Today is the Sunday of the Word of God. This Sunday has been instituted by Pope Francis as an opportunity for the whole Church to deepen our knowledge of Scripture.
St. Jerome tells us ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ, the Bible itself is a wonderful guide to the Holy Mass. We hear of Abel, Abraham and Melchizedek in the Roman canon, Eucharistic Prayer 1, we hear of angels and cherubim, of sacrifices long ceased and sacrificial victims, those things offered to God.
Without a knowledge of scripture, we miss the richness of what is happening at Mass.
I want to go through some things about the Mass which show us the benefits we receive by coming to Mass and by actively participating, singing with our lips and praying in our hearts.
- For your salvation, God the Father sends His beloved Son down from Heaven.
This is the biblical story. - For your salvation, the Holy Spirit changes bread and wine into the true Body
and Blood of Christ. - For your sake, the Son of God comes down from Heaven and conceals Himself
under the form of the sacred Host. - He even humbles Himself to such an extent as to be present in the minutest
particle of the sacred Host. - For your salvation, He renews the saving mystery of the Incarnation.
- For your salvation, He is born anew into the world in a mystical manner
whenever Holy Mass is celebrated. - For your salvation He performs upon the altar the same acts of worship that
He performed when on earth. - For your salvation, He renews his bitter Passion, in order that you may
participate in it. - For your salvation, He mystically renews His death and sacrifices for you His
precious life. - For your salvation, He sheds his Blood in a mystical manner and offers it up
for you to the Divine Majesty. - With this Precious Blood He sprinkles your soul and purifies it from every
stain. - For you, Christ offers Himself as a true burnt offering and renders to the
Godhead the supreme honour which is its due. - By offering this act of worship to God, you make amends for the glory which
you have failed to give Him. - For you Christ offers himself to God as a sacrifice of praise, thus atoning for
your omissions in praising His Holy Name. - By offering to God this oblation (something offered to God) which Christ
offers, you give Him greater praise than do the holy Angels. - For you Christ offers Himself as a perfect sacrifice of thanksgiving, making
compensation for all failures on your part to give thanks. - By offering to God Christ’s act of thanksgiving you make a generous
acknowledgment of all the benefits He has bestowed upon you. - For you Christ offers Himself as the All-powerful Victim, reconciling you to
the God whom you have offended. - He pardons you all your venial sins, provided you are firmly resolved to
forsake them. - He also makes reparation for many of your sins of omission, when you left
undone the good you might have done. - He removes many of the imperfections attaching to your good deeds.
- He forgives you the sins, unknown or forgotten, which you have never
mentioned in Confession. - He offers Himself as a victim to make satisfaction for a part, at least, of your
debts and transgressions. - Each time you come to Mass, you can do more to pay the penalty due to
your sins than by the severest work of penance. - Christ places to your credit a portion of His merits, which you may offer to
God the Father in expiation of your offenses. - For you Christ offers Himself as the most efficacious peace-offering,
interceding for you as earnestly as He interceded for His enemies on the Cross. - His Precious Blood pleads for you in words as countless as the drops which
issued from His sacred veins. - Each of the adorable wounds His Sacred Body bore is a voice calling aloud
for mercy for you. - For the sake of this propitiatory (appeasing) Victim, the petitions offered
during Mass will be granted far sooner than those that are offered at other
times. - Never can you pray so well as while present at Mass.
- This is so because Christ unites His prayers to yours and offers them to His
heavenly Father. - He acquaints Him with your needs and the dangers to which you are
exposed and makes your eternal salvation His particular concern. - The Angels also who are present plead for and present your prayers before
the throne of God. - On your behalf the priest says Mass, by virtue of which the evil enemy will
not be suffered to approach you. - For you and for your everlasting salvation he says Mass and offers that Holy
Sacrifice to God Almighty. - When you participate in Mass, you are yourself in spirit a priest, empowered
by Christ to offer the Mass both for yourself and others. - By offering this Holy Sacrifice you present to the Blessed Trinity the most
acceptable of all oblations. - You offer an oblation precious indeed, of greater value than all things in
Heaven and earth. - You offer an oblation precious indeed, for it is none other than God Himself.
- By this Sacrifice you honour God as He alone is worthy to be honoured.
- By this Sacrifice you give infinite satisfaction to the Most Holy Trinity.
- You may present this glorious oblation as your own gift, for Christ Himself
gave it to you. - When you participate in Mass correctly, you perform an act of highest
worship. - By coming to Mass you pay the most profound reverence, the most loyal
homage, to the sacred humanity of Our Lord. - It is the best means whereby to venerate the Passion of Christ and obtain a
share in its fruits. - It is also the best means of venerating the Blessed Mother of God and
increasing her joy. - By participating in Mass you can give greater honour to the Angels and
Saints than by reciting many prayers. - By coming to Mass devoutly, you can also enrich your soul more than by
anything else in the world. - For in this act you perform a good work of the highest value.
- It is an exercise of pure faith, which will receive a great reward.
- When you bow down before the Sacred Host and the sacred chalice, you
perform a supreme act of adoration. - For each time that you gaze reverently upon the Sacred Host, you will
receive a recompense in Heaven. - Each time you strike your breast with remorse, some of your sins are
remitted to you. - If you come to Mass in the state of mortal sin, God offers you the grace of
conversion, which can be fulfilled in confession. - If you come to Mass in the state of grace, God gives you an enlargement of
grace. - In Holy Mass you sacramentally eat the Flesh of Christ and drink His Blood.
- You are privileged to behold with your eyes Christ hidden under the
sacramental veil, and to be beheld by Him. - You receive the priest’s blessing, which is confirmed by Christ in Heaven.
- Through your diligence in hearing Mass, you will also obtain physical and
earthly blessings. - Furthermore, you will be preserved from many misfortunes that would
otherwise befall you. - You will also be strengthened against temptations which would otherwise
have vanquished you. - Holy Mass will also be to you a means of obtaining the grace of a holy death.
- The love you have shown for Holy Mass will secure for you the special
assistance of Angels and Saints in your last moments. - The remembrance of the Masses heard in your lifetime will be a sweet
consolation to you in the hour of death and inspire you with confidence in the
divine mercy. - They will not be forgotten when you stand before the Judge and will incline
Him to show you favour. - You need not fear a long and terrible Purgatory if you already, to a great
extent, atoned for your sins by frequently assisting at Holy Mass. - One Mass devoutly heard will do more to mitigate the pains of Purgatory
than any act of penance, however difficult of performance. - One Mass in your lifetime will be of greater service to you than many said
for you after death. - You will attain a high place in Heaven, which will be yours for all eternity.
- Your happiness in Heaven will be increased by every Mass you hear on
earth. - No prayers offered for your friends will be as useful as a single Mass offered
on their behalf. - You can amply recompense all who have been kind to you by coming to
Mass for their intention. - The best help, the greatest consolation, you can afford the afflicted, the sick,
the dying, is to hear Mass for them. - By this same means you can even obtain for sinners the grace of conversion.
- You can also earn for all faithful Christians saving and helpful graces.
- For the Suffering Souls in Purgatory you can obtain much help.
- And if it is not within your power to have Mass said for your departed
friends, you can by devout assistance at the Holy Sacrifice release them from
many torments.
A priest once said:
“If Christians only knew how to profit by Holy Mass, they might acquire greater riches than are to be found in all the things God has created.”
We have indeed a precious storehouse of graces in the Mass: happy those who can earn treasures so great at the cost of so little labour! Who would willingly miss Mass? Who would not delight in participating in it?
Let us, brothers and sisters, resolve never to lose an opportunity of going to Mass, and learn the Holy Scriptures so we can better understand this great sacrifice made for us and for the whole world
St. Mary's, St. John Bosco and St. Edward's 