“We should love the Mass.” (Saint Josemaria).
I try to attend Holy Mass as often as possible.
I used to be lucky enough to attend Mass daily, but these days I generally attend about four times a week.
And often people ask my how it is or why it is that I attend Holy Mass so frequently. And my response never varies… I attend Mass as often as possible because the Holy Mass is the most profound form of prayer and the Blessed Eucharist is the most access that I could ever possibly imagine.
Saint Josemaria advised in “The Forge” at 69, “Keep struggling, so that the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar really becomes the centre and the root of your interior life, and so your whole day will turn into an act of worship - an extension of the Mass you have attended and a preparation for the next. Your whole day will then be an act of worship that overflows in aspirations, visits to the Blessed Sacrament and the offering up of your professional work and your family life.”
The Holy Mass is the communion of the Angels and the Saints. In other words, quite literally, all of Heaven unites with us in the Holy Mass. This means that when I wish to feel closer to my little boy who died before he was even born, I can celebrate the Mass – quite literally WITH HIM (and all the angels and saints and elect). This means that when I need respite from the world and want to lay down my burden, I can literally do it during the Holy Mass, when my Lord and God are not only spiritually with me – but there physically in the bread and wine that are transformed into he Body and Blood, soul and Divinity of Our Blessed Lord.
And this gift to me – this gift of giving and selflessness in God who is willing to HUMBLE Himself to be consumed by me – is a gift that I COULD never repay and SHOULD never refuse! It is a gift that shows that we are surely the children of an AWESOME God.
In “Christ is Passing”, Saint Josemaria wrote at 154, “The important thing is that we should love the Mass and make it the centre of our day. If we attend Mass well, surely we are likely to think about our Lord during the rest of the day, wanting to be always in his presence, ready to work as he worked and love as he loved. And so we learn to thank our Lord for his kindness in not limiting his presence to the time of the sacrifice of the altar. He has decided to stay with us in the host which is reserved in the tabernacle.”
And I have been thinking about that today because I have been thinking about how it is that I – a miserable soul like mine – is somehow worthy of this God… That is my thought today…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.