WHAT IS THE VALUE OF THE HOLY MASS?

WHAT IS THE VALUE OF THE HOLY MASS?

Infinite! You may ask why the Holy Mass has an infinite value and that is a legitimate question. Let us lay down the theological and objective facts:

1. Jesus remains in the Mass as the Principal Priest and Victim truly offered and sacramentally immolated

Although all of Christ’s acts were redeeming acts, there is however in his life an event which is unique and stands out above all others, and to which all other events are directed. It is the moment when the obedience and the love of the Son combine to offer to the Father a sacrifice that knows no bounds; this boundlessness is due to the dignity of the Offering and of the Priest who offers it on Calvary. It is He who remains in the Mass as the principal Priest and as the Victim truly offered and sacramentally immolated.

2. Adoration and thanksgiving are always produced in infinite plenitude during the Holy Mass because it is Christ himself who offers the Mass and in it offers himself. It is the MOST COMPLETE WORSHIP AND SERVICE TO GOD.

In the Holy Mass, the effects that relate immediately to God, such as adoration and thanksgiving are always produced in infinite plenitude.

• They do not depend on the degree of our attention, or on the fervour of the priest.
• In each Mass there are infallibly offered to God adoration, reparation and thanksgiving of limitless value, because it is Christ himself who offers the Mass and in it offers himself.
• Thus it is impossible to adore God in a better way, or to give greater recognition of his sovereign dominion over all things and all men.
• It is the most complete fulfilment of the precept: You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve (Matt 4:10).

3. The Holy Mass is the perfect reparation to God for the sins committed daily by mankind and the perfect thanksgiving for all the gifts we have received from God.

• It is impossible to make a more perfect reparation to God for the faults that are committed daily than by offering or participating with devotion in the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar (Council of Trent, Session 22, c.1).
• It is impossible to offer him greater thanks for the gifts we have received than through the Holy Mass: What shall I render to the Lord for all his bounty to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord (Ps 115:12). What a tremendous opportunity it the Mass is for us to thank God for all the good things we receive, since we no doubt some times forget to thank God for the many, many gifts He has showered upon us; the same may happen to us as happened to those lepers whom Jesus cured…

Adoration, reparation and thanksgiving are infallible effects of the sacrifice of the Mass that refer to God himself (R. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Saviour), for it is He himself who offers and is offered.

Tell Our Lord that from now on, every time you celebrate or attend Mass, and every time you administer or receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist, you will do so with greater faith, with a more burning love, just as if it were to be the last time in your life. And be sorry for the carelessness of your past life (St. Josemaria, The Forge, 829).

4. In the Holy Mass, Jesus himself prays to His Father for all men. As the origin and source of all Christian priesthood, He is the perfect Mediator between God and men.

When Jesus Christ offers himself to his Father He prays for all men. He always lives to make intercession for them (cf Heb 7:25). What better moment can we find than during the Holy Mass to approach him and ask for what we so badly need?

• Each Mass is offered by the whole Church, who in her turn makes supplication for the whole world. Each time the Holy Mass is offered it is the blood of the Cross that pours down like rain upon the world (C. Journet, The Mass).

• As well as the effects of the praise and of the adoration that are given to God, the Holy Mass also produces fruits of remission for our sins, and of impetration for all our needs. These are of themselves capable of being infinite and unlimited, but may be finite and limited according to our dispositions. This is why the preparation of our soul to attend and partake of this unique Sacrifice, and the moments of thanksgiving and recollection once the sacred action is over are so very important. Are you there, the holy Curé d’Ars asks, with the same dispositions as Our Lady on Calvary, realising that you are in the presence of God himself and are present at the enactment of that very same sacrifice? (St Jean Vianney, The Curé d’Ars, Sermon on Sin).

Let us ask Our Lady to intercede for us so that our celebration of or our participation in the Eucharistic sacrifice may become for us the fountain at which our desires for God are satisfied and ever increased.

EXCERPT FROM In Conversation with God, vol. 4, 7.2-7.3. Titles and emphases mine.

SEE AS WELL:
TOP 5 REASONS ON WHY GO TO MASS EVERY SUNDAY HERE.

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