What is the Mass

Excerpts from the book, A Biblical Walk Through The Mass: Understanding What We Say and Do in the Liturgy written by Edward Sri, S.T.D. and printed by Ascension Press in 2011.

The Church has often used the image of “two tables” to express the continuity between the two main parts of the Mass. God’s people are nourished from the table of holy Scripture, which is proclaimed in the Liturgy of the Word. Then they are fed with the body of Our Lord at the table of the Eucharist. These two parts of the Mass are not merely juxtaposed, but have an inner unity, so much so that, together, they form” one single act of worship”. We need both the inspired word of God in Scripture and the Incarnate Word of God present in the Blessed Sacrament.

From the time of the apostles, the Mass has been the central act of Christian worship. The Mass is nothing less than the celebration of the Eucharist that Jesus instituted at the Last Supper. The saving mystery of Jesus’ death and resurrection is foreshadowed and concentrated forever in the gift of the Eucharist. On the night before he died, Jesus instituted the Eucharist as the memorial of his death and resurrection and as a pledge of his love. Jesus, at the Last Supper, was already anticipating his sacrifice on the cross when he referred to his body and blood being offered like a Passover lamb being sacrificed. When Jesus said, “Do this in memory of me,” he was commanding the apostles to make present as a biblical memorial the sacrifice offering his body and blood at the Last Supper.

The sacrifice taking place in the Mass is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who in his death on the cross offered his life as a total gift to the Father and redeemed the world. It sacramentally makes present Christ’s redeeming sacrifice on Calvary, so that its saving power may be more fully applied to our lives. The Mass “re-presents” the sacrifice of the cross. In the Eucharist the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ is substantially contained. The Eucharist is not merely a symbol of Jesus, nor is Christ only spiritually present in some vague way in the bread and wine. The Catholic Church affirms that when the priest at Mass recites the words of Jesus at the moment of concentration, the bread and wine on the alter are changed into Christ’s body and blood. This change, however, is not a chemical one. The chemical structures of bread and wine remain the same, but underneath these appearances, Jesus’ body and blood is really present in the Eucharist.

“Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed, He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him” (John 6:53-56). He thus continues to be Emmanuel – God with us – in each and every Mass celebrated throughout the world. We should never take this gift for granted. Christ’s presence continues to abide in the Eucharist species even outside of Mass for as long as the sacred species remain. In all the Tabernacles throughout the world, Jesus continues to be Emmanuel, God with us.

“The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a communion in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a communion in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.” (1 Corinthians 10:16-17). Eating the sacrificial lamb was an essential part of the Passover celebration. If Jesus is the new Passover Lamb who was sacrificed for our sins, it would seem fitting that there would be a communion meal accompanying his sacrifice on the cross.

God comes to us sacramentally on our altars at Mass and remains present to us outside of Mass in the tabernacle. In Holy Communion, Our Lord enters our bodies, joining himself to our souls in this most intimate union. We have become living tabernacles, housing the presence of the God-man himself. This is the time to rest with our Lord who has so lovingly come to dwell within us. By nourishing ourselves with the Eucharistic body and blood of Christ, we are gradually transformed by his very life dwelling within us.