What’s So Special About The Mass?

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Henry used to be a Catholic, at least that’s how he refers to himself.  I don’t know if he was ever a “good” Catholic, I doubt it. But he’s still my friend; we still talk, and I care about him.

The other day we were talking about the Mass. For me, it’s a Holy Mass, and a blessing from God, but not for Henry. He won’t say anything “bad” about the Mass; that is, Bad as in evil. “ The Mass is just a waste of time.” That’s his comment, which he believes is neutral because it’s nothing, neither good nor bad. He insists that The Mass is only a show,  a performance, one that he has no interest in.

Well, I listened. It hurt to hear him speak of the Holy Mass in this way. I respected his honesty, and I prayed for a way to respond to him. I didn’t care for him less, but I worried about him more. I decided to focus on the healing aspect of the Holy Mass. As an example of God’s healing power, I told him about Moses healing God’s people when they looked upon a serpent on a pole. The event which took place during the Exodus is as follows:

the people complained against God and Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!’     

In punishment the Lord sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died. Then the people came to Moses and said, ‘We have sinned in complaining against the Lord and you.  Pray the Lord to take the serpents from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people, and the Lord said, ‘Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and if anyone who has been bitten looks at it , he will recover.’ Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he recovered (Numbers 21:5-9, NAB).

I explained to Henry that just as the snake on the pole represented sin. Sin had the capacity to absorb the sins of the people unto itself, thus, healing the people.  As Moses lifted up the serpent, all who looked upon it were healed. They were healed because they willingly came to Moses, looked upon the snake on the pole, and wanted to be healed. The poison was removed from their bodies, and sin was removed from their souls. But what happened to those who didn’t go to him? Well, they died. The poison in their bodies and the sickness in their souls died together.

The same thing happens during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. If we willingly offer our pain and our sufferings to Jesus during the Eucharistic prayer, He will “collect” our sufferings and our pain, and make our bodies and souls whole:

Upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53: 5, NAB).

And how does this “healing” take place? It happens by the grace of God because the Mass is a miracle, a miracle every day, every time. But Henry went to Mass and never experienced, or perhaps he has forgotten, “this miracle.” So, he just doesn’t believe it.  What went wrong? How did Henry miss “the miracle of the Mass?”

Well, just like the Israelites in the desert, some were healed, and some were not; some lived and some died. Our free will is a determining factor. Whenever, however, and wherever we turn to God, repent of our wrongdoing, and ask for His mercy and forgiveness, it is granted. However, we must offer our sufferings, our pain, and problems to Him, asking for His help. There is no better place to do this than during the Eucharistic prayer because his “real presence” at the altar allows us to join our sufferings to his sufferings completed on Calvary.

Jesus is constantly calling us to Himself:

Come to me, all who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light (Matthew 11:28-30, NAB).

During his three-year ministry, Jesus was present to us as he walked on this earth, healing people wherever he went. Today, he is still present to us in many ways, especially and totally through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

In the past, Jesus healed people who came to him in faith. Remember the blind man sitting by the roadside? As Jesus passed by, he shouted: “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!” He was calling out in Faith, and he was healed (Luke 18: 35-43, NAB). Likewise, when the centurion approached Jesus and asked him to heal his servant, he came in faith, and his servant was healed:

And Jesus said to the centurion, ‘You may go; as you have believed, let it be done for you.’ And at that very hour his servant was healed (Matthew 8: 13, NAB).

Did those people then have more faith than we have now? Did they have more faith because he was physically present to them?  When St. Thomas doubted, Jesus said (to him, then, and to us, now):  “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” (John 20: 27-29, NAB).  Jesus is still “physically” with us. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states clearly that:

In the blessed sacrament of the Eucharist ‘the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained’  (CCC 1374).

In the presence of Jesus during the Holy sacrifice of the Mass weak faith becomes stronger, strong faith becomes apostolic, and no faith walks away with nothing, just like my friend Henry.

I encourage you, the reader, to test this hypothesis: “greater faith leads to greater healing” by going into a Catholic Church, anytime, with or without the Mass, or the church service. Just enter, and pray quietly to the real presence of Jesus in the blessed sacrament (residing in the Tabernacle). Ask him if this hypothesis is valid. Most Catholic Churches are open in the morning after daily Mass. You are welcome. And that welcome most certainly extends to the Mass itself. If you haven’t been to Mass in a while, go, pray, and see what happens! Bring your faith, and depart in peace.

 

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8 thoughts on “What’s So Special About The Mass?”

  1. I like your reference to the snake bites and lifting up of a snake on a pole – and the looking upon that brought healing after people were being bitten by the poisonous snakes – and likening it to the holy sacrifice of the mass. My own experience was not the mass, itself (at first), but rather looking (intently) upon a crucifix (much like looking upon the serpent on the pole) that initiated my personal healing. Once I allowed myself to gaze upon the crucifix (as long as necessary) and “see” the depth of the excruciating torment that Jesus voluntarily experienced for the expiation of MY sin(s), I became overwhelmingly remorseful and deeply sorrowful, which in turn became my personal healing – as this experience led me to a much deeper understanding of the holy sacrifice of the mass and what it truly means. Making the stations of the cross at times also grows the intensity of this healing, as the further reflection of His passion embraces the extent of the suffering of Jesus deeper and deeper.

    1. Intellectualist

      The US Surgeon General Dr Murthy endorsed religious participation as a cure to the US epidemic of loneliness. He equated the ill effects of non participation as being as harmful as obesity or smoking cigarettes. Call all your Henry’s back in they’re needed.

  2. Pingback: TVESDAY AFTERNOON EDITION – Big Pulpit

  3. The interesting thing about healing faith and trust in God is that it can be part of how we relate to God at all times and in all places; then, we can be at peace as much as possible (cf. 1Peter 5:5-7; Philippians 4:6-7; James 4:5-10).

  4. The Agnostic, atheists and humanists in our society are God’s thought police and saviors to the flock. The better angels are everywhere but in Church where they’re needed. This has to stop. The clergy must enjoin the non pious and get their help because those who don’t need a deity figure to defer to channel their emotional pain and suffering into helping others . The power of God is diminished if all the angels aren’t present.

  5. Henry didn’t need to pray he needed to talk to the other parishioners and help answer their prayers with advice and counsel to grant them the miracles they pray for.

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