died. With the conclusion of the Universal Prayer, the Liturgy of the Word is completed.