{"id":2602,"date":"2023-10-03T18:42:46","date_gmt":"2023-10-03T13:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stsebastianaquem.com\/web\/?p=2602"},"modified":"2023-10-03T18:42:46","modified_gmt":"2023-10-03T13:12:46","slug":"the-sacrifice-of-the-mass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stsebastianaquem.com\/web\/the-sacrifice-of-the-mass\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sacrifice of the Mass"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Mass is the very center of our Faith. It is the greatest, holiest and most mystical (meaning strange, mysterious) act on earth. It is the highest form of prayer; an act of adoration we make before God. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is both a Sacrifice and a Meal. It is a Sacrifice because it represents the One, Perfect Sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary and we participate in that Sacrifice. It is a Meal \u2013 re-presents the Last Supper of Jesus. In the Mass we have Holy Communion with God and also with one another.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Mass goes all the way back to the time of the Apostles. Immediately after the Ascension of Jesus, the Apostles continued to worship in the Temple that they regularly attended, and took part in the written word i.e the Scriptures. Then they would go to someone\u2019s house for the Breaking of the Bread, because Jesus said, \u201cDo this in memory of me\u201d,when He took the Bread and then the Wine at the last Supper and transformed them into His Body and Blood. So at every Mass, the Church is responding to that Command of Christ.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Mass is celebrated for 4 reasons: –\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Adoration of God \u2013 because we are His sons and daughters.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Thanksgiving \u2013 we owe a great thanksgiving to God \u2013 the source of all goodness.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Atonement \u2013 to remind us of our sinfulness & unworthiness before God.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Petition \u2013 we ask God for help to grow in holiness through our life.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Sunday Mass is of great importance. Sunday is the Day of the Lord. Sunday Worship is an opportunity to enter into a closer union with God. Sunday is also the Day of Humanity, when we are re-created on this day of Rest. It is a time for Adoration but also a day to spend with the family doing things that draw us closer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    The Mass IS NOT MEANT FOR ENTERTAINMENT. It is meant for TRANSFORMATION. The World wants us to look at the Entertainment Value. So there are murmurings that the homily was boring. It didn\u2019t make me laugh; Father did not tell a joke or a story. These are surface things. At Mass we are placed before the cross \u2013 the actual presence of Jesus. The Mass is Heaven & Earth coming together \u2013 We give ourselves wholly to God and let Almighty God give Himself to us in the Eucharist. A person, who does not understand, appreciate or believe what is happening at Mass, will call it boring. Sadly, most people don\u2019t understand that God comes to touch us with the Gift of Faith and of the Holy Eucharist. Perhaps they\u2019ve never been told or explained.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    In view of the above, it is important \u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. to enter the Church a few minutes early, to get recollected and experience the Mass.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    2. to genuflect in order to acknowledge the Real presence of Jesus in the Tabernacle. It is an act of reverence to the King of Kings.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    3. to thank God for allowing us to be present at the Sacrifice of Jesus.<\/span><\/li>\n
    4. to ask the Holy spirit to help us to pray and to keep away from distractions.<\/span><\/li>\n
    5. to focus on your Intentions \u2013 what you want to put on the altar.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    6. to listen to the Readings to hear God speaking. It is amazing how God uses the Scriptures to speak to our hearts. Sometimes the opening Prayer or the Response to the Psalm can be the exact Word one needs.<\/span><\/li>\n
    7. to listen to the Homily which is an explanation of the day\u2019s Readings and its application to one\u2019s life.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    8. when we recite the Gloria we give Glory to the Trinity.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    9. The Creed is a summary of the Doctrines of our Faith. We have the privilege to stand and pray together.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    10. at offertory gifts are brought forward from the congregation to the priest but only the Bread & wine go on the altar. These are to become the Sacrifice of the Mass.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    11. at Consecration the bell is rung to indicate the presence and power of the Holy Spirit being called down on the Bread & wine.\u00a0 We are present at Calvary as the priest offers the Body & Blood of Jesus to God the Father.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    12. At Communions, we receive the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus. If this truth touches your soul, your life will change; You will be carrying within you the SON OF GOD always.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      I pray that you will never take the Sacrifice of Jesus lightly.\u00a0 God so loved the world i.e. us sinners \u2013 as to send His only begotten Son to suffer brutally, be nailed to the Cross, die and rise on the third day, solely to save us and take us back to Father\u2019s Kingdom for all eternity. What a Precious, Priceless, Powerful gift to us undeserving sinners. Can we ask for anything more?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      J.Rodrigues\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      The Mass is the very center of our Faith. It is the greatest, holiest and most mystical (meaning strange, mysterious) act on earth. It is the highest form of prayer; an act of adoration we make before God. The Holy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pormoll"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stsebastianaquem.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stsebastianaquem.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stsebastianaquem.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stsebastianaquem.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stsebastianaquem.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2602"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.stsebastianaquem.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2604,"href":"http:\/\/www.stsebastianaquem.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602\/revisions\/2604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stsebastianaquem.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stsebastianaquem.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stsebastianaquem.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}