Why Holy Qurbana is not attractive to some people
Mathews Mar Barnabas Metropolitan

Our Liturgy is supposed to be the most beautiful liturgy in the whole Christendom by many. But for some it is not attractive. The following are some of the reasons : 1) Lack of proper preparation to participate in the Holy Qurbana 2) The failure to see our Lord’s sacrifice in the Holy Qurbana 3) Lack of repentance 4) Lack of thankfulness to God and 5) Lack of understanding that self surrender is the main goal of Holy Qurbana.

1. Repentance

Let us think about the need of repentance. Since there is the tendency in most of us to find excuse and justification for all kinds of sins, we are prone to feel that we are all sinless. There are sins of commission and sins of omission. The sin of commission is doing what we should not do and the sin of omission is omitting what we should do. It is also a sin of omission when we don’t do the needful in the proper way. No one is free from this.
In order to realize our sinfulness, we have to find out whether we have the bad things which we condemn in others. We find an example for this in the Holy Bible. Prophet Nathan told king David that there was a rich man who caught hold of the lamb of a poor neighbor and killed it to make a dinner for a guest. The king became furious condemning the rich man. Then the prophet said that the king himself was that sinner. Thus the king realized his sinfulness and repented. In a similar way, the Holy Spirit has to convince us of our sinfulness in our private meditation.
Are we not pained to see the sinfulness of our children? Then how much more will God be pained by our sins as God loves us more than a father or mother?
When we find any deformation in our children or lack of brain development, are we not pained? In a similar way God must be pained to see the lack of spiritual growth in us.
Just think of the parable of the Pharisee and the publican who went to pray in the temple of God. The Pharisee praised God for his good life. He never thought of his sinfulness. Hence he went out empty handed. On the other hand, the publican, standing far off and even not daring to look up, beat his breast and prayed, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner” (St. Lk. 18:13). He was justified.
In the Holy Qurbana we say a long prayer for the forgiveness of sins as follows. “Therefore O Thou who dost absolve and sanctify, who dost forgive and wipe away our misdeeds and who dost not remember our evils…”
In the Holy Qurbana, again and again we say kurielaison which means, “Lord have mercy.” In Malayalam in some places, the word blessing is used, instead of mercy. The word mercy is the most proper one as it shows our unworthiness and helplessness. It also shows humility. We pray, “Merciful Lord have mercy upon us and help us” instead of praying for blessings.

2. The Spirit of Thankfulness

St. Paul says, “Give thanks in all circumstances” (I Thess. 5:17)

The air that we breathe, the water that we drink, and the food that we eat, are given by God, without discrimination whether we are good or bad. The food is given through plants and animals. Besides this, our body and mind are working miraculously through the power given by God in creation. God has given the power to invent scientific technologies. He has also given us the power to discriminate good and evil, and the power to accept good. God brings good out of all sufferings, provided we surrender to God’s will. For all these we have to thank God or rather do the things pleasing Him. This means that we have to love one another as He has loved us (St. Jn. 15:12).

3. A Prayer of self-surrender in the Holy Qurbana

“May we offer praise and thanks to Thee, Thy Only-begotten Son, and Thy Holy Spirit, now and always, and forever and ever.” This prayer is said by the chief celebrant again and again in the Holy Qurbana. To this the congregation responds saying “Amen” and makes this prayer their own.
To offer praise means to lead a godly life, which will make people, praise God seeing the wonderful change in our lives. Our Lord says, “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and give glory to your Father in heaven” (St. Jn. 5:16).
When we say, “Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, it is our surrender to a life like the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We see the love of the Son in Rom. 5:8, “But God showed his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ(Son) died for us.” We find the climax of the love of the Holy Spirit in Rom 5:5 “God’s love has been poured into our hearts, through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
It is good to have a few moments of silence, before the beginning and after the end of the public celebration of the Holy Qurbana.

Conclusion

We must visualize in the Holy Qurbana the love of our Lord in His sacrifice for our salvation. We should be filled with irresistible love for Him as the Psalmist says, “What shall I render to the Lord, for all His bounty to me?” (Ps. 116:12). This feeling of thankfulness should make Holy Qurbana a dynamic center in our lives. When we make a deeper study of the Holy Qurbana, try to lead a life of repentance, and thankfulness, make special preparation before attending Holy Qurbana and participate in the Holy Qurbana meditatively, our participation in the Holy Qurbana will become more deep and power producing.