-
It's what Catholics do and I am Catholic.
-
I want my kids to grow up in this tradition
that comes from my parents, grandparents,
and forbears throughout the 2000 years
preceding my coming into this world
through them.
-
It is something good to do and it is
holy ... although why it is good and
why it is holy remains a mystery to
me.
-
My friends go ... although they do not
know why either.
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I need God's help, and if I go to Mass
He will look favorably on me.
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God is there ... although just how He
is there, I do not understand after
all, God is everywhere, right?
so why is this place so special?
Do not be ashamed. It is not your fault.
There are answers good answers
for all the questions this short list
brings up.
You were never taught.
It is really that simple. No one took the
time to sit down and talk with you about
what is the most important event in
your life and it occurs every
7 days. In fact, whatever else you do during
the other 167 hours of the week (job, school,
charity in fact, every other responsibility,
necessity, or good work) however good, kind,
lofty, noble, pales in significance to the
Mass.
The Basics:
Before you go further in this brief study
and it is a study that we invite
you to of the single most important thing
in your life, we must make a promise
to you first: it will not be dry
or boring, nor will it be fraught with meaningless
pieties. You will understand what the Mass
is, why it is holy, and why you must be
there. This is our promise to you.
It will not be "socially correct",
sanitized to sensitivities, or keeping in
step with the passing fads that blow through
the pews and across the Altars as so many
shifting winds following that elusive mantra
of "what is in vogue". There is perpetuity
in the Church, and unchangeable elements
of the Mass. Hopefully, we will enable you
to see beyond the Mass so often presented
as entertainment, hosted by an entertainer,
to the deep and very sacred reality within
it.
"The
Mass", as we most often call it, is
really short for, "The Most Holy
Sacrifice
of the Mass".
Linger
a moment on those 7 words, for they contain
quite nearly everything that you will need
to know in order to understand why you go
to Church, or why you ought to.
The Mass, first and foremost, is a
Sacrifice. Not a figurative sacrifice,
not a mere remembrance of something done
long ago, and not a metaphor. It is a real
sacrifice. At Mass you are witnessing
even participating in a sacrifice, very
real and very present.
Does that surprise you?
We do not hear very much about this but
unless we understand this most fundamental,
this absolutely central aspect of
the Mass, nothing else makes sense. Our
lack of understanding the Mass as a Sacrifice
contributes to most of the confusion that
surrounds our going there and being there.
But what is the nature of this Sacrifice,
and how is it enacted? Who does the sacrificing
and who or what is sacrificed? How do
we ourselves participate in it?
Tomorrow we will begin to understand.
