The Mass is the Greatest Liturgical Prayer

God is a lover, without equal. God is a giver. His stores from which he gives are never depleted. He gives freely, impartially, full measure, “pressed down and running over.” He gives love and goodness to all creation. That is what love is — to give goodness — to want goodness for others — God to man — man to man — man to God.

    What is prayer? Prayer is, first of all, a response; an acceptance of God’s goodness to us. Secondly, it is passing on this goodness, further developed within ourselves, to others. Thirdly, it is giving it, embellished with our acceptance and our sharing, back to God.

    Christ was the greatest prayer of all time. We are united with Christ in His Body, the Church. This makes us a part of his prayer life because, we, who receive His Body, continue his work on earth. This prayer of His Body, the Mass, is the most beautiful prayer of all because it is Christ Himself, the Head, united with us in His Body.

    Christ in the Mass is with you and everyone, assembled in a liturgical prayer of public worship in community. It is Christ in our midst.

    It is plain to see that the Mass is the greatest liturgical prayer. It is the one prayer that draws more people in assembly; that holds and has held more people in assembly now and back through the centuries, than any other prayer.

    We have been told many times in the Good News that we are a priestly people. In this role we have the privilege of joining with Christ, the High Priest, and with our celebrant priest in everything that takes place during the celebration of the Mass, with the one exception, the ability to change the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ.

     When the priest offers the bread and wine to God, we may offer them right along with him. Not only that, but right then and there we can also make Christ a true part of our daily living pattern by offering to God our day with everything the day may bring; its happiness and its sorrows; its physical enjoyments and its pains. With these and the bread and wine, we can offer to God in reparation for the sins of mankind, in union with Christ crucified (in addition, some of us may also wish to make our offerings in honor of His mother — the Immaculate Heart of Mary).

     Now, when we have made our priestly offering to God with the priest at the Mass, we move on to the very solemn part when we, most reverently, unite ourselves with the priest at the very moment when he changes the bread and wine into Christ’s Body and Blood.

     The celebration of the “Eucharist” is a thanksgiving to God for sending His Son to us. There is no better time than right now to offer heartfelt thanks to God for, to use a modern expression, this mind-boggling gift from Him to us.

     But we don’t stop here. We go on to the third great happening of the Mass, the moment when we, with the priest, actually receive and consume the Body and Blood of Christ.

    Thus, before we ever leave the church we already have taken Christ out into our world where we experience our minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour, and day-by-day existence.

    And so we have completed the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. We have offered with the priest; we have shared on a high spiritual plane in the consecration, and we have consumed with him the sacred Host. This is the greatest of all miracles and we have had the privilege of sharing it and participating in it, step-by-step, weekly, or daily, if we choose.

    Truly, the generosity of God surpasses our feeble human ability to understand. Simply, like children, we believe — we accept — we cherish.

    This, then, is our Mass — ours, Christ and everyone, offering perfect worship to our Heavenly Father.

     The Mass is the center of our religion — taken away we remain a hollow shell.

     Our Franciscan Rule urges every Franciscan, who is able to do so, to attend Mass daily.

     There is no way on earth that we can attain a closer unity with Christ than by full participation in the Mass. It is an absolute wonder, a total mystery, and an incomprehensible joy for us to have this privilege.

     It is awesome. It is grand. It is vastly and mightily desirable — this union with Christ — this receiving of Him in the Holy Eucharist at Mass. To receive Him, all of Him, His soul, His Spirit, His merciful Heart, His Body, into our souls, our spirits, our bodies, our hearts, our minds and our wills, is to put a foot on the threshold of God’s own living room.

     It is a terribly and humbling thing, to know that we, who are so lowly, are allowed to unite ourselves to Christ in this holy happening.     He invites us, “…Take and eat; this is my body.” and Drink… for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins.”[1]

 With these words He gave us a share in His divinity for all time.

     Knowing these things, how can attending Mass be a bore? Is Jesus Christ a bore? If He is we are a long, long way from knowing Him, and a long, long way from spiritual growth and perfection.

     St. Francis said, “O sublime lowliness, O low sublimity! That the Lord of the universe, God and the Son of God, should so humble Himself as to hide under the tiny little form of bread for our welfare. Look, brothers, at the humility of God and pour out your hearts before Him.  Be humble yourselves so that you may be exalted by Him.”

     Spiritual love is an emotion as well as a virtue. Let us bring some emotion, some real feeling into our participation in the Mass. Let us try to become more fully aware of what the Mass is. It is our glory, our shining hope and only our truly, True Love.