|
DUE
REVERENCE FOR MASS AND THE SACRAMENTS
Thanks to our faith, we come
to realise what a treasure we have in the Holy Eucharist. Where faith is
alive, people will have deep respect for the celebration of the Mass and
for the sacred building that houses the real presence of
Christ
in the tabernacle.
Our forefathers made heroic sacrifices in former times in order to keep
faithful to the Mass. Laity and priests risked their lives for it. They
gave generously the pennies they had in order to have a shelter or Mass
rock, a chapel or cathedral, where Mass could be offered and they
themselves could be nourished by the bread of Heaven.
That veneration for the Mass and for our churches, for Teach an Phobail
of the parish still continues to the present day. However, it has to be
continually rekindled and enlivened. This is especially true in our days,
when prosperity and technology have given all of us, especially our young
people, more earthly pleasures and interests, more distracting and
time-consuming pastimes, more sports fixtures and less time for the things
of God.
Yet, the church is the living centre of every parish. Here God meets
his people and here they find their God. At the important moments of life
they inevitably turn to their church: after birth to be reborn to a life
of faith; to receive forgiveness of their sins; to be spiritually fed with
the Body and Blood of Christ, to be confirmed in their faith, to be
blessed in marriage, to have ordained ministers of the altar, to be
anointed and blessed when seriously ill or when this life is at an end.
The Sacraments are life-giving channels of divine grace. In them, God
himself sanctifies and saves us. Without them our lives would really be
much emptier of the presence of the living God.
The
Holy Eucharist and the Real Presence
Among the seven Sacraments, the Holy Eucharist holds a special place
of honour. This is the Sacrament towards which the others tend. It is the
one we receive most frequently. The Church draws her life, as does each
believer, from the holy Eucharist. In fact this most holy Sacrament stands
at the centre both of the Church’s life and of our life of faith. It is
the very heartbeat of her life. The Church possesses nothing more
precious, for it contains her “entire spiritual wealth”, namely, the
Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord,
Jesus
Christ
. The
Mass is also the test of our Catholic faith: “Our way of thinking is
attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn confirms our way of
thinking” (
St.
Irenaeus
, cf.
CCC 1327).
We believe that the Mass is a sacrifice. In it
Christ
gives
us the very body which He gave up for us on the Cross, the very Blood
which He “poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Mt.
26:28). Every Mass makes present again, under the signs of consecrated
bread and wine, the same sacrifice that
Christ
offered on the Cross. The same
Christ
who
offered himself in a bloody manner on the Cross of Calvary, is present and
is offered in an unbloody manner at the Consecration of each Mass
He then invites us to receive Him in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, in
Holy Communion. And to those who doubted that He could give his flesh to
eat for the life of the world, He insisted: “Truly, I say to you, unless
you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life
in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I
will raise him up at the last day” (Jn 6:53-54).
We know that eating his flesh and drinking his blood is not to be
understood in a crude, physical manner, but in the Sacramental way it is
given to us in the Holy Eucharist. Although under the appearance of bread
and wine,
Christ
’s
presence is real. It unites us to himself, it binds us together in unity,
it transforms us more and more into the likeness of our Saviour.
Holy Communion also deepens our love for God, makes us pleasing to Him
and strengthens us so that we can be preserved from falling into mortal
sins through human weakness.
Jesus
remains with us in our tabernacles. We are invited to adore Him, to visit
Him frequently, to make amends for the forgetfulness of many and the sins
committed against Him. He himself wanted to stay with us always, and so He
gave us this most holy Sacrament as his parting gift on the day before He
was delivered up to death. It is a memorial of his death, a gift of grace
and a pledge of everlasting life. Only faith can enable us to grasp his
Eucharistic presence. We take Him at his word: “This is my Body which is
given for you”. He is truth itself, and cannot lie.
Sunday
Mass
Because of the importance and the value of the holy Eucharist, the
Church teaches that Catholics should go to Mass every Sunday and Holy Day
of Obligation. This precept can be fulfilled by assisting at Mass on the
Sunday or Holy Day itself, or at the vigil Mass on the preceding day.
Sunday is the Lord’s Day, the day of his Resurrection. Since the time
of the Apostles, it has been set aside as a day of prayer and rest. Sunday
Mass is the foundation and the life blood of our Christian way of life.
Unless excused for a serious reason (for example illness, the weakness of
old age, the necessary care of infants or similar), we are obliged to go
to Mass on Sunday. To fail deliberately to do so, means to “commit a
grave sin” (CCC 2181).
For those who truly practise their faith, there is something missing in a
Sunday that is without
Mass.
While
it is praiseworthy to listen to Mass over the radio or television, this
does not fulfil the obligation if we are able to assist in church.
The
worthy reception of Holy Communion
The Church also encourages the faithful to receive Holy Communion
frequently, even every day if possible. Under pain of sin, it must be
received at least once a year if possible during the Easter Season (cf CIC
920). When we appreciate the gift given us by
Christ
in
the Eucharist, this is a privilege more than an obligation.
We should always remember that it is the
Lord
Jesus
himself whom we receive in Holy Communion. We should not refer to it
simply as holy bread, but always as the Body and Blood of Christ. This is
our faith. This is what we should teach to our children. This is our real
treasure. It is part of the faith we must hand on to our little ones.
To respond worthily to Our Lord’s invitation to eat his flesh and
drink his blood, we must prepare ourselves for such a holy guest. The
devout participation in the Mass is itself a very good reparation. For
such a divine gift we can never be completely worthy. Hence, before
Communion we always repeat the words of the Centurion in the Gospel:
“Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say
the word and my soul shall be healed” (cf. Mt 8:8). The best general
preparation is a good life.
Our Catechism also tells us: To prepare for worthy reception of this
Sacrament the faithful should observe the fast required, namely, “to
abstain for at least one hour before holy communion from all food and
drink with the sole exception of water and medicine” (CIC 919). The
elderly, the sick and those who care for them are dispensed from this
fast. “Bodily, demeanour (gestures, clothing) ought to convey the
respect, solemnity and joy of this moment when
Christ
becomes our guest” (CCC 1387). If we were invited to
a banquet in the house of the President or in the palace of a king we
would dress in a dignified manner. How much more so when we go into the
sacred space of the church to receive the Body of Christ as food for
eternal life.
Moreover, to receive Holy Communion worthily, we must be in the state of
grace. That is, we must not have committed a grave sin which we have not
yet confessed in the Sacrament of Confession.
St.
Paul
tells
us to examine our conscience and not approach the altar unthinkingly:
“Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an
unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the
Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the
cup, for any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and
drinks judgment upon himself” (1 Cor 11:27-29).
Christians from other denominations who are present at Mass and who are
not in complete union with the Catholic Church may not receive Holy
Communion. They may, if they so wish, approach the altar, fold their arms
in front of their breast, bow the head and receive a blessing from the
priest. For to go to Communion is a sign that full union exists between
us, which regrettably is not yet the case.
Catholics who have not individually confessed a serious sin and received
absolution or who live in an irregular union can approach the altar only
for a blessing from the priest and ask the Lord to help them in their
needs. Otherwise, serious disrespect is shown towards the
Lord
Jesus
in
this most holy Sacrament and grave scandal is given.
The Lord invites us to this Sacrament of his love where He himself is our
nourishment. Let us live well and prepare fittingly in order to receive
Him into our hearts, with spiritual profit, and draw life from his gift.
Let
us adore Him and spread his love
When Mass is over, the Lord remains in the Blessed Sacrament as an abiding
gift. We are encouraged to visit Him and adore Him in his Eucharistic
presence.
Pope
John
Paul
II
wrote
as follows: “The Church and the world have a great need for Eucharistic
worship.
Jesus
awaits us in this sacrament of love. Let us not refuse the time to go to
meet him in adoration, in contemplation full of faith, and open to making
amends for the serious offences and crimes of the world. Let our adoration
never cease” (Dominicae Cenae (1980), No. 3).
We are blessed to have many adoration chapels in the Diocese where people
spend time in prayer with the Lord. Here they pray for vocations, they ask
for the graces they need, they give thanks for God’s many benefits and
they make amends for the sins and negligence of many. It is my wish that
every parish of the Diocese would have some time set aside, even it be
only a number of hours in the week, when the Blessed Sacrament is exposed
for public adoration.
We are now in the days of Lent. It is a time of prayer and
conversion. Pope Benedict XVI has asked us to make Lent this year a period
in which we thank God for his great love to us in this holy Sacrament and
spread that love to others: “Let us live Lent then, as a
“Eucharistic” time in which, welcoming the love of Jesus, we learn to
spread it around us with every word and deed…. May Lent be for every
Christian a renewed experience of God’s love given to us in Christ, a
love that each day we, in turn, must “regive” to our neighbour,
especially to the one who suffers most and is in need” (Message of Pope
Benedict for Lent 2007).
May Lent help us all to experience God’s love for us and increase
our respect for his abiding presence.
|
