Mass (Christian liturgy)

“ The Mass is the perpetual Sacrifice of the New Law. in which Christ our Lord offers Himself, by the hands of the Priest, in an unbloody manner, under the appearances of bread and wine, to His Heavenly Father, as He once offered Himself on the Cross in a bloody manner. ”

“ For what end or intention may Mass be offered? A. Mass may be offered for any end or intention that tends to the honor and glory of God, to the good of the Church or the welfare of man; but never for any object that is bad in itself, or in its aims; neither can it be offered publicly for persons who are not members of the true Church.
Q. 927. Explain what is meant by Requiem, Nuptial and Votive Masses. A. A Requiem Mass is one said in black vestments and with special prayers for the dead. A Nuptial Mass is one said at the marriage of two Catholics, and it has special prayers for their benefit. ”

“ How easily the oblation of Christ—the Christian's one offering—became the means of intercessory prayer for all men and all occasions, and gave rise to the requiem mass, the mass for some special grace, the mass of thanksgiving, the mass in commemoration of a saint. ”

“ It is Christ who celebrates the Mass, and He celebrates it with a warm and living Heart, the same Heart with which He worshipped the Father on Mount Calvary. It is this that makes the Mass what it is. If it were not for this, the Mass would be a carnal sacrifice, infinitely superior, indeed, to those of the Old Law, but of the same order. ”

“ At Mass, by offering to the Eternal Father the person of Jesus Christ, Man and God, we render God an infinitely greater homage than if we offered Him the lives of all men and all angels.
2. By this offering of Jesus Christ, which is made at Mass, we offer to God complete satisfaction for all the sins of men, specially of those present at the Sacrifice, to whom is applied the same divine Blood as was shed on Calvary for the redemption of the human race. Thus, by a Mass, we make more satisfaction to divine justice for our faults than by any other expiatory work. ”

“ You may close your eyes and imagine that you are present at a Mass of old days—a Mass of the dead—a silent Mass, at which no sound escapes from the lips of the praying, and no tinkle comes from the bell that is vainly shaken. ”

“ There is nothing more wonderful on earth or in heaven than Holy Mass. In it the greatness and love of God are shown to the utmost.
Jesus Christ, the eternal Son, God, equal to the Father and the Holy Ghost, offered Himself, bleeding and dying, upon the Cross for us and for our salvation. ”

“ Be ever ready, then, to assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and strive to penetrate your soul with the spirit of the prayers which follow; they contain the true method of hearing Mass, and are most availing with God. ”

“ The law is therefore most salutary and simple, requiring that one take part in the greatest act of worship, the sacrifice which is a commemoration of Christ, and that one rest from the labors and cares of the week and be spiritually refreshed. In reference to the Mass, the precept requires that Mass itself be heard, and that it be an entire Mass and the same Mass. ”

“ Every prayer and every gesture of Holy Mass, since the first Mass was celebrated upon the first Maundy Thursday, has been studied in minutest detail by generations of liturgiologists and ceremonialists, whose library is almost infinite in its vastness and extent from the humblest pamphlets to the hugest folios. ”

“ This was intended to show that when we are occupied in any spiritual exercise, we ought not be diverted to other things, even under pretext of civility.
11. The Mass is certainly a function the most excellent, the most holy, the most acceptable to God and useful to us, that can be imagined. And so, while it is going on, the Angels assist in crowds, with bare feet, with earnest eyes, with downcast brows, with great silence, with incredible amazement and veneration. With what purity, attention, devotion, and reverence, then, ought the priest to celebrate it? ”

“ Would it be the right thing if an artisan, a magistrate, or a doctor only worked at his profession one or two days in the week? You have the power to say Holy Mass every day. Why do you not avail yourself of it?
"Consider that the action of saying Mass is the loftiest, the most august, of all the functions of religion, the one which renders more glory to God and more solace to the living and the dead than any other. ”

“ That the practice of praying for the dead has descended from apostolic times is also evident from the Liturgus of the Church. A Liturgy is the established form of public worship, containing the authorized prayers of the Church. The Missal, or Mass-book, for instance, which you see on our altars, contains a portion of the Liturgy of the Catholic Church. ”

“ Among the liturgical functions, the celebration of Mass, or of the Holy Eucharist, occupies the most important place. Although the early writers speak in a guarded manner concerning these sacred mysteries, still they give much precious information on the liturgy of their age. The Mass seems to have been divided into the Mass of the catechumens, and the Mass of the faithful, and among the orthodox Christians the catechumens were rigidly excluded from assisting at the sacrifice proper. ”

“ When the worshipers are seen kneeling in the pews or before an altar at the side wall, fingering rosaries or with eyes intent upon prayer-books, it is not the words of the Mass that they are repeating. The Mass is the prayer of the Church at large, but it does not emanate from the congregation. ”

“ The Mass is a sacrifice. The prayers of the Mass are offered to God. Hence when the priest says Mass he is speaking not to the people, but to God, to whom all languages are equally intelligible. Are not these sufficient reasons for the use of the Latin language? Are not good Catholics more attentive, more devout at Mass than others at their prayer-meetings? The good Catholic knows that the Mass represents the passion and death of Christ; that the passion and death of Christ are the sinner's only refuge, the just man's only hope ”

“ Among the many impressive ceremonies of the Catholic Church, there is none more touching than the celebration of the midnight Mass. Whether it be in a vast cathedral or in a modest village church, it never fails to bring home to the heart, in a wonderful manner, the realization of the two great mysteries of the Incarnation and the Eucharist, awakening in the soul a lively devotion towards them. ”

“ Now in the morning Mass you do all that the race needs to do and has done for all these ages where religion was concerned; there you have the sacred and separate Enclosure, the Altar, the Priest in his Vestments, the set ritual, the ancient and hierarchic tongue, and all that your nature cries out for in the matter of worship. ”

“ LAST Sunday I spoke of the Catholic doctrine of the Mass and the Holy Eucharist; I pointed out what our faith taught us about the Blessed Sacrament and how the Mass was to our Catholic forefathers and to us to-day, the central act of worship of God; and that the Holy Communion in a very true sense is the food of our spiritual life, as it binds us to God and brings Him into our lives in truth and in reality, which is the end and object of every act of religion. ”

“ Thus, by each Mass more satisfaction is made to God than by any other expiatory work. But although the Mass is of infinite value, God accepts it only in a finite manner, according to the dispositions of those who attend the holy sacrifice, and, therefore, it is useful to hear several Masses.
3. In the Mass we render to God an adequate thanksgiving for all the benefits that he has bestowed upon us.
4. During the Mass we can obtain all the graces that we desire for ourselves and for others. ”

“ Many souls will be converted if they are well prayed for, and not otherwise. But the most efficacious prayer is that which goes up in closest union with Christ crucified, pleading in sacrifice for us. Christ crucified thus pleads in every Mass. In every Mass, as the Church says, 'the memory of His Passion is celebrated anew.' I can not spend my day in hearing Mass, traveling from altar to altar. ”

“ Since the appointment of special Masses in honour of the saints is a distinguishing feature of the Latin rite, Western liturgical books are in themselves a source from which we can increase our knowledge of the saints’ festivals, the most important in this respect being the sacramentaries, but the other books used at the celebration of Mass, the collections of epistles and gospels especially, also throw light on the subject. ”

“ But, surely, no Catholic who has any right idea of the importance and value of Holy Mass will remain satisfied with this. He will attend Holy Mass as often as he can on week-days as well. He will, likewise, have Masses offered up by the priest, both for himself and others, living or dead.—Fr. ”

“ For by the Mass we repair our sins, get grace to keep from sin, and make our purgatory shorter in consequence. He who hears Mass daily makes the best prayer that a man can make, and he is more certain to have his prayer answered. ”

“ God is everywhere, and is always found by looking for him and seeking for him diligently in prayer; for prayer keeps us near to God and God near to us. And he is always on the altar: hear Mass not only on Sundays but now and then on week days ”

“ There is no need of attempting to say all the prayers for Mass given in a prayer-book. As regards the following method of assisting at Mass, it combines vocal prayer with meditation. Our aim has been to lead pious souls to devote some time at Mass to mental prayer ”

“ But the Mass is instituted, as the plain words thereof and their own laws do witness, to be a sacrifice for the sins of the quick and the dead: for doing of the which sacrifice, God is bound not only to remit our sins, but also to give unto us whatever we will ask. ”

“ Now I wish to call [pg 315] your attention to this remarkable fact, that all these Liturgies, though compiled by different persons, at different times, in various places, and in divers languages, contain, without exception, in clear and precise language, the prayers to be said at the celebration of Mass; prayers in substance the same as those found in our prayer books at the Canon of the Mass. ”

“ In this respect the Roman Catholic Church has retained a great advantage over reformed churches. Whatever we may think of its tenets and principles, its forms of worship are more impressive and more attractive. The Mass, apart from all dogma and miracle, is a mysterious and beautiful religious drama, in which appropriate symbolism, vocal and instrumental music, all the highest efforts of human art, are united to produce feelings of joy and of devoutness. ”