What do you invest in Mass?
When I ask people if they pray the Mass, I usually get blank stares, or when someone innocently asks if I’m going to say Mass today, I respond “no, but I’m going to pray Mass”. Other people and some youth have complained to me that they “just don’t get much out of Mass.” My response is “what do you put into it?”
While the Holy Spirit leads us to spiritual growth and wholeness it takes our desire for that growth and begins with prayer and the Mass is no exception. So much of what takes place at Mass and what we do throughout the Mass is remembrance of the life of Jesus Christ. What we remember is directly reflected in sacred scripture at every Mass, as we hear how greatly loved we are by God in Jesus Christ. Think what a miracle of new life we miss when we are not conscience during our Mass and when we don’t pray it. When we do not allow ourselves to let go and enter divine mystery, we shortchange the spiritual part of ourselves that desires love and growth. When we fail to invest in the sacrificial love and rebirth that Christ has provided for us—our faith can become empty, our gestures and replies at Mass hollow and we remain numb to the possibility of the new life that Christ provides in His Mass.
The call to come out of and be revitalized at Mass to rise up again, is certainly the focus that Christ calls us to in the Mass for this 5th Weekend of Lent. We hear of what it takes to be reborn again, we hear of Lazarus rising to renewed life, in our reading for Mass this week. As expected the Lord’s message to Lazarus applies to all of us.
Often the story is interpreted as a resurrection story, but Jesus is the only one who has been resurrected to eternal life. Lazarus was brought back to life here on earth not resurrected into heaven; brought back and given another chance to live his life with his family—another chance to see life as a tremendous gift from God.
Just as with Lazarus we are given another chance to live the Mass of Christ while at the Mass and the same chances to live the Mass with family and others after we leave church. When we truly enter the Mass and pray it we encounter what I call the 3 R’s of Spirituality –Reconciliation-Renewal-Rejoicing.
Reconcile: Mass and living Christ takes a dying to self in the process of renewal in our lives. We are called by the Lord to come out of those dark tomb-like places into His forgiving arms. We are called to help one another take off those bandages that can blind us from seeing Christ in one another. Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have mercy. Absolution for our lesser sins then takes place in Christ through the priest who includes himself in the prayer of forgiveness. May Almighty God have mercy on us forgive us our sins, and lead us to life everlasting. Amen. These words forgive our venial lesser sins if we are truly penitent, not the mortal those require individual confession. reconciliation also takes place right here at Mass—when the Lord unites us as sisters and brothers-children of God the Father in the Lord’s prayer: forgive us our trespasses as we forgive one another–we feel lighter, life is worth living again, if we truly pray the words and meaning–
Renewal: We are called to remember how greatly loved we are by God as the readings speak of that love over 3500 years of calling us back to God through salvation history as we hear scripture proclaimed. Come back to family, come back in our actions and deeds and live renewed. But how many people pray to allow the Eucharist to break into their lives, be attentive and open?
There are also other times in the Mass, like the Creed, we state our faith beliefs to remind us of how we want to believe and live, to provide a foundation of security for those many challenges out there. Renewal can also be in marriage life that was stagnating and taking from the graces and blessings of the Mass into the marriage a reminder of vowed life, covenant, like the Creed.
Rejoicing: takes place for all of us when we hear that the Lord forgives us during His Mass through His sacrifice. Christ also invites us to pray for one another and we do so throughout the Mass realizing we are not alone—that we raise one another to Him. In our intercessions “we pray to the Lord” and respond: Lord hear our prayer.
And then we come to the table for a blessing or to take part in the meal of His reconciling, renewing, and rejoicing love for us, and we are made alive again in him. Although not all may receive Communion for many reasons, all can receive the graces of His presence, a spiritual blessing through His sacrificial gift and offering of himself and by our prayers for one another at Communion. Offer your Communion for others here and in the world.
Through such encounters, survival of human suffering or even in the midst of human suffering, Jesus the Christ shows us how to live like Him, how to help be Him for others, and that too is the journey of the Mass. Dying to self is the process, taking our suffering our pain, offering it up to Him on the cross for the good of others who may be suffering more than we are—is a Catholic spiritual gift. Therefore the Mass of Remembrance –Reconciling-Renewing-Rejoicing helps us see how sacred and holy our life is even during suffering—and how sacred and holy each one of us is to Christ and one another. Pray the Mass—you have everything to gain.