The Holy Sacrifice of Mass

By TOM DENNEHY

When we attend Holy Mass we join with Jesus in offering Himself to God The Father in atonement for our sins and the sins of the whole world.

When we attend Holy Mass, we are present at all of the amazing events we have celebrated during our Easter ceremonies. We have Holy Thursday when Jesus gave us His Body and Blood; Good Friday when Jesus died on the Cross and shed every drop of His Blood for us; Easter Sunday when He rose from the dead. All are rolled into one event at Mass. That is why our Mass is so powerful and of infinite value.

Our offering is the bread and wine which is transformed into the Body and Blood of Lord Jesus Christ by the actions of the priest through calling on the power of The Holy Spirit. The priest becomes Christ on the altar doing what Jesus did for us on Calvary on Good Friday and also on Holy Thursday night when He instructed his apostles to “Do this in memory of Me.”

Every word spoken by the priest and every action is so important and of great significance.

The greeting of the priest at the start of Mass is,“The grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God Our Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

At the beginning of our Mass, we have an opportunity to acknowledge our sinfulness as we prepare to listen to the Word of God and receive the Holy Eucharist. In the Gloria we give praise and glory to God and thank Him for all He is doing in our lives and in our world.

Readings

We have readings from the Old Testament and the New Testament which are about Jesus. The first reading relates to The Old Testament. We may sometimes think that these readings are not relevant but they are about God’s love which is fulfilled in the Gospel reading.

The second reading from the New Testament tells how we should carry out the message of the Gospel reading in our own lives.

We hear the Homily from our Priest which gives an explanation of the readings and encourages us to live the Gospel message.

Eucharist means thanksgiving so we come together as a community giving thanks and praying for each other and our world in our prayers of intercession.

At the Offertory of the Mass we bring our needs to the altar and join with the Priest as he adds the drop of water to the wine in the chalice. This is a time to include our Mass intentions and should not be missed. We can pray for both the living and the dead.

When the priest holds up the consecrated host before the distribution of Holy Communion, he holds up the resurrected Jesus who has taken away the sins of the world.

Holy Communion

At Holy Communion we receive the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ in to our hearts and souls which transforms us and strengthens us. We become more like Jesus- more caring and loving of others. When we receive the Holy Eucharist that Jesus gives us we become part of Him - part of the Body of Christ. This is an amazing gift to us. Every Holy Communion we receive makes us more capable of communing with God throughout eternity (Saint Faustina- Diary 1811).

Sometimes this gift to us is a mystery beyond our understanding and we may take it for granted for at Holy Mass we are present, witnessing an amazing miracle. If we could see what is happening at Mass through spiritual eyes we would be amazed. Such love is being poured out before our eyes. Saint John Vianney, the great saint who constantly preached about Jesus being truly present in the Eucharist said, “After the consecration the good God is there, like He is Heaven. If man knew this mystery, he would die of love.”

Saint Padre Pio experienced this love and it helped him to bear his great sufferings as he bore the stigmata- wounds of Christ - for fifty years. He said “The world would exist more easily without the sun than without the Holy Mass”. Such is the power of the Mass.

Everyone in the whole world benefits from the Mass offered. The grace is poured out on every person present or not.

Our Holy Souls also benefit from our Mass and they depend so much on our presence at Mass praying for them.

The final blessing from the priest is a blessing from Jesus Christ Himself and we should never leave Mass without it.

The final words from the priest instruct us to go in peace and be Christ to all we encounter.

We have witnessed the greatest love story ever; The Holy Mass.