As Catholics we put a lot of time effort and teaching about the Mass. The Second Vatican Council called the Mass the Source and Summit of everything we have.
We give our best at every mass. The priests and deacons wear the best clothes the best vestments and bring with them their best selves. The Altar Servers do the same. Those behind the scene do as much. The Choir, the musicians and the Readers. We even hear from the people that they are wearing the Sunday best.
We don’t do these things for anything else, but when worshipping God… because he gave us life, our loved one’s life; he gave us this world and all of the wonders surrounding us and our response to this is basically Thank You. You are our God and we are your people.
Quest for God
Like our own parents, when we are young our goal is to do the right things and to avoid doing bad. We learn these ways over time. Since man was created there has been a quest to know the God of the Universe. He was talking to us for all time, but we didn’t know how to talk back.
Originally it was not like that. God instilled the soul into two human beings we know them as Adam and Eve. Since the 1800’s scientists scoffed at that notion. Deriding this story as fanciful at best or manipulation at worst. In the 1990’s we began the Human genome project. This program looks to map our human DNA and see what things that brings us. This project is allowing us to find today through scientific research that indeed Human beings started with a single man and single woman.
We can make of that what you will… We should take from that God created man and woman in His own image and likeness. It wasn’t just random happenstance. God created the universe and God created mankind. God is good and since mankind was in his image and likeness… Mankind was good.
Sin entered the world and broke our relationship
Something happened… At some point, for some reason mankind through pride broke with God and thought they could do it themselves. Sin was born into the world and like a disease carried on to each and every human being created. It is part of our brokenness. Our senses are dulled, we used to speak directly to God, but because of our break this one on one communication is hampered by our Sin. We cannot have a clean relationship with God if we allow sin to remain.
Sin almost comes naturally to us… put a child in the kitchen with his/her hand in the cookie jar taking a cookie… the parent comes in and asks What are you doing? The child will release the cookie and say “Nothing” We all get it… someone asks who did this horrible thing… either I don’t know or point to someone else. We lie without difficulty, we steal, we do not listen to rules and we offend god with our sexual habits and when things settle down we think to ourselves… boy was that a stupid thing to do… I have to apologize ask forgiveness of that person. And that person may forgive may not forgive. But you give it a try.
God can do many things
But because we want to bring our best to the Mass we also want to apologize to God. Jesus knows what we go through. He was bludgeoned, he was spat on… he was lied to, he was stolen from. Everyone abandoned him, he saw people suffering with illness, disease, mental and physical issues. Demons inside making life hard. Physical ailments such as paralysis and weakness… and he saw the thing that hurt him the most lack of faith in Him/God. He is able to cure all of these things and because he is God, He can forgive all of the sin and hatred, but we have to do our part.
We have to want to be cleansed/fixed/repaired… take a look at this video from the show Chosen
What we have learned
This is what Jesus can do. Why because he wants us to bring our best… get rid of our worst and bring his best… Jesus offers us a way to rid ourselves of the grit grime, dirt, lying, cheating, bad thoughts, bad actions.
Remember at some point mankind broke with God and sin was brought into the world. Sin, illness and even death. HE wants our relationship to be one on one. Would it not make sense that He gave us a way of removing any and all of the sin we have on our souls. And we just saw that Jesus can forgive sin and allow us to continue our lives as it should be. The pressures of life, of repeated sin, distrust hatred etc. come down to not having faith in the one we should have no doubts. This is what we saw in that little clip. The man took all of his troubles physical and psychological and pointed his finger at everything else but him. ‘No one will help me in to the pool’, ‘they push me away’, ‘they get in my way’, ‘they won’t they this they that…
Jesus gift to us
But Jesus shows us that while many if not all of these things may be true… by acknowledging his own faults pains, messiness… he could indeed pick up his mat and begin again.
And that is what we do with Confession. We do not speak to another man when we are in the confessional… We are speaking to Jesus. Yes, there is a human being there… but it is a priest The one who has been ordained as the person of Christ. When you in complete humility, say Forgive Me Father for I have sinned…. It has been this amount of time since my last confession…. You are acknowledging your brokenness. You are opening your faults to God murder rape, looting, not listening to your parents and trying to take a cookie. It is you and Jesus in that room. That third guy there cannot even acknowledge you were there. But Jesus can and will… That mat you have been hiding behind for perhaps even decades you will be able to stand, pickup that old mat and now move onward. The closeness one has with Jesus is incredible.
We are clean, we love and are loved
And you are clean of sin and can now partake fully in the greatest gift Jesus gives to us… The Mass.
You can worship easier, you know there is nothing anyone can hold against you because you are free.. you can be active and fully participate in the Worship of God, hearing God speak to you through the readings, offer those things you can offer to God and receive the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist and now filled with Jesus amend your life make it even better.
Many don’t realize what happens at the Mass… we think of 4 dimensions, height, width, depth and time… But, when we are about to sing the Holy Holy Holy at Mass… the priest will say that we are singing with all of the angels and saints. Those we know like Saint Peter, Saint Augustine, Saint Christopher, Saint Joan of Arc, etc. But, also all those who have made it to Heaven. Perhaps our grandparents, our great grandparents, other family members who have made it to heaven. It is not just the dimensions which we can touch feel and see.. but those we cannot… all those things visible and invisible (remember that from the creed?)
Jesus’ greatest gift
And then Jesus transforming the bread and wine into His body and blood… again it is not man doing this… we cannot… but God can and He does (the priest as In the person of Christ) at each Mass, feeding us as He promised He would. The Covenant love of God and humanity will not end… He wants us with him forever and ever
So now we look at the mass quite differently don’t we… we see the problems we are facing head on we offer these to Our Lord for his help and guidance. We together with Christ work together bringing us peace. The range of people from newly born with life ahead to those older who live in faith looking to God for all things good
God Bless each of you! Here is a link to the USCCB readings