The Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass - A Primer for Clueless Catholics (Part 1)

Boston Catholic Journal ^ | May 20, 2005

[NYer]

Admit it.

You haven't the foggiest idea what is going on during Mass.

You may not even know why you're there.

The reasons are many:

 

• 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.
   
• I need God's help, and if I go to Mass He will look favorably on me.
   
• 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 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.

What we have learned today:

The Mass is a Sacrifice.

 

[fortunecookie]

That concept was burned into our brains with a branding iron! Post VCII, when they switched to communion in the hand, suddenly ladies with painted nails and dripping with jewelry were dipping their claws into the communion cups.

Exactly! So many little ways to be 'reverent' were drilled into us, not in a bad way, though some saw it as that, but in a way that made it almost automatic for us. I still remember the prayers the nuns taught us to say quietly, 'in our hearts', during Consecration, and say them. It was quite a switch to go to Communion in the hand. My mother was aghast when women were permitted to wear pants to church! Remember them saying it was an option and surely women could now choose and wear a dress or pants. Within a few years, it was pants only, and often jeans, and, yes, I did it too. But the 'pants', and other casualnesses, serve only as a metaphor for the lost sense of awe and reverence. 'Casual' took it's place.

suddenly ladies with painted nails and dripping with jewelry were dipping their claws into the communion cups. I NEVER adjusted and, frighteningly found myself beginning to question the Real Presence of Christ, once this change occured.

Exactly! Bttt.

This I think is what a lot of people during that time must have thought. Look how this basic aspect of our faith is questioned or treated lightly, since then. Some of the EEM's at my church, mostly ladies - all the guys just don't bother anymore, are very arrogant. Father, one said to me in a huff, is not going to tell her what to do, when he requested that she not wear shorts when serving! (Now, I hear the naysayers who live in warmer climates, but I'm not in one.) I couldn't answer, I wanted to but couldn't, I was aghast.

Hang in there! With B-16 at the helm, expect to see changes soon. The Holy Spirit has heard our cries and raised Ratzinger up as successor to St. Peter. I have great faith and confidence in him.

Yes, and he has stepped up right from the earliest moments of his pontificate, not 'wasting' a moment. It's a blessing to have him as our Pope.

[sanormal]

Our Anglican friends may remember Dr. Thomas Howard from his book, Evangelical is Not Enough on liturigal worship. He also wrote a primer on Anglican liturgy. Tom, his sister, Elisabeth Elliot and his family are well known in Reformed circles. Tom and his wife were many years as Anglicans prior to their journey to the Catholic Church.

[NYer]

This I think is what a lot of people during that time must have thought. Look how this basic aspect of our faith is questioned or treated lightly, since then. Some of the EEM's at my church, mostly ladies - all the guys just don't bother anymore, are very arrogant. Father, one said to me in a huff, is not going to tell her what to do, when he requested that she not wear shorts when serving! (Now, I hear the naysayers who live in warmer climates, but I'm not in one.) I couldn't answer, I wanted to but couldn't, I was aghast.

Discussing this with my pastor, he pointed out that once you relax one rule, you begin the slide down the slippery slope. As a Maronite but bi-ritual priest, also volunteering his services to the RC Diocese of Albany, he serves as Chaplain at a local hospital. He has told me stories to make the hair on your back stand up. He is adamant about the proper handling of the Eucharist and confronted the nun in charge of the program at the hospital.

Occasionally, a wedding or funeral, will bring RC Catholics into our Maronite Church. When it is time for communion, they ignore the instructions in the missalette with regard to receiving communion only on the tongue, and extend their hands. Father quietly lectures them on the spot - communion on the tongue or nothing! Recently, a visiting family went up to communion and I could hear the older daughter (approximately 12 years old) complain to her mother about not being able to take communion in the hand. It's all about power; reverence is totally lost.

Meanwhile, the RC parishes that dish out Catholic Lite on Sundays are packed to overflowing while our church with a pastor that refuses to lighten up his homilies, is more than half empty. /sigh/ My heart goes out to all those holy priests who faithfully follow the teachings of the Church. As Father once said, he believes that when he dies, he will be held accountable for his work in ministering to the fold and adamantly defends the need to lovingly remind them that the way to heaven is through the other gate.

[clockwise]

http://catholica.pontifications.net/

[murphE]

			CREDO & CULTURE The ALTER CHRISTUS FACTORWhy the Priest is the alter Christus in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass    There is truly meaning in the ceremonies of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass - the Immemorial Mass of Tradition - the Traditional Latin Mass. Consider below what each action signifies as the priest - the alter Christus - re-enacts an action by or to Our Lord as being an exposition of the Agony, Death and Passion of our Divine Lord from Holy Thursday night until forty days after His resurrection, when He gave the final command to the Apostles to go forth and preach the Gospel to the world. These reasons are taken from The Catholic Church Alone: The One True Church of Christ, Catholic Education Company, New York, 1902, page 551. THE MASS OF THE CATECHUMENS 1. Introibo ad altare Dei The priest going to the foot of the altar represents Christ going to Mount Olivet. 2. Judica me, Deus... The priest commencing the Holy Mass represents Christ beginning to pray in the Garden. 3. Confiteor Deo... The priest saying the Confiteor represents Christ falling down and sweating blood at Mt. Olivet. 4. Oramus Te, Domine, per merita Sanctorum Tuorum The priest going up and kissing the altar, after praying Aufer a nobis..., represents Christ being betrayed by Judas with a kiss. 5. Oremus The priest going to the Epistle side represents Christ being captured, bound and taken to Annas. 6. The INTROIT The priest reading the Introit represents Christ being falsely accused by Annas and blasphemed. 7. Kyrie Eleison The priest going to the middle of the altar and saying the Kyrie eleison represents Christ being brought to Caiphas and these three times denied by Peter. 8. Dominus vobiscum The priest saying the Dominus vobiscum represents Christ looking at Peter and converting him. 9. The EPISTLE The priest reading the Epistle represents Christ being brought to Pilate. 10. Munda cor meum The priest saying the Munda cor meum represents Christ being taken to Herod and mocked. 11. The GOSPEL The priest reading the Gospel represents Christ being taken to Pilate and again mocked. THE MASS OF THE FAITHFUL OFFERTORY and CANON OF THE MASS 12. The OFFERTORY The priest uncovering the chalice represents Christ being shamefully exposed. 13. Suscipe and Offerimus... The priest offering bread and wine represents Christ being cruelly scourged. 14. In spiritu humilitatis... The priest covering the chalice represents Christ being crowned with thorns. 15. Lavabo... The priest washing his hands represents Christ being declared innocent by Pilate. 16. Orate Fratres The priest saying the Orate Fratres represents Christ being shown by Pilate to the people with the words "Ecce Homo." 17. The SECRET The priest praying in a low voice represents Christ being mocked and spit upon. 18. The PREFACE and Sanctus The priest saying the Preface and the Sanctus represents Christ being preferred instead of Barrabas and condemned to crucifixion. 19. Communicantes The priest making the memento for the living represents Christ carrying the cross to Mount Calvary. 20. CANON Prayers The priest continuing to pray in a low voice represents Christ meeting His Mother. 21. Hanc igitur The priest blessing the bread and wine represents Christ being nailed to the cross. 22. HOC EST ENIM CORPUS MEUM... The priest elevating the host represents Christ being raised on the cross. 23. HIC EST ENIM CALIX SANGUINIS MEI... The priest elevating the chalice represents Christ shedding blood from the five wounds. 24. Memento The priest praying in a low voice represents Christ seeing His afflicted Mother at the foot of the cross. 25. Nobis quoque peccatoribus The priest saying aloud the words Nobis quoque peccatoribus represents Christ praying on the cross for men. COMMUNION and THANKSGIVING 26. Pater Noster The priest saying aloud the the Pater Noster represents Christ saying the seven words on the cross. 27. Fraction of the Host The priest breaking and separating the host represents Christ giving up His spirit. 28. Haec commixtio... The priest letting a portion of the host fall into the chalice represents His soul going to Limbo. 29. Agnus Dei... The priest saying the Agnus Dei represents Christ being acknowledged on the cross as the Son of God by many bystanders. 30. HOLY COMMUNION The priest administering Holy Communion represents Christ being laid in the sepulchre with the white linen over the communion railing representing the pure shroud. 31. Cleansing the Chalice The priest cleansing the chalice represents Christ being anointed by pure women. 32. Preparing the Chalice The priest preparing the chalice again represents Christ rising from the dead. 33. Dominus vobiscum... The priest saying the Dominus vobiscum represents Christ appearing to His mother and the disciples. 34. POSTCOMMUNION The priest saying the last prayers in the Postcommunion represents Christ teaching for forty days. 35. Dominus vobiscum The priest saying the Dominus vobiscum just before the Ite Missa est represents Christ taking leave of His disciples with His final words in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John to "Feed My sheep" and ascending into Heaven. 36. Ite Missa est and FINAL BLESSING The priest saying the Ite Missa est blessing represents Christ sending down the Holy Ghost on Pentecost Sunday. 37. LAST GOSPEL The priest saying the Last Gospel, which is really the First words of the beloved Disciple Saint John, represents sending the Apostles into all parts of the world to preach the Gospel and preserving His Holy Church for all time.

THE ALTER CHRISTUS FACTOR

[Desdemona]

My mother was aghast when women were permitted to wear pants to church! Remember them saying it was an option and surely women could now choose and wear a dress or pants. Within a few years, it was pants only, and often jeans, and, yes, I did it too. But the 'pants', and other casualnesses, serve only as a metaphor for the lost sense of awe and reverence. 'Casual' took it's place.

My pastor had some interesting words on this subject the week of the gospel of the wedding and the guest not being dressed appropriately. Casualness happens in degrees. Monsignor is not happy about it at all and talked about fighting it all of his life going from formality to familiarity to casualness and then on to disrespect. I wonder how some of the people in the pews took it. It's a wonder we of the post-Vatican II generation know anything of formality at all. To "return" to it might feel, at first, like something of a game.

[sempertrad]

Murph, that was just outstanding! This is one to be printed and saved in my missal. Thanks!!

[nanetteclaret]

Here is what our Holy Father says in his book "The Spirit of the Liturgy:"

"Moving the altar cross to the side to give an uninterrupted view of the priest is something I regard as one of the truly absurd phenomena of recent decades. Is the cross disruptive during Mass? Is the priest more important than the Lord? This mistake should be corrected as quickly as possible; it can be done without further rebuilding.”

[nanetteclaret]

This is truly amazing! But how does it correspond with the Novus Ordo? (Maybe it doesn't and that is the problem!)

[Salvation]

Thanks for the link.

[ConservativeStLouisGuy]

I hope you don't mind...but...I went ahead and posted the remaining articles/links in this 8-part series....I read them all and was so taken by the SOUNDNESS of the doctrine that...well...I suppose I just got carried away (and I had some extra time to boot)...

FReegards, FRiend....

[red irish]

I am on the Catholic ping I am hoping to get the second part of this as well. You see I am a convert and all of a sudden everything changed. I miss so much receiving holy communion at the communion rail. Even though my back and legs are hurting most of the time I miss kneeling at the communion rail.

[Pyro7480]

Hey. Pyro, can I crash? :)

Sorry I never responded. Of course you may. ;-)

[Diva]

I want to thank you for posting this little catechism of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. I've been a Catholic for over 25 years and though I think I understand what's going on at Mass your information has helped me re-focus so to speak. It's frustrating how my mind can sometimes wonder all over the place during Mass. I'm a singer and occasionally conduct the choir on Sunday so, it is very easy for me to just abandon my duty as a participant at the Sacrifice of the Mass and pay more attention to what motet or chant we have to sing. Thanks for reminding us all that His Sacrifice is the real focus.