What you Might Not Know About the Mass

What you Might Not Know 

About The Mass

Perhaps you’ve noticed that the daily Mass population as well as attendance at Adoration has dwindled  significantly, now that Lent is over.  What does that say about us as Catholics? That we went to Mass during Lent as a penance so now we don’t need to do it anymore? Maybe it was the getting up and out that was the penance or it’s just one of those things Catholics do during Lent.  If that is true for anyone then the Mass and Adoration are not well understood in terms of their intrinsic value. Yet there are some who go everyday.

 Padre Pio said that every Mass we attend with devotion produces marvelous effects and graces in our soul that we don’t even know about. I love surprises. With Devotion,  being the key words. Another saint, St. John Vianney, stated that we would die of joy if we really understood the value of one Mass. Jesus, himself,  told St. Gertrude that for each Mass we pray with devotion, He will send saints to comfort us at our death and our place in Heaven will be elevated, forever!

 Traditionally, we have Masses said for the deceased, but Pope Benedict XV said we’d actually get more profit if people offered Masses for us while while we are still alive!  What a lovely gift to give our loved ones on anniversaries, during an illness or a major celebration. Imagine a Mass card that says, “We rejoice with you at the birth of your child”.  

 Many graces are granted us when we attend Mass ourselves because we kneel at Calvary with Jesus being sacrificed before us because with God there is no past or future. At Mass we step out of our time into Jesus’ time to witness the most powerful atonement for our sins. The weight of this sacrifice will accompany you to your final judgement and witness to your love of the Lord.  The Mass can diminish the temporal punishment due for our sins and therefore reduce our time in purgatory. Just thirty minutes on a weak day to shorten our term in purgation isn’t that hard. 

 Why do we fear death? Because we fear that it may be painful and we fear that purgatory will be really, really painful. Christ at the Last Supper gave us the means to diminish our anxieties about death and what may follow. The time in purgatory can be shortened or prevented.  Christ has even supplied for our negligences and the omission of good deeds that we could have done just by reverently participating at Mass. Mass diminishes the power that Satan has over us because during the penitential rite of the  Mass our venial sins are forgiven. When the Priest says, “Let us call to mind our sins...” that is the moment to ask forgiveness for our venial sins.

 The graces that flow to us at Mass preserve us from many dangers as well. How many times have you felt that you’d had a narrow escape? That was no accident. God sends  his angels to protect us. Angels are present at every Mass praying with us and for us. Their presence, if only we could see them, fills the sanctuary as well as the entire Church. That includes the guardian angels of everyone present.

 With all of these benefits and more, why would anyone limit Mass attendance to one day a week!  I’m sure no one would eat only once a week? Spiritual nourishment will last into eternity. Come to the banquet He has prepared for you.