The Mass:
What it is and its importance for us

In a series of homilies, Monsignor Vincent Harvey invited the parish to consider what the Mass is and what it means to us. The following is a summary of the content - as published in the weekly newsletters of July/August 2008.

1. Some of the names for Mass include:

• The Lord’s Supper: referring to the meal Jesus shared with his apostles on the night before he died, when the ‘Mass’ was instituted (during this meal he took ‘bread and wine’: ‘this is my body, this is my blood’.).

• The Eucharist: referring to another central act that Jesus did before he broke bread and distributed: he gave thanks. Eucharist means ‘thanksgiving’.

• Sacrifice: referring to the sacrifice Jesus made on Calvary for the sins of the world.

• Mass: from the ‘Ite missa est’, which translated into English means ‘Go, it is sent’, the ‘it’ being the Church. From ‘missa’ comes ‘dismiss’. The celebration takes its name from the sending forth that occurs at the end of Mass.

There are other names for the ‘Mass’ but the above gives a flavour of the main ones currently used. Each one emphasises a different aspect of the Mass.

Questions for you to ask yourself:

a. What does the Mass mean to you?
b. What is the most important part of the Mass for you?

2. ‘Preliminaries’ and 'Presences’:

• Preliminaries: The importance of engaging with others on arrival; ‘opening’ the door to celebrate salvation; the font and blessing to remind us of baptism and our entry into the Body of Christ, the Church, the Life of Christ; genuflecting to acknowledge Christ present in the Blessed Sacrament (reserved for the sick, housebound, hospitalised and personal and private prayer).

• Presences: Christ, the Church teaches, is present in a real way during Mass in four different ways:

  • The Presider;
  • the Congregation (Christ’s faithful);
  • the Word (especially the Gospel: hence standing to acknowledge Him);
  • the Eucharist consecrated upon the altar

  We must try to engage with each presence of Christ if we are to truly encounter the risen Christ.

Questions to ask yourself:

a. How do you prepare for Mass?
b. What is your ‘treasure’ which helps you unlock this celebration of Christ in our midst?

3. Last Sunday I recapped on how we ought to prepare for Mass and enter the church;

I also reminded ourselves of the 4 presences of Christ: the People, the Celebrant, the Word (especially the Gospel) and the Eucharist. I then reflected on the two ‘high points’ of the Mass:

• The Gospel: Christ present in His Word
• The Eucharistic Prayer: Christ present on the altar in bread and wine.

These two high points, these two main points of focus we are forewarned about and prepared for by raising the roof with song: The Alleluia (for the Gospel), the Holy, holy (for the Eucharistic Prayer).

• Alleluia, which simply means, ‘Praise the Lord’ is found extensively in Psalms 111 to 117 when the people praise the Lord in the Temple in Jerusalem. Some churches process with the Gospel Book so that as we sing the sense of excitement and anticipation can increase as we prepare to hear Christ and experience Christ’s presence in his Word.

• Holy, holy (Sanctus) comes from Isaiah’s vision of God in the Temple (ch 6) when he experiences the transcendence of God. The seraphim sing: Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of Sabaoth. This phrase is combined with the praise of Jesus as he enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday: Hosanna to the King of David. Again the song should resound around the church building as excitement mounts to recognise Christ in the ‘Breaking of Bread’, present on the altar.

Questions to ask yourself:

a) How do you enable yourself to hear – and hear profoundly – the Gospel/Good News/Words of Salvation?
b) How do you open up with ears/eyes/heart and soul to sense Christ present on the altar?