The Mass Is Our Greatest Means To Holiness

By FATHER THEODORE BOOK

Published: September 11, 2003

This is the last in a series of articles on the Mass.

In the silence after Communion, each of the faithful prays to God, individually one with Him. Soon the familiar invocation from the celebrant, “Let us pray,” joins the personal prayers of every man, woman and child together into the unified, formal prayer of the church.

In that prayer after Communion, the priest expresses something that should be at the heart of each individual’s prayer. Thanks are given to God for the gift of the Eucharist, for Christ’s body and blood, which has just been made present on the altar and received by the faithful.

No words, no actions, could adequately give thanks for what God does for us in each and every Mass; finite thanks are insufficient for an infinite gift. God gives generously, knowing that we cannot repay Him, and graciously accepts our response, however inadequate.

In the prayer after Communion, the priest also prays that the graces we have received in the Mass may continue to sustain us when we depart. It is a worthy prayer because, real as those graces are, God will not change us without our cooperation. Our devout presence at the holy Mass has enabled us to receive Christ with faith, and God’s many graces as well, but, with His aid, we must choose to allow His grace to work in us; we must choose to make our lives more like His.

For one final time, the greeting, “The Lord be with you,” invokes God’s presence as the bond that unites priest and people. Now it is accompanied by a more solemn invocation of the Trinity.

The final blessing places God’s seal upon the heart of each believer. God’s intimate name--the Father, Son and Holy Spirit--is spoken by the priest in the act of blessing, and, as the priest traces the Sign of the Cross in the air, everyone draws it upon his body. Through the cross we can know God, through the cross we hope to reign with Him, and thus the Sign of the Cross strengthens us against the traps and temptations of the world that we prepare to face as witnesses to Christ.

The grace and joy that we have received in the Mass will be for us both our armor against the world’s attacks and the leaven that can permeate the world and win it for Christ. Nourished by the Eucharist, strengthened and sealed by the final blessing, the priest sends us out in the peace of Christ.

The end of the Mass should not be the end of our devotion, however, for just as we have received a great gift from God in the Mass, it is right that we do not treat it lightly, but give thanks to Him as our limited state allows. A few moments in quiet prayer will remind us of the wonder of what we have just done, of Who we have just received. A few words are a poor return for the gift of our Savior’s life, but if we speak them from the heart, they are a true offering.

We leave the church renewed by Christ, having been privileged to kneel before the altar where His Passion was presented anew before us, having received all the grace He won by His sacrifice upon the cross-limited only by our ability to receive it.

Let us continue to foster that grace within our hearts; let us never forget the great gift that our God has made to us by sending His only-begotten Son to die upon the cross for us, and by allowing us to be united to that Passion in the Mass. By keeping Christ’s gift to us alive within our hearts and minds, we will never stray far from Him and always be quick to return to Him.

Whenever we are tempted to impatience, we can remember God’s great patience with us. Whenever we are tempted to sin, we can remember at what price we have been redeemed from sin. Indeed, if we allow Christ’s grace to work in us, each time we go to Mass can be a chance to grow in holiness, so that we always leave closer to the Lord than when we last left Mass.

God has given us no greater means to holiness than the Mass. May we receive it as the vital nourishment that it is. May we receive it with the same love with which God gave it to us. Thus we will be prepared for the consummation of that gift, which is the perfect union with God that we hope to enjoy in heaven.

Father Theodore Book’s 15-part series of articles on the Mass began in The Georgia Bulletin on Sept. 5, 2002.