We have Mass to worship and to receive God’s grace, to unify with him and with other worshipers through the sacrament of the Eucharist. As a sacrament, it is that Jesus himself acting through the Eucharist, and supplies all the graces we derive from it.
At Mass we are able to stand mystically at the foot of the cross and witness for ourselves the same self-sacrifice of Jesus, in an unbloody manner.
Mass is a celebration of this sacrifice. It is the active participation of all that come together in the place of worship. We do not come to Mass simply to receive something passively or to watch a show; we come as participants embracing the grace Christ pours out for us shed by his own blood on the cross.
Different people have different roles at Mass. Some people are Eucharistic ministers. They help distribute the Eucharist to assist the priest when it is necessary in order to maintain the flow of worship.
Lectors help proclaim the Word of God and make it come alive for us. Cantors and choir members lead us in song to help us stay in tune.
The priest is there to serve us by leading us in prayer acting in the person of Christ, explaining the Scripture (Bible) readings, and consecrating the bread and wine so that they may become the body and blood of Jesus.
If we do not find much significance in the Mass it is because our whole mind, heart, and soul are not there. We are called to actively participate.
When we actively participate in the Mass we receive God in two primary ways: we receive him through his Word and through the Eucharist. These are the two main parts of the Mass: the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
Liturgy is a term that means work or public duty. It is the work of the people, not just one person standing at the altar. All the people gathered are doing the work of celebration.
Our salvation is not a one-time ordeal where we make a promise to God at one point in our lives. Life is a process and so is our salvation.
When we receive the Eucharist we are receiving Jesus, God. In doing so we are making that commitment each time to live out our end of the bargain. By God’s gift of free will to us we always have the opportunity to choose to fall away from God through sin and we need his grace and strength to maintain our relationship with him.
By receiving the Eucharist at least once a week and making that promise to love God and obey him we are receiving the grace necessary to do God’s will. We grow in faith each time we receive the Eucharist.
An analogous example is marriage. The ideal marital relationship is modeled after God’s relationship with his people. The two parties in marriage give themselves mutually exclusively to each other and promise to make self-sacrifices to support the other person.
The sign of the marriage covenant is sexual intercourse. A marriage is not consummated (made whole) until the husband and wife engage in sexual intercourse and each time thereafter they are renewing their covenant with each other in the unitive act of sexual intercourse.
Likewise we make whole our relationship with God through the Eucharist by eating his flesh and drinking his blood. We are renewing that covenant. We do it over and over and over again to renew ourselves and grow our relationship with God.
Most ordinary people honestly cannot say that if they are married they will only have sex with their spouse once. Likewise we continually renew our covenant with God through the Mass.
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