Have you ever heard these kinds of comments or said them yourself?

Have you ever heard these kinds of comments or said them yourself? Mass is so boring! I don t get anything out of it! Nobody seems to be excited to be at Mass. I don t really understand what s going on at Mass anyway! All too often we hear these and other complaints about participating at Mass. The fact is that when we don t know the meaning of the gestures, symbols, and prayers, it is hard to appreciate how significant the Mass is for each of us. If we get distracted by the spirit of apathy around us and listen to poor lectoring and flat or disappointing homilies; to say nothing of, choirs or cantors who really don t inspire us to turn to God, the incredible miracle of what is transpiring on the altar will indeed pass us right by! At Mass, the Bread of Life is ours for the taking and we simply don t perceive this Jesus, who is the gift of the Father that is being made available to us week after week or even more often if we choose! In this presentation on the Mass, we explain why the Mass is so significant and how it came about. We will walk through each element of the Mass in order to enhance your understanding and appreciation for why we do the things we do at Mass. You will come to understand the important role that each of us plays in the Mass and that there are no passive bystanders. No matter what our role, we are all called to actively participate in the great sacrifice of the Mass. It is our hope that by the end of this presentation, your spiritual eyes will be opened and your faith will be stirred with a deeper understanding and clearer vision of what the Mass is truly all about. You will more greatly appreciate that the Mass is the most precious gift that Jesus left to the People of God upon his return to his Father. As a result, we trust that you will no longer be able say to yourself or anyone else, despite distractions, I don t get anything out of the Mass. CCC 1348 Throughout the workbook, these references refer to paragraphs in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. To dig deeper, look up these references after the session. 1

Why is Mass so important? CCC 50 73 God desires the fullest unity with the human race. Throughout human history, God progressively revealed himself more fully to his people in order to bring them into closer communion with him. It begins in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament perfect communion is made possible through Jesus Christ. God showed Israel the way to worship him. In the Old Testament, God showed Israel a pattern of worship at Mt. Sinai. He gave very detailed instructions on what the Tent of Meeting should look like and how the altar should be constructed, how the Ark of the Covenant should be made, and so forth. God showed that he is not to be worshipped in just any old way. Rather there is a way befitting his holiness; the kind of worship that is given to him in heaven. Moses was told by God himself, See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain, (Exodus 25:40). Why? What was the point of all these mysterious instructions? Because God knows best how to lead his people to him. CCC 128 30 CCC 1365 72 From Old Testament symbol to New Testament reality. In Hebrews it says, that the worship given to Israel in the Old Testament was a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary, (Hebrews 8:5). What does this mean? It means that in the Old Covenant God stooped down to our level and gave us symbols that pointed to the heavenly realities of eternity that exist before and beyond all of nature. These symbols pointed us to the eternal Reality, but they were not the Ultimate Reality himself, for God not a box or a table is Ultimate Reality. But in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ something absolutely radical took place: God left eternity and entered nature by becoming a human being. Christ s sacrifice brings us into union with God. In offering himself as a sacrifice on the cross and rising from the dead, Jesus Christ performed the real sacrificial offering at the center of all history and showed that all the animal sacrifices, grain offerings, wage offerings, and whatnot of the Old Testament were not the reality but merely the road signs or pictures pointing forward to him. Moreover, he made clear to his disciples that this sacrifice of his to which the whole Old Testament was designed to point us was not merely a historic event that happened long ago on the other side of the world; it is an ongoing transhistorical reality into which we eternally enter with every celebration of the Eucharist. Christ s sacrifice transpired at one divinely chosen moment in human history, but it also continues through the celebration of the Eucharist whose effects are carried on into eternity that is, full union with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Our participation in the Body and Blood of Christ. St. Paul tells us that the bread and the cup are not merely a symbol, but a participation in the Body and Blood of Christ. Whereas under the Old Covenant God stooped down to us, in the New Covenant, God lifts us up and takes us into contact with the heavenly and eternal realities that the Old Covenant merely pictured. When you go to Mass you are, believe it or not, going to Heaven. At Mass, Jesus Christ is actually present and with him, all the angels, archangels, saints, apostles, prophets, and martyrs of the Church are with him, adoring our Father in Heaven and acting in concert as the One Body of Christ.

The Mass is not a mere religious service. It is not something we do for God. It is, rather, God s gift to us and the principal means Christ provided whereby we can enter into his perfect and eternal act of sacrificial worship of his Father and be joined to the eternal life of the Blessed Trinity. This is true whether the music is bad or good, whether the priest is fun or boring, and whether it is in Latin, English, Spanish, or Swahili. None of these things matter, so long as Christ is present in the Eucharist. And, by his sworn promise, he is. Christ s Institution of the Mass Institution of the Eucharist in first three Gospels In the first three Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) we read that on the eve of his Crucifixion, Jesus celebrated the Passover with his disciples and knowing full well what lay ahead took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And likewise the cup after supper, saying, This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. CCC 1341 42 It is no coincidence that on the night before he died, Jesus gathered the disciples to celebrate the first Eucharist. Christ gave us the Eucharist as the means by which we can be intimately united with him, the Bread of Life. In receiving the Eucharist, we receive all of the graces obtained for us by Christ s death on the cross. Biblical passages concerning the Last Supper and the Eucharist are: Matthew 26:17 29 Mark 14:12 25 Luke 22:7 38 John 6 1 Corinthians 10:14 22 1 Corinthians 11:17 34 CCC 1322 27 The three Gospel accounts encapsulate in its purest form what Catholics have always believed the Mass is about: we gather together in the presence of Christ, we hear his word, there is a miraculous transformation of bread and wine into his body and blood, and through the Eucharist, Christ offers us the means to participate in his sacrificial offering of himself to the Father bodily for our sins so that we may share eternally in his life. 3

What did the early liturgy look like? St. Justin Martyr, writing his First Apology about A.D. 155, tells us: THE DAY CALLED SUNDAY, all ON who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succors the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need. But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration. If this sounds to you pretty much like a modern day Mass, you re right. The basic elements are all there: meeting on Sunday (what Revelation 1:10 calls the Lord s Day ), reading from the writings of the prophets (i.e. the Old Testament) and the memoirs of the Apostles (i.e., the New Testament), homily, prayers of the assembly led by a priest who is a presider, consecration of the Eucharist offered, again, by the priest followed by the Great Amen from the people, distribution of the Eucharist to the people (including the sick), collection plate, and specific linkage of the whole rite back to the historical event of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. From that basic apostolic seed (summarized by Luke as the apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers ) have sprung the various eucharistic liturgies of the Catholic Church. Over time, the liturgy has evolved and grown in order to teach and emphasize various aspects of the Tradition (the Nicene Creed, for instance, became a fixture of the liturgy after the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325, nearly two centuries after Justin Martyr wrote his First Apology). However, the liturgy has never lost or altered its basic structure. CCC 1345 47 5

The Mass is made up of two major parts CCC 1346 At every Mass, the liturgy unfolds according to a fundamental structure that has been preserved through the centuries. There are two major parts to the Mass: Liturgy of the Word gathering, readings, homily, and general intercessions Liturgy of the Eucharist presentation of the bread and wine, consecration, and communion One way to understand why the Mass is structured in this way is to first consider ourselves participating in a sacrificial banquet at which God is presiding and providing the meal. In the Mass, both the table of the word and the table of Christ s body are prepared, so that from them the faithful may be instructed and nourished. 1 In our understanding of the Mass, we are encouraged to fully value both tables the Lord has prepared for our nourishment. He comes to us both in word and sacrament. CCC 1347 Mass has the same movement as the Paschal meal of the Risen Jesus. It is interesting to note that the movement of the Mass is the same as the Paschal meal of the risen Jesus with his disciples on the road to Emmaus. Walking with them, he explained the Scriptures: Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures. Luke 24:27 sitting with them at table He took bread, said the blessings, broke it, and gave it to them, (Luke 24:30). 2 His words caused their hearts to burn within them and they recognized him in the breaking of the bread. By looking at this resurrection account, we can clearly grasp the apostles teaching on the two tables prepared for us by the Lord. Understanding each section of the Mass and its significance to each of us The Mass can be compared to a beautiful language that once it is learned and the meaning of the words are made clear to us, we can more deeply and personally respond to it. The Mass was not put together in an arbitrary way, but rather, every step, every liturgical color, every gesture, and every prayer are designed to communicate profound meaning and life to us. The order and movement of the Mass lead us into the holy presence of God and prepare us for the most intimate communion with the Lord. To be mindful that as we come together we will be listening to the words of the King of kings and Lord of lords and will be having the most sublime privilege of consuming him who is love incarnate can aid us in seeking a complete understanding of and appreciation for all of the elements that makeup our Eucharistic celebration. 6 1 Vatican II Document on the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. 2 Luke 24:13 35.

Why is Holy Water at the entrance of every Catholic Church? The very structure of a Catholic church is designed to remind us that we are actively participating in the celebration of the Mass. That s why you bless yourself with Holy Water when you walk into church. Holy Water is a symbol of spiritual cleansing, both exterior and interior cleansing. Since Baptism is the sacrament whereby we enter the Church, Holy Water is placed in fonts at the doorway into the church so that each time we enter, we remember that we do so through the sacrament of Baptism. By blessing ourselves with Holy Water as we enter the church, we remind ourselves of our baptism and union with Christ in his death and resurrection. We prepare ourselves to enter the sacred mysteries of the Mass and pray to be cleansed and forgiven of any venial sins. Blessed water is a sign of spiritual cleansing and by blessing ourselves with Holy Water we are preparing ourselves to receive Christ in the Eucharist. Amen, Amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. John 3:5 Introductory Rites Greeting. This portion of the Mass ushers us into God s presence. It begins (significantly) with a greeting in the form of blessing, The love of God, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. This reminds us that we are there because God called us, not because we have to get him to love us. Significantly, the fact that we respond to this blessing And also with you. immediately reminds us that we are participants in this celebration, not mere spectators. 7

Liturgy of the Word As we consider the Liturgy of the Word, it is vital to take stock of the fact that our God is a covenant maker. It is through the establishment of a covenant, which is a bond of sacred kinship, that God established his relationship with us and with one another. The covenant love of God is a solemn commitment by God to be our Lord who provides, protects, and defends us. Every time we celebrate the Eucharist, we renew our covenant with the Lord and receive the spiritual blessings he has promised us. When we the people Christ has redeemed enter into the covenant he has prepared, we are making the commitment to live in holiness and righteousness all the days of our lives. Because God calls his people out from the nations around them to make them his own very special possession and fashions them into a holy nation, his words to his people are spoken to us so that we might live in the wisdom and power of God. We are to understand that in the sacred scriptures the Father who is in heaven comes lovingly to meet his children and talks with them. 5 Therefore, we pledge our obedience to the One who has saved us and called us into his kingdom. CCC 1349 Readings BECAUSE GOD IS REVEALING HIMSELF throughout the Old Testament and in the New, it can be truly said that the New Testament of Christ was hidden in the Old Testament and that, likewise, the full meaning of the Old Testament is only completely revealed in light of the New Testament. 6 So the Church has always insisted upon hearing the words of the Law of Moses and the Prophets (in the First Reading) and the Psalms (in the Responsorial Psalm) in preparation for the readings from the New Testament and, especially, the Gospels. The First Reading and the Gospel are always related in some way, showing how the Old Testament foreshadows the New and the New Testament makes sense of the sometimes mysterious Old. The Second Reading, while sometimes related to the First Reading and the Gospel, always consists of one of the other writings of the New Testament, such as a letter of St. Paul s. It often gives practical instruction on how disciples of Christ should live. Alleluia! Before the reading of the Gospel, the Church calls our attention to the supreme importance of the message (containing as it does the words of God Incarnate himself) by having us stand for the Alleluia or Gospel Acclamation. During this, we again exchange peace ( The Lord be with you. And also with you. ) and cross our head, our lips, and our breast with the prayer that this word we are about to receive will find its home in our mind, our speech, and our heart. 5 Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Vatican II, Dei Verbum, p. 762, #21. 6 Luke 24:25 27 And he said to them, Oh how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and enter into his glory? Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures. Luke 24:44 47 He said to them, These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And he said to them, Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 9

Liturgy of the Eucharist The Heart of the Mass Having been strengthened, enlightened, and instructed by the written word of God, we now come to the second table to feed upon the Lamb who for us was slain. In the Liturgy of the Word, we meet the word of God written. However, in the Liturgy of the Eucharist, we receive the Word made Flesh into our very souls and bodies. This is the bread of life come down from heaven. Jesus says to us in the Gospel of John, If any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh. (John 6:51) This is why the Church calls the Eucharist the source and summit of the faith: because it is Jesus Christ himself, fully present. This reception of Christ in the Mass can properly be understood as the high point of our intimate communion with God. CCC 1324 Symbolizing our own life of selfoffering in Christ, members of the congregation bring forward the gifts offered during the collection, as well as the elements of bread and wine. The priest asks God to once again send forth his Spirit to change these elements into the Body and Blood of Christ. The people join in this prayer of the Church and, at the consecration, God hears our prayer, as he promised he would. Christ incarnate, crucified, risen, ascended, and glorified, becomes fully present in the sacrament on the altar. The movement of the Liturgy of the Eucharist is always the same even though various prayers may be used in certain parts of the rite. 11

Why do we genuflect, bow, and kneel? SOME VISITORS TO CATHOLIC CHURCHES find our practice of genuflecting, bowing, and kneeling quite confusing. As Catholics, it is such a natural part of our experience at Mass, that we sometimes need to be reminded of why we do this. Kneeling is an act of reverence and humility before God. We kneel during the most sacred moments of the Mass and when the Blessed Sacrament is exposed. Kneeling is a way of expressing our love and veneration of God in a physical gesture, just as a hug or kiss is a way of physically expressing love to our loved ones. Kneeling demonstrates our repentance, petition, and adoration before God. Genuflection is the act of kneeling on one knee and making the Sign of the Cross in reverence to God. In the sanctuary of the Church, Catholics genuflect toward the Tabernacle, because in it Jesus Christ is present in the fullness of his body, blood, spirit, soul, and divinity in the Holy Eucharist. Bowing signifies reverence toward the Holy Eucharist and a person or object that represents a person. There are two kinds of bows: A bow of the head is made when we receive Holy Communion as a gesture of reverence. It is also made at the name of Jesus, the Blessed Mother, and the saint in whose honor the Mass or liturgy of the hours is being celebrated. A bow of the body, or deep bow at the waist, is made as a customary act of reverence to the altar if a tabernacle is not present. However, many Catholics still genuflect in the direction of the altar since the Tabernacle used to be situated behind it before the Second Vatican Council and old habits are hard to break. We are also called to bow at Mass to commemorate the Incarnation of Christ, during the profession of faith when we say, by the power of the Holy Spirit he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man. When we genuflect, we literally fulfill Scripture that says, Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9 11 CCC 1353, 1374 81 Transubstantiation This term designates the miraculous change of the Eucharistic bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. Though the appearances of bread and wine remain, their substance (or invisible interior reality) changes. This doctrine has been an unchanging truth believed and accepted by the Church since apostolic times through today. In the 16thcentury Protestant Reformation, some of the Reformers denied the Real Presence and the Doctrine of Transubstantiation. CCC 1337 40, 1353 In the Epiclesis, the Church asks God to Let your Spirit come upon these gifts to make them holy, so that they may become for us the body and blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ. This prayer reminds us of two realities: it is God who performs this miracle, and God really does perform this miracle through transubstantiation. It is not just a reminder, not just a symbol. The Eucharist, though symbolic, is much more. It really and truly is Jesus Christ, fully and substantially present. Institution of the Eucharist. Having asked God to send his Spirit upon the gifts, the priest now begins the Institution Narrative and Consecration. This is the most ancient part of the liturgy, preserved in slightly varying forms in Matthew 26:26 29; Mark 14:22 25; Luke 22:19 20; and 1 Corinthians 11:23 26. By these words the words of Christ himself the action of Jesus at the Last Supper is recalled and the bread and wine are consecrated and become the Body and Blood of Jesus. 14

Throughout the Bread of Life Discourse in John 6, Jesus repeats that if we do not eat his flesh and drink his blood, we will not have eternal life. The people listening to what Jesus was saying did not take this metaphorically, but literally, and Jesus did not qualify his language in any way or to try to soften what he was saying to clear up any misunderstandings. Those hearing these words found his teaching difficult to accept: The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying How can this man give us his flesh to eat? John 6:52 Then many of his disciples who were listening said, This saying is hard; who can accept it? John 6:60 If Jesus meant this to be symbolic or figurative, he simply could have gone on to explain it in language that would have made it easier for them to accept. Rather, he said twelve times that he was the bread that came down from heaven and four times that we have to eat his flesh and drink his blood. He allowed those who could not accept this teaching to leave him: As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. John 6:66 CCC 1392 1394 We as Catholics have always believed that the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus are present in the Eucharist. The Early Church Fathers testify to the fact that Christians always accepted the Eucharist as the real body and blood of Christ, never as a mere symbol. St. Justin Martyr writes in his First Apology A.D. 155: This food we call Eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake except one who believes that the things we teach are true, and has received the washing for forgiveness of sins and rebirth, and who lives as Christ handed down to us. For we do not receive these things as common bread and common drink; but as Jesus Christ our Savior being incarnate by God s word took flesh and blood for our salvation, so also we have been taught that the food consecrated by the word of prayer which comes from him, is the flesh and blood of that incarnate Jesus. 17 Every time we go to Communion, we are privileged to receive this Bread of Life. As we go forward to receive Holy Communion, the priest says simply The Body of Christ (not The symbol of the Body of Christ ), and in assent we simply say Amen, So be it! It is fitting that after this moment we spend a brief time in personal silent prayer and worship. 18 17 Cyril C. Richardson, Early Christian Fathers, (Westminster John Knox Press, April 1953), p. 286.

Benefits of Receiving Holy Communion. We as Catholics are so blessed to receive our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, yet sometimes we don t fully realize the gift we receive each time we go to Communion. The following are just some of life-changing benefits we receive from the Eucharist: Holy Communion intensifies our union with Christ. This is the primary fruit of receiving Communion. By receiving the Holy Eucharist, we are uniquely united with Christ in a way that is more intimate than any other union we experience as human beings. We can experience no closer union than to literally consume the body, soul, blood, and divinity of Jesus physically into our bodies and to literally become his living tabernacle. Jesus said, Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. John 6:56 This passage shows just how close Jesus wants to be to us and why he instituted the Eucharist so that he can be near us always. Holy Communion preserves, increases, and renews the life of grace we received at Baptism. As the material food we eat strengthens our bodies, receiving Holy Communion nourishes our spiritual life with special graces to draw us more closely to Jesus and enable us to do his work. CCC 1391 96 Holy Communion separates us from sin and preserves us from future mortal sins. Jesus body was given up for us, and his blood was shed for the forgiveness of sins. Because of this, Holy Communion unites us to Christ while at the same time cleanses us from past sins and preserves us from future sins. The more we share in the life of Christ and grow closer to him, the more difficult it becomes for us to walk away from him through mortal sin. The Eucharist unites us more closely to the Mystical Body of Christ. In Baptism, we are called to form one body in Christ. Through the Eucharist, we are more closely united to Christ and each other by partaking of the one bread. St. Paul says, The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. 1 Corinthians 10:16 17 19

Now that I know this, what can I do? The goal of this session is to help you begin to grow more personally involved in the Mass and closer to Jesus. The following discussion questions are intended to help you start thinking about how to apply what you have learned in your day-to-day life. Discussion Questions 1. After this presentation are you able to see how the Mass is a deeply personal encounter with Christ and the Father? If so, explain. 2. How does this explanation of the Mass enable you to participate more fully? 3. With what you have learned, could you better explain the meaning and significance of the Mass to others? Discuss possible approaches. 4. In what ways has it become clear that the Eucharist is a celebration established by God and not an invention of man? 5. With this fresh understanding of the Mass, how do you envision your own Eucharistic participation changing? 21