The Beauty of the Mass

Dedication: To our non-Catholic friends and readers who don’t know our Mass… and to our Catholic brother and sisters who have taken for granted or even forgotten the precious gift we’ve been given and the beauty of it.

When I was a child growing up in the pre-Vatican II Roman Catholic Church I doubt I ever would have made such a statement. “Beautiful”?? BORING is more like it. Okay, everything in the Liturgy was in Latin and I was still a few years from taking Latin in high school (and taking 4 years to get through two years of it…twice each for Latin I and II. Why did I take Latin? I’m afraid you’ll have to wait for the book or the movie for that one). I thought several lines sounded like baseball scores. You know…”Ed Cume beat Spiritu 2-0”?? Add to that the fact that it was all delivered in the sing song of Gregorian Chant and to my young mind it was torture to be endured. I endured it as long as I had no choice. I was going to a Catholic School of which my Dad was the Custodian and Mom made us do it every week.

As soon as the choice was available to me I bolted for the door. What followed is detailed in the story of my reversion that composes the first 4 articles on the list of my writings here. Long story short I eventually became an Evangelical Christian. During most of that time I would never have called the Mass “beautiful” either. Especially in the early to middle years of my nearly 45 years away, I would have called it “satanic” since I believed that it was brought into Christianity from pagan religion in order to dominate the ignorant, biblically illiterate people of the world. But through the grace of God and study of His Word, my opinion softened. Finally came the crisis of faith that I also outline in my reversion story. It was one of the keys to my coming home to the Church.

I’m reminded of a verse Saint Paul wrote to the Corinthians in his wonderful “Love Chapter”: “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things.” (1 Corinthians 13:11). Now that I am mature, both physically and spiritually, and became a Catholic by choice rather than requirement, I see the Mass for what it truly is: the most beautiful and precious gift that the Lord could have left us. Within it we not only share in the “Life, Blood and Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ” but also commune with our brothers and sisters in the Faith, not only in the Sanctuary in which we stand, and not only with all Catholics around the world, but with the “vast cloud of witnesses which surround us” (Hebrews 12:1)…the Communion of Saints.

The focus of the Mass is the Lord Jesus Christ. Every portion that the Liturgy is broken into brings us closer and closer to the heart of the matter: the Body and Blood of Christ. I’m not going to break it down into a “blow by blow” detailing of each part at this time. I plan to do so one day and supply Scriptural support for each of them.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

We begin each Mass, after the processional and welcome, with making the Sign of the Cross and saying those words. “In the Name” is a whole article unto itself for another time. Suffice it to say here that it means “on the authority of”. We are stating right at the beginning that what we are doing has Divine Authority Then the priest says “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” to which the people reply “And with your spirit” (the aforementioned “Et Cum Spiritu Tu Tuo” of my childhood). We are participating in the Mass to partake in the Grace of God and have fellowship with the Holy Spirit. No finer “mission statement” for the Mass could be found.

We prepare our hearts

The next step is to prepare ourselves to receive not only Communion but also all that follows in the Mass. This follows on from Saint Paul’s warning in 1 Corinthians 11 about not receiving Communion “unworthily”. For that reason the priest says: “My brothers and sisters, to prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries, let us call to mind our sins.” What follows next is one of the most beautiful and humble prayers ever written:

I confess to almighty God,
and to you, my brothers and sisters,
that I have sinned
in my thoughts and in my words,
in what I have done,
and in what I have failed to do;
through my fault, through my fault,
through my most grievous fault
therefore I ask blessed Mary, ever virgin,
all the angels and saints,
and you, my brothers and sisters,
to pray for me to the Lord, our God.

The Kyrie and the Gloria conclude the Introductory Rites. I suggest that those reading this who are not Catholic to look up the Liturgies of the Mass and see what those are. Every Catholic reading this knows them by heart… some in Bisaya.

The Liturgy of The Word follows and leads to the Liturgy of the Eucharist which prepares us for Communion. Each of those Liturgies have components that all give glory to God and brings our focus more and more upon “the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world”…the last words spoken before we are invited to partake in the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (rather you view that as typology or literal fulfillment is debated by some).

Finally comes the moment from which the Mass derives its name. The Latin word “missa” (which is also the Bisaya word) means “sent out”. It’s also the root word for “missile” and that is pretty close to the best meaning of it. We are “fired” out into the camp of the enemy…the domain of the “Prince of the power of the air” and the ruler of this world: Satan. This is the ultimate purpose of the beautiful gift the Lord has left us: to prepare and strengthen us to be salt and light in a world of spiritual darkness. To take our Catholicism outside the Sanctuary and live it for all to see. That is the New Evangelism: to show a spiritually starving world the beautiful Meal the Lord has prepared for them and offer them to “come and dine”.