Jun 19 Thu
How can I get more from the Mass?
To celebrate or to offer the Holy Mass with greater fruit, we should consider that:
• The Mass is the most important event that happens to mankind each day.
• The Mass is the center of Christian life. All the sacraments, prayers, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, spiritual communions, devotions, and mortifications offered to God have the Mass as their central point of reference. If the center were to disappear (e.g., if attendance at Mass were to be consciously abandoned), then the whole Christian life would collapse.
• Even our concern for the others, our apostolate, should take its root in the Mass.
• The Mass is the most pleasing offering we can make to God.
These ideas may help you to participate better in the Holy Mass:
• Pray on the way to Mass. Whether you drive to a distant chapel or walk down the street to a cathedral, turn your attention to the coming celebration. Prepare your soul for Communion with acts of love of God. Make acts of contrition and atonement to make up to the Lord for past failures.
• Use your Missal, if you have one, or the missalette available in the church. By reading and following the prayers of the priest, you can avoid distractions.
• Offer this sublime sacrifice in union with the Church. Live the Holy Mass feeling yourself to be part of the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, the people of God. Be united to the bishop of the diocese where the Mass is being offered and to the pope, the Vicar of Christ for the universal Church.
• Be united to the sacrifice of Jesus who is the only Victim. By doing so, you also offer to God the Father through Christ, and with the Holy Spirit, all the sacrifices, sufferings, self-denials, and tribulations of each day.
• Have the necessary preparation for Communion. If you are going to receive Holy Communion, you need—besides being in the state of grace—to have the right intention and keep the Eucharistic fast.
(a) The right intention in receiving Communion means having this good purpose: to please God.
(b) The eucharistic fast requires abstaining from eating and drinking, except water and medicine, for one hour before actual Communion time. The sick and the elderly, as well as those who take care of them, may receive Holy Communion even if they have taken something within the hour.
(c) We are bound to receive Holy Communion, under serious obligation, at least once a year—ordinarily in Easter time—and when we are in danger of death.
(d) Holy Communion may be received a second time on the same day when one attends Holy Mass again on that day, and when one receives the Blessed Sacrament as viaticum in danger of death.
• Complete the Mass with an intense thanksgiving. Thus, your Mass will have direct influence on your work, your family life, your dealings with others, and the manner you will spend the rest of your day. In short, the Mass should not be an isolated event of the day; rather, it should be the inspiration and the dynamo of all your actions.
• Turn the whole day into a continuous preparation for the holy sacrifice by working and praying, by making spiritual communions, and, at the same time, into a never-ending act of thanksgiving. For a Christian, all honest activities can be turned into prayer.
• Imitate the piety of the Blessed Virgin and ask her for it. While our Lord offered and immolated his flesh, Mary offered and immolated her spirit. Participate in each Mass as if it were your last.