How the Divine Liturgy helps me become more childlike

“Kiss icon! Kiss icon!” squeals my 2-year-old. She lunges forward and touches her lips to the icon of Mary and Jesus before us in the line for Communion. Other children — and adults — do the same. But my daughter, who practically demands to “kiss icon” on a daily basis, is the only one I notice. I see the joy in her face as she admires the dazzling blues and golds of our small Byzantine Catholic church, see her recognition at the hymns we repeat each Sunday. To my daughter, church is a core part of her life.

Our family is Byzantine Catholic, meaning that we are fully a part of the Catholic Church but worship a bit differently than you would at your typical Roman Catholic parish. We celebrate the Divine Liturgy, an ancient liturgy that is nearly all sung acapella. Our church doesn’t have pews, as we stand for nearly the entire liturgy. Icons, rather than statues, adorn our spaces.

Something I’ve always loved about the East (meaning the faith of Byzantine Catholics or of Eastern Orthodox Christians) is how deeply sensorial it is. As you enter our church, your eyes take in a mosaic of color, a room filled with icons on nearly every open wallspace and a painted blue ceiling with the Christ Pantocrator, which is a large hand-painted icon of Jesus. Your ears hear how nearly every prayer is sung, both from the priest and the congregants, and even the Sunday readings are chanted. You smell the incense before you walk through the door of the church, and you are often anointed with holy oil at the end of the liturgy or blessed with the touch of the priest’s crucifix.

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