When Noah and his wildlife companions exited the ark, the ancient patriarch built an altar on the spot and offered sacrifice to God in thanksgiving for his deliverance. When God spared Abraham’s son Isaac from a heartrending death, this patriarch built an altar of sacrifice commemorating God’s mercy toward both father and son. When Jacob encountered the powerful presence of God on his journey to secure a suitable wife, he yet again built an altar and offered a sacrifice on the hallowed spot famously professing, “Truly, this is the House of God and the Gate of Heaven!” Altars commemorated Divine activity.
Moses erected an altar on Mt. Sinai after God’s first appearance and again, at God’s direction, an altar was placed in the Meeting Tent during the desert sojourn as afterwards one would be placed in the cedar temple of King David. Solomon’s renowned temple housed an altar which lasted until the Babylonian captivity. After the return from the Babylon, Judas Maccabeus replaced this old altar which had been defiled by pagan sacrifices. These old profaned altar stones remained on the Temple Mount, “until there should come a prophet to tell what to do with them.” Even old altars deserved respect.
Altars have been central to authentic worship, both Jewish and Christian, since the dawn of revelation. Older readers will no doubt remember the fine altars of their childhood churches. Towering marble framework often enshrined statues and highlighted a veiled tabernacle which itself rested on a shelf-like projection about a foot deep on which the business of the Mass could be transacted. This shelf was the actual altar, designated by a cross in each corner and a relic, usually of a martyr, centrally inserted. Often the veiled chalice, the missal, and prayer cards rested on this altar slab. The signs and symbols could be overwhelming.
A document during the Second Vatican Council, Inter Oecumenici, published in 1964, offered guidance on restoring the prominence of the altar itself in Catholic worship: “The main altar should preferably be freestanding, to permit walking around it and celebration facing the people. Its location in the place of worship should be truly central so that the attention of the whole congregation naturally focuses there.” (#91) Again in 2002, the General Instruction on the Roman Missal (#299) indicated that the Catholic altar should be readily visible and handy: “The altar should be built separate from the wall, in such a way that it is possible to walk around it easily and that Mass can be celebrated at it facing the people, which is desirable wherever possible. Moreover, the altar should occupy a place where it is truly the center toward which the attention of the whole congregation of the faithful naturally turns. The altar should usually be fixed and dedicated.”
For the first thousand years of Church history, Mass was regularly celebrated on such free standing altars, as liturgical historian and Anglican Benedictine Dom Gregory Dix has pointed out. During the early Middle Ages, as the reception of Holy Communion sadly diminished and private adoration of the reserved Sacrament increased, the Church’s altars become more and more platforms for a splendid tabernacle or a grand monstrance. The elevation of the Host seemingly became more important than the distribution of the Host. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament overwhelmed popular appreciation of the Holy Sacrifice, obscuring the full breadth of the Catholic Mass. The years since Vatican II have been a struggle to restore the acceptance of the Mass as a sacrificial meal, liturgically renewing the work of Christ at the Last Supper, actively engaging the worshiping community, and sacramentally nourishing the faithful for their work in the world.
Popular acceptance of the altar of sacrifice as the dominant liturgical feature in every Catholic Church is clearly affirmed by the longtime ceremonial practices of the Church. Altars are blessed with the same Sacred Chrism that seals the newly baptized, the new confirmed and newly ordained. The priest kisses the altar at the start and at the conclusion of every Mass recognizing that the altar powerfully represents Christ. The altar is incensed at solemn Masses again affording this unique furnishing special reverence. In some grand churches a baldachino or canopy might be built high over the altar again highlighting its importance. The Catholic Church rightly adores the sacramental Presence of Christ on her altars and the Church must dutifully and joyfully accept the challenge that his Divine Presence initiates and deserves. Accordingly the Church’s altars on which this sacramental transformation occurs and around which the Church begins her mission deserve high reverence as well!