The Mass: What is it really?

I have been exposed to the Mass as early as three years of age. That is the result of having purely Catholic parents, something very uncommon in the Filipino-Chinese community. But I would not know what the Mass is then. I would simply go to the Church, and blow out every candle that was on the offering stand. At around six of age, I would go to Mass with my mother but as most kids were, was not attentive. I would keep on looking at my watch and see if it was already an hour. If it was I would be very restless until my parents would decide to go home. At around grade 2, after finishing my first Holy Communion, I started to behave well during the Mass, but that does not mean that I was listening attentively. In my grade school, and high school, we always have an anticipated Sunday Mass during Saturday afternoons. We won’t have classes for an hour. This way they could “force” students to attend the Mass, though encourage is a better word, but not in this situation. My mature outlook on the Mass only started when I am in high school. This is partly because my brother joined the Knights of the Altar Society (KAS), our school’s organization of young acolytes. He was very active with the organization, forcing me to do so, with that came my active participation of the Holy Eucharist. I would attend the chapel Masses every morning. That was the time I felt comfortable during the Mass. It is as if the Mass recharges me everyday. During my 4th year recollection, my favorite priest, Father Peterson Tieng of the Lorenzo Mission Institute gave a very comprehensive and complete lecture about the Mass. He explained every detail well and gave a lot of real-life examples to strengthen his point. It was only then that I realized the meaning and the origin of what I have been doing as an acolyte for the past years. But now, I am at my decline when it comes to the Mass. Because of my schedule, I am not able to attend any chapel Masses anymore. I needed to join a Catholic group that meets every Sunday just to keep me motivated to attend Mass every Sunday. This is such an irony, being an acolyte who should be dedicated in the celebration of the Eucharist.

What then is the Mass. The Holy Eucharist was instituted by Jesus Himself during the Last Supper.( Matthew 28: 26-30) In this verse, we see Jesus breaking the bread and sharing the wine with the words “Do this in memory of me.” This is spoken during the Breaking of the Bread in the Holy Mass. With this act, Jesus celebrated the first Eucharist. One thing I learned form the presider of the talk was that it is not right to say that Father X celebrated the Mass and Father Y concelebrated the Mass. It is because it is not only the priest who celebrates the Mass, but each one of us is with him celebrating the same Mass. The priest serves only as a presider and is not the only celebrant. I also remember the reading form the Apostles’ Creed stating that when we celebrate Mass, it is the celebration of the whole Church. By that it means that it is not only us living human beings that partake in the celebration, God is there, the angels are there, the saints are there, and our departed are also present. It is in the celebration of the Eucharist that we really gather to serve as the whole Catholic Church. The Eucharist is also the perfect and highest form of prayer. Perfect because it is already in itself a prayer of thanksgiving, contrition, petition and praise. It is the highest form of prayer because the whole Mass is dedicated to the Trinity. This is the reason why we stop the other forms of prayer when we are in the Mass. One touching thing the priest presider said last sunday is that he has been saying Mass for a very long time, sometimes as many as three Masses a day. He said that even though saying the Mass seems just a repetition, he never gets tired of it. He sees each Mass as a new experience where he can find the presence of God in his life. I hope that I would develop that kind of outlook towards the Mass in my life. I hope someday that I would see the each Mass as a new experience of God’s Grace. He made a very apt concluding statement, and that statement I will try to live out. My time wasn’t wasted after all.