Narcissism. Overconfidence. Low EQ. Why do we persist in selecting for leadership traits that hamper organizational progress—and leave the right potential leaders in the wrong roles?
Why do we have clowns when there are good leaders around?
News
Bully China Wanted to Own Everything
Recent acts of war of bully China on a Philippine Coast Guard and BFAR ships, once again installing a 380 meters floating barrier in Bajo de Masinloc. What will the Philippines do?
We testify because we see and believe
‘I AM HERE’: Personal Testimonies Share the Power of the Eucharist
Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron, in his pastoral letter on mission and evangelization, “Unleash the Gospel,” highlights the indispensable role of personal testimony in evangelization. “Testimony has a unique power to touch hearts since it is almost impossible to ignore the witness of someone who has encountered Jesus personally and whose life has been transformed by Him. The townspeople of the Samaritan woman at the well came to faith in Jesus because of her testimony, which eventually led them to encounter Him themselves (Jn 4:39, 42).”
Filipina 13-year-old girl considered for sainthood
By Diego Lopez Marina, ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 9, 2024 / 16:30 pm
The official portrait of Servant of God Niña Ruíz-Abad was presented to the public during the opening session of the diocesan phase of her cause for beatification and canonization at the Cathedral Church of St. William the Hermit in Laoag City on Sunday, April 7, 2024. | Credit: Portrait of Catholic Saints, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
If canonized, the young Filipina, who died in 1993 at age 13, could become one of the youngest saints in history.
The proceedings, including the Mass celebrated by Renato Mayugba, the bishop of Laoag, were posted on Facebook. The ceremony began with a procession of members of the Diocese of Laoag followed by the reading of Ruíz-Abad’s biography and the presentation of documents to the bishop, who approved them as legitimate.
Next, the documents were handed over to the officials of the diocesan tribunal, appointed by the local bishop, who will receive the testimonies of the people who knew the servant of God. This tribunal does not issue any ruling because it is reserved to the Vatican Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.
The documents also included testimonies of alleged miracles that may have occurred through the intercession of Ruíz-Abad before the opening of the canonization process. In one case, a student at Holy Spirit Academy in the city of Laoag had been seriously sick and said she was miraculously cured after praying to the Filipina teenager.
During the ceremony, Ruíz-Abad’s first relic was also unveiled, which consisted of a reliquary with a small piece of cloth that came from her clothing.
Ruíz-Abad, who died in August 1993, had a great impact through her devotion to God and her acts of charity despite suffering from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, an incurable heart disease that was diagnosed with when she was 10 years old.
Thirty years after her death, in July 2023, the formal request to open an investigation into the life of the Filipina teenager was approved by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).
The CBCP previously noted that Ruiz-Abad could serve as a “good model of piety and fortitude” for today’s youth.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Diego Lopez Marina has a degree in Communication Sciences with a specialization in journalism from the University of San Martín de Porres (Peru). He began his professional career in 2015, as an editor for the Journalistic Archive area of the Diario El Comercio. In 2016 he began working as an writer for ACI Prensa and since 2018 he has been working as a web editor.
Self-Worth is Key to Genuine Fulfillment
In my life, I’ve journeyed through a landscape marked by the highs of achievements and the lows of self-doubt, navigating the tumultuous path from equating my worth with external success to discovering the tranquility of intrinsic value. Reflecting on this journey, I realize the perilous impact of basing one’s worth on achievements. This realization wasn’t immediate; it unfolded as I grappled with anxiety and perfectionism, companions that whispered of never being enough despite the accolades.
Premarital Sex is a Mortal Sin
We live in times in which many call good or “no big deal” what God calls sinful. This is especially true in the area of sexuality, where whole sectors of our society not only tolerate but even celebrate liberal sexual practices.
And as for consent of the will, it can be admitted that some fall occasionally in a weak moment. But consistent fornicating, with no measures taken to prevent it, is not “weakness”; it is sinful neglect of prudence and common sense.
The Holy Eucharist is the Whole Christ
by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.
The most fundamental question to ask about the Blessed Sacrament is, “Who is the Holy Eucharist?” And the correct answer is: The Holy Eucharist is Jesus Christ.
There is more behind this answer than many Catholics realize. When the Council of Trent in the sixteenth century defined the meaning of the Eucharist, it declared that “the Body and Blood, together with the Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore the whole Christ, is truly, really and substantially contained in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.”
Shortly after Trent, Pope St. Pius V authorized the publication of the Roman Catechism which built on the Council of Trent and explained its teachings for the pastors of the Church.
Regarding the Real Presence, the pastors were told to explain that “in this sacrament is contained not only the true Body of Christ-and that means everything that goes to make up a true body, such as bones, nerves, and so on-but also Christ whole and entire.” Consequently the Eucharist contains Jesus Christ in the fullness of his divinity and the completeness of his humanity.
Jesus is therefore in the Blessed Sacrament “whole and entire: the Soul, the Body and Blood of Christ, with all their component parts. In heaven a complete human nature is united to the divine nature in one. . . person. It is a denial of the faith to suppose that in this sacrament there is anything less.”
It is not speculation but cold revealed fact that the Holy Eucharist is the Son of God who became the Son of Mary.
Whatever makes Christ, Christ, is in the Holy Eucharist; nothing less.
Consequently when we speak of transubstantiation, we mean that the whole substance of bread and wine, its “breadness” and “wineness,” is replaced by the living and glorified Jesus Christ. What remains of what had been bread and wine is only their external properties that can be perceived by the senses. As the Greek Fathers of the Church say, the ousia or being of bread and wine is changed into the being or reality of Jesus Christ. On the altar after the consecration there is no longer bread and wine but the same Jesus who was crucified, died and rose from the grave; and who will come in his glory on the last day to judge the living and the dead.
Is there any real difference between Jesus in heaven and Jesus in the Eucharist? No, it is the same Jesus. The only difference is in us. We now on earth cannot see or touch him with our senses. But that is not a limitation in him; it is a limitation in us.
JESUS is really now on earth in the Eucharist.
Jesus IS really now on earth in the Eucharist.
Jesus is REALLY now on earth in the Eucharist.
Jesus is really NOW on earth in the Eucharist.
Jesus is really now ON earth in the Eucharist.
Jesus is really now on EARTH in the Eucharist.
Jesus is really now on earth IN THE EUCHARIST.
The foregoing six statements, repeated and separately emphasized, explain why the Catholic Church has defended the reality of the Real Presence so strenuously down the centuries.
What else could she do? She believes that our Lord’s promise, “I will be with you all days, even to the end of the world,” is being literally fulfilled in every tabernacle of the Catholic world. He is in our midst with all that makes him man, including his pulsating Sacred Heart. And he is here to continue his work of redemption by giving us the light and strength we need to serve him with all our heart.
We speak correctly of believing in the Real Presence. But we should grow in our understanding of what this implies.
The living, breathing Jesus Christ is in the Blessed Sacrament. This is the reality. When we speak of presence, however, we are saying something more.
Two people may be really near each other physically, but not present to each other spiritually. To be present to each one means to have another person in mind by being mentally aware of their existence, and to have them in one’s heart by loving that other person.
What, then, is the most important implication of our belief that Jesus is on earth in the Holy Eucharist? It is our duty to cultivate an awareness of this fact and to act on the awareness with our love.
When we sing the Tantum Ergo at Benediction, we ask “that our faith may supply for what our senses cannot perceive.” What are we saying? We profess to believe that Jesus is in the Eucharist with all the qualities of his risen humanity, although our senses cannot perceive what we know, on faith, is true.
The reality of the Eucharist is clear. It is Jesus of Nazareth who was born of the Virgin Mary. But we must make ourselves mentally conscious of this reality and voluntarily respond to what we believe.
Jesus is on earth in the Blessed Sacrament. Why? In order that we might come to him now no less than his contemporaries did in first century Palestine. If we thus approach him in loving faith, there is no limit to the astounding things he will do. Why not? In the Eucharist he has the same human lips that told the raging storm, “Be still” and commanded the dead man, “Lazarus, come forth!”
There are no limitations to Christ’s power, as God, which he exercises through his humanity in the Eucharist. The only limitation is our own weakness of faith or lack of confidence in his almighty love.
Copyright © 2003 Inter Mirifica
Understanding the Eucharist. The Greatest Need in the Church Today
by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.
I believe the place to begin this conference is to justify the title. We are using the superlative; the greatest need in the Church today is “Understanding the Eucharist.”
How can we justify this superlative? On two grounds:
- On the grounds of the Eucharist and
- On the grounds of Understanding.
What are we saying?
- We are saying that the most comprehensive mystery of our Catholic faith is in the Holy Eucharist. To believe in the Eucharist is to believe in every other revealed mystery of Christianity.
- We are saying the most important duty we have in life as believing Catholics is to understand what we believe.
Remember the parable that Christ gave to His Disciples about the sower who went out to sow his seed. It was all good seed. But it was not all good ground on which the seeds fell. And the first fruitless ground was the pathway. Christ explained what this means. The seeds falling on the pathway are those who receive the Word of God into their hearts but fail to understand it. So what happens? Like the birds of the air that pick up the loose seed from the hard pathway, the devil steals the word of God from the hearts of those who do not understand what God has revealed to them. Not to understand what we are supposed to believe is to invite the evil spirit to rob us of the faith we once possessed.
We return to our subject: “Understanding The Eucharist: The Greatest Need In The Church Today.”
My plan for this conference is to cover the following areas of an immense subject.
- The Catholic Church is undergoing the greatest crisis in its two millennia of existence.
- It is essentially a crisis of faith. At the root of this crisis of faith is the mystery of the Eucharist.
- In order to benefit from this crisis, there must be a widespread growth in understanding the Holy Eucharist.
- This growth in understanding the Eucharist will open the greatest renaissance in the history of Christianity.
GREATEST CRISIS EVER
There is no need to prove – it is enough to illustrate that the Catholic Church is going through the greatest crisis of her 2000 years of ecclesiastical existence.
- The exact figures we do not have, but a fair estimate is that some 60,000 priests have left the active priesthood throughout the world since the close of the Second Vatican Council.
- Religious institutes, especially in the Western world, have secularized on a scale unprecedented in any previous century.
- Homicide has been legalized in most of the countries of the world, especially the murder of the unborn. But instead of the strong witness to the sanctity of unborn human life by Catholics, many professed Catholics even in high places – either openly defend abortions or cleverly disguise their homicidal intentions behind legal rhetoric or political jargon.
When Pope Paul VI, in 1968, published Humanae Vitae condemning contraception, the Catholic hierarchy of most the world met in solemn session – only about half of the bishops supported the Bishop of Rome in his teaching on the grave sinfulness of contraception.
ROOT OF THE CRISIS
It is not my business to have to prove that the root of this crisis in the Catholic Church is a crisis of faith; or that it is a crisis of faith in the Eucharist.
I will only say two things:
- In the last analysis, a person is a Catholic because of what he or she believes with the mind. All the other virtues in our lives are only as firm as our faith is strong.
- The Eucharist is the mystery of our faith. We believe in any revealed truth –
- only as intelligently,
- only as entirely,
- only as clearly,
- only as firmly,
- only as constantly,
- only as courageously,
- as we believe in the Holy Eucharist.
Faith in the Eucharist is the barometer of our Catholic faith. It is the test of our Catholicism. It is the norm of our commitment to everything else which Christ has revealed.
It is no wonder that when, as described by St. John, Christ foretold the Holy Eucharist as His living Body and Blood many of His own Disciples walked away. “This is intolerable language,” they declared. “Who can accept it?” Christ then turned to His Apostles and asked them. “Do you want to leave?” To which Peter answered, “Lord to whom shall we go. You have the words of eternal life.”
This has been the verdict of the Church’s history. Every major break in our unity has been over the meaning of the Eucharist. No wonder, in 1600, St. Robert Bellarmine wrote that there were over 200 different Protestant interpretations of Christ’s words. “This is my Body …This is my Blood.”
CRISIS OF FAITH TODAY
Most Catholics today know that there are some strange notions about the Eucharist in professedly Catholic circles. But I am afraid that most of us do not realize how deep and devastating these errors have become, One writer after another is telling the people that the Eucharist is not a reality. Books are being published saying just this. Nominally Catholic magazines are claiming that the Holy Eucharist, in their vocabulary, is not a thing,
I thought and prayed about whether I should quote at length from just one priest-author to illustrate the rise of this disastrous heresy. What follows are his exact words. The quotation is several paragraphs long but must be exposed:
The Eucharist is not a thing, and think the only way Catholics can come to appreciate that is by emphasizing some parts of the Eucharist that may have been forgotten. I’m convinced of this because even though lay people participate in the liturgy today, I’m not so sure they’ve stopped thinking of the Eucharist as a thing.
The gathering is necessary for Eucharist. Eucharist is not a private affair. We Catholics share bread and wine with someone, which is why I believe the ordained priest should always receive bread and wine from another eucharistic minister. It is in the gathering that we remind one another that one person does not make the Lord present. The Risen Lord is present. We gather and recognize.
Presiders must change the wording of prayers that now keep telling us that the spiritual is separate from us, that God is out there somewhere and needs to be brought in with the right words to make us holy. Presiders should not hold up the bread and wine during the Consecration but wait until it is time to take, break, and share…
To begin to see ourselves as Eucharist means that we must stop saying we “receive” the sacraments. And we must do away with the practice of priests who are not participating in the Mass coming in to help distribute Communion…
Catholics gather on weekends to celebrate the remembering. And to remind ourselves that we are to be Eucharist by becoming bread and wine, broken and poured out. “Do this to remember me.” We gather on weekends to remind ourselves that “this” is never a thing out of a church vending machine but what we are to be. We are to be reasons for others to celebrate.
I make no apologies for this long quotation. What we are being told is that two thousand years of Catholic teaching has been a myth. These quoted statements are from a nationally circulating, allegedly Catholic, periodical. To accept what we are being told is to deny that there is a Catholic Church. Why? Because without the Eucharist as a reality, there is no priesthood instituted by Christ, there is no sacrament of Holy Orders. In a word, there is no visible Church which Christ founded on the Apostles whom He ordained at the Last Supper in order that they might consecrate bread and wine to become the living Jesus Christ on earth in the Holy Eucharist.
Is it any wonder that an estimated seventy-five percent of the Catholic people no longer assist at Sunday Mass. In the diocese to which the priest-spokesman whom we have quoted lives, the drop in Sunday Mass attendance is estimated at about ninety percent.
Our focus in this conference is on “Understanding the Eucharist: the Greatest Need in the Church Today.” I am speaking to believing Catholics who know that the Eucharist is a thing. Indeed, it is not only something but Someone. It is Jesus Christ. Those of us who still have this faith must protect it from the assaults against divinely revealed truth.
This great need to understand the Eucharist must begin with understanding that the Eucharist is Christ Himself, now on earth., in our midst. Not to know this is not to be a Catholic.
ERROR AND EVIL IN THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD.
As we get closer to the center of our subject we remind ourselves that nothing in the world ever merely happens. There is no such thing as chance with God.
In the words of St. Paul, “Where sin has abounded, there grace will even more abound.”
What are we saying? We are saying that the widespread breakdown of Eucharistic faith in once strong Catholic countries is God’s way of telling us there must be a massive, monumental, momentous revival of faith in the Eucharist. This is the necessary prelude to the reformation of the Catholic Church. As we enter the third millennium of Christianity, our focus should be on growing in our understanding of the Holy Eucharist.
What precisely are we to grow in our understanding of the Eucharist?
- We are to grow in our understanding of who is present in the Blessed Sacrament: who offers Himself in the Mass and whom we receive in Holy Communion.
- We are to grow in our understanding of why the Eucharist is the Presence Sacrament, the Sacrifice Sacrament, and the Communion Sacrament of Jesus Christ.
- We are to grow in our understanding of how we are to become apostles of the Eucharist in our day.
UNDERSTANDING OF WHO
- Is present,
- Is offering Himself,
- Is received.
It is Jesus Christ. We do not qualify. It is the selfsame Jesus present in the Holy Eucharist who was conceived at Nazareth, born in Bethlehem, died on Calvary, rose on Easter Sunday, and ascended into Heaven on Ascension Thursday.
Certainly Jesus is in heaven. But He is also on earth. The whole Christ, with his Humanity and Divinity, with His eyes and lips and hands and feet, and Sacred Heart.
Jesus Christ is now offering Himself in every Mass. He is on earth, with His human body and blood, and human will. The essence of sacrifice is in the will.
Jesus Christ is now received in Holy Communion. We now receive Him no less than the Apostles did in the Last Supper. He is now glorified. His body enters our body, His soul enters our soul. This is no mere symbolism or metaphor. It is real, really.
UNDERSTANDING OF WHY
- He is present,
- He offers,
- He comes.
He is present in order to be near us, with us, next to us, present to us. He wants to show us how much He loves us. He wants to teach us –
- Humility,
- Patience,
- Obedience,
- Silence,
- Selfless charity.
He wants us to come to Him…
He offers Himself in the Mass in order to give us the graces we need to surrender our wills to His. These are the distinctive graces of the Sacrament of the Mass. They are graces of
- Self-surrender,
- Self-abandonment,
- Self-immolation
He comes to us in Holy Communion in order to give us the graces of selfless charity. It is not coincidental that Christ did two things at the Last Supper.
- He gave us the New Commandment – love one another as He loves us, even unto death;
- He instituted the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.
These two go together. We cannot practice selfless charity without receiving Holy Communion.
UNDERSTANDING HOW
We are finally to grow in our understanding of how we are to become apostles of the Eucharist in our day.
- What is an apostle of the Eucharist?
An apostle of the Eucharist is one who is personally very devoted to the Holy Eucharist.
- as Real Presence,
- as Sacrifice of the Mass,
- as Holy Communion.
- An apostle of the Eucharist is one who realizes that there is no solution to the problems of the world or the problems of the Church except through the Holy Eucharist.
- An apostle of the Eucharist is one who does everything in his or her power, by word and example, to promote a deeper faith in the Eucharist as Real Presence, Sacrifice of the Mass and Holy Communion.
- An apostle of the Eucharist prays for a deeper understanding of the Blessed Sacrament, especially among priests.
- An apostle of the Eucharist lives a life of reparation for those who neglect the Holy Eucharist, or desert the Holy Eucharist, or distort the Holy Eucharist.
- An apostle of the Eucharist is zealous to convert or re-convert people to the Catholic faith, as the faith which believes that Jesus Christ is present on earth, offering Himself in this Holy Sacrifice, and available to us in the Sacrament of Communion.
- An apostle of the Eucharist is a martyr for the Eucharist. No matter what price has to be paid, an apostle of the Eucharist is ready to pay it as a witness to his faith in Jesus Christ, living in our midst today.
- An apostle of the Eucharist simply expects the Eucharistic Christ to work whatever miracles need to be performed in our day, especially miracles of conversion:
- Conversion of unbelievers to believers in Jesus Christ;
- Conversion of sinners, even of murderers, to followers of Christ.
But an apostle of the Eucharist has no illusions. There will be opposition. “Have confidence,” Jesus tells us, “I have overcome the world.”
PRAYER
“Lord Jesus, in the Holy Eucharist, we believe You are with us in the Blessed Sacrament. We believe You are inviting us to join with You in conquering the world for Your heavenly Father.
But we are blind. Enlighten our minds. We are weak. Strengthen our hearts. Make us Apostles of the Eucharist in our day; make us Apostles of Life through the Eucharist. Help us to understand the Eucharist now on earth by faith – as a prelude to seeing You, our Incarnate God, face to face, for all eternity. Amen.”
The Sacrifice Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist
by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.
The purpose of our present meditation is to explain how the Mass is the sacrifice sacrament of the Eucharist. Again, we will draw on the church’s teaching on the Mass, especially focusing on definitions from the Council of Trent in the sixteenth century. We will also examine Pope Pius XII’s teachings on the mass, upon which the Second Vatican Council built its base document on Eucharist liturgy.
The Council of Trent and the Mass
We have been drawing on the church’s teaching at Trent mainly because during the sixteenth century so many Eucharistic dogmas were not only questioned, but openly denied. The teaching of the Council of Trent is teaching of the church’s previous 1500 years, but sharpened and clarified in order to respond to the widespread Eucharistic challenges in the sixteenth century. If there was one dominant feature in the writings of Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli in their break with the Roman Catholic Church, it was their claim that Christ never instituted the sacrament of holy orders, which empowers ordained priests to offer the holy sacrifice of the Mass.
With this in mind, we understand why the Council of Trent published nine lengthy formal “anathemas” condemning anyone who held certain erroneous positions on the sacrifice of the Mass. (As before, each Tridentine document begins with “if anyone says….” And then for whatever the person is saying, “let him be anathema.” — let him be condemned.) Three of these nine definitions are especially pertinent to our subject and should be quoted and explained:
- “If anyone says that in the Mass, a true and proper sacrifice is not offered to God or that the sacrificial offering consists merely in the fact that Christ is given to us to eat, let him be anathema.”
- “If anyone says that by the words “do this in remembrance of me” Christ did not make the apostles priests or that he did not command that they and other priests should offer his body and blood, let him be anathema.”
- “If anyone says that the sacrifice of the Mass is merely an offering of prayers and of thanksgiving or that it is a simple memorial of the sacrifice offered on the cross and not propitiatory or that it benefits only those who communicate and the mass should not be offered for the living and the dead for sins, punishment, satisfaction and other necessities, let him be anathema.”
Unfortunately, these statements are not being Circulated or published or taught widely in nominally catholic circles today. And if you look at weekly parish bulletins from some dioceses, you will notice that so few refer to the Mass as a sacrifice or even Mass anymore. It is called a “Liturgy” or “Eucharist”. But to be a Catholic means to believe that Christ instituted the sacrifice of the Mass.
So what is the Council of Trent telling us about the sacrifice of the Mass? We are told that the sacrifice of the Mass is a true sacrifice. In the Mass, the same Christ, who offered himself on Calvary, now offers Himself in an unbloody manner on the altar.
The Mass is a true sacrifice because it is the same Jesus really present on the altar through the words of consecration. In the Mass, we have the same priest, Christ, who offers the same victim, Christ. Christ offers himself. At the last supper, Christ ordained his apostles as priests when he told them, “do this in remembrance of Me.” What had Christ done? He changed bread and wine into his own living person and he offered his flesh and blood to the heavenly father for the redemption of a sinful human race.
Trent tells us that the sacrifice of the Mass is not only a liturgical ceremony, or merely a celebration or merely a remembrance of the sacrifice on Calvary. No, the Mass is a sacrifice. The Mass is the sacrifice, which St. Paul tells us wiped out all the other sacrifices that had been offered until the coming of Christ. Christ’s death on the cross originally merited the graces to redeem the world, but Christ now actually confers those graces. The sacrifice of the Mass is the channel by which those graces are communicated. We believe the sacrifice on that first Good Friday is re-enacted or re-presented in the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Mass. Christ’s blood was shed only once — physically. He died only once, but he dies mystically and spiritually every time mass is offered. His sacrifice is offered to the Father continuously for all men for all eternity.
Moreover, for our purpose, the Mass is a sacrament which pours numerous graces on the human family. What kind of grace does the sacrifice sacrament of the Eucharist confer?
The grace of propitiation for sin. Propitiation means obtaining graces from God that will make up for, amend and expiate the ravages of sin.
The grace of obtaining mercy from God, who removes more or less of the guilt incurred by our sins. Guilt is the loss of divine grace. The word guilt is so common in our language, we had better know what we mean by guilt. In Catholic terms it is not merely a declaration by a court of someone being found guilty of breaking a law. Nor is it merely a psychological emotion or feeling of anxiety. Thus Sigmund Freud was not only a non-believer in a personal god yet, after a lifetime of clinical practice, Freud said he had yet to meet a single client who was not troubled by the sense of guilt. This may be the foundation of psychological disorders, but it is not the guilt of which we are speaking here. Guilt is the loss of grace. And the sacrifice sacrament of the Eucharist restores more or less of that lost grace.
- The grace of repentance and true interior sorrow for our having offended God.
- The grace of remission of the sufferings that are due to us because we have sinned.
- The grace enlightening our minds which have been darkened by sin. Sin and darkness go together throughout the bible and throughout human history.
- The grace of strengthening our wills to do good and avoid evil, because our own wills have been weakened by sins.
- The grace of obtaining grace for others, especially the grace of conversion for hardened sinners and the grace of conversion to the true faith for those who may never have even heard the gospel effectively preached to them.
- The grace of inspiring and enabling us to make out of love for God. A sacrifice is the surrender of something precious to God. How generous can you be? The most demanding sacrifice — the most difficult we are called to make — is to surrender that most precious creature that happens to have your name. How we love that creature and not want to give it up! But we can do so with the graces found in the sacrifice sacrament of the Eucharist.
Pope Pius XII and the Sacrifice of the Mass
Why of all pontiffs should we choose Pius XII? Because during his pontificate he wrote extensively on the sacrifice of the Mass, and he laid the groundwork for the liturgical teaching of Vatican II.
Similar to the sixteenth century, many nominal Catholics in the twentieth century have either abandoned their faith entirely or are struggling to remain believing Catholics. Pius XII repeatedly declared that Catholics in this century must deepen their understanding of the Mass. In fact, he said that unless the modern western world rediscovers its need for the sacrifice sacrament of the Eucharist, whole cultures run the risk of losing their Catholic identity.
With this theme for his pontificate, Pius XII on November 20, 1947, published the historic document Mediator Dei —”on the sacred liturgy”. In more than 30,000 words, he explained that the Mass is absolutely necessary for our salvation. How is this? The Mass is the sacrament through which Christ mainly dispenses graces he won for us on Calvary. Christ died on the cross for our salvation, and having died, he gained the graces we need. But we must have access to those graces. The principal treasury of these graces is the sacrifice sacrament of the Eucharist.
The Pope said: “Christ built on Calvary a purifying and saving reservoir which he filled with the blood He poured forth. But if men do not immerse themselves in its waves and do not therefore cleanse themselves of the stains of their sins, they certainly cannot be saved.” So when we say the Mass is a sacrament, it means graces are conferred just because Mass is being offered. Thus, we should make sure every priest we know offers Mass every day!
These graces are especially those which have to do with sin and the remission of both guilt (loss of grace) and the punishment for sins. Because the Mass is a sacrament, it confers these graces infallibly. It confers these graces for the whole human race, dependent on the degree of faith a person has and on the moral disposition of the individual.
As we shall see much more clearly later on, it is not enough to believe intellectually in the Mass. It is not enough to attend Mass or even participate in the Mass. We will benefit only as much from the graces of the sacrament of the Mass as we mirror the image of the life of Christ in our lives. His life was one long sacrifice, in the total surrender of his human will to the Father. We are living the Mass in the measure that we constantly surrender our wills to the loving will of God.
How to Pray the Mass
As we have so far said indicates that the Mass is the single most effective source of grace that we have on earth. However, our dispositions in hearing the Mass profoundly affect the measure of grace we receive. Our final reflections, therefore, will be on how to pray the Mass more effectively. Let me make just three recommendations.
Understand the Mass
Whatever else the Mass is, it is a vocal prayer in which every word is vocalized and most of them aloud. Even the most reverently offered Mass takes only a short time. There is no time to be giving much immediate thought to every syllable as it comes along. Hence the wisdom of learning to understand the Mass, know it better, its mysterious meaning and profound significance through periodic reading, meditation and study before-hand. Some years ago I was asked to assemble a bibliography on the Mmass for the Catholic colleges in the United States. The then-current books on the Mmass in English print were over one hundred. I wonder how many Catholics could name, I do not say ten, but even one current title on the Mass. The Mass is, indeed, a mystery. But mysteries are not always to be believed, they are with God’s grace to be ever more clearly understood. We must come to better understand the Mass. A single expression like that of St. Leonard of Port Maurice can affect our whole life. “Except for the Mass,” he said, “being daily offered on thousands of altars, the world would long ago have been destroyed because of its sins.” I would summarize this first recommendation by using the imperative verb “meditate.” Meditate on the Mass.
Plan Your Mass
If the Mass is the important action that faith tells us it is, we should plan for it. It is common knowledge and experience that we plan for things according to the importance we attach to them. Unimportant things we hardly plan for at all, important things we plan for at length, with care. This planning can mean different things. It can mean looking ahead to know what Mass is to be said. If we wait till Mass begins, it will take us ten minutes to find out what to find out what the Mass for today is all about. It can mean that I read the scripture lessons beforehand, the orations, know what or whose feast is to be commemorated in the Mass. It can mean that I have given some thought before Mass to what will be said during the Mass, and I would emphasize, to what I will be thinking about during the Mass. I have taught too many classes not to know, and on occasion I have had to walk into class quite unprepared. An unprepared class I might just as well have called off. It should always mean that I have a definite intention or intentions for which I will offer my Mass. Since the Mass is of infinite value, do not hesitate to multiply the intentions. I would summarize the second recommendation by saying: anticipate the Mass.
Be Attentive During Mass
The degree of participation in the new liturgy is such that most people are almost necessarily kept alert during the offering of the Mass. In fact this is one of the reasons for the vernacular and the antiphonal responses between the priest or the ministers at the altar and the congregation, and the out-loud saying of what used to be silent or very subdued parts of the Eucharist rite. But the attention about which I am speaking here is something more. It is attention not only to the verbal forms being heard or said or the actions of the priest being performed, it is what I call internal attention to the mystery of faith that is being enacted before my eyes. I would compare attendance at Mass to recitation of the rosary. In both cases there are vocal prayer and silent reflection and the two should not conflict but harmonize. What I mean is that it would be well for us to mentally place ourselves –and we have many options — at the last supper, or the Garden of Gethsemane, or with Christ before Herod, or before Pilate or the Sanhedrin, or on his way to Golgotha, or being nailed, or dying on the cross. Each one of us, according to our own devotion, should unite ourselves in spirit with Christ now as He was then in body. Let us remind ourselves that at the time when He offered His Mass, His first Mass, He had us in mind. Should we not repay him in kind and now have Him in our mind in return? I would summarize this third recommendation as concentrate.
There is one more important observation. We should live the Mass. The human race was redeemed by the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary. But, unlike Calvary, the sacrifice of the Mass is not only Christ offering Himself to his heavenly Father. The Mass is also our sacrifice. Through the Mass, we obtain the grace of self-surrender to the will of God. But we must put this grace to use. We must surrender our wills to the will of God. The measure of our self-surrender to the divine will is the measure of our profiting from the Mass, not just for ourselves but for the whole world. The official Latin of the liturgy when a priest turns to the people to say the orate fratres, reads “pray brethren that my sacrifice and yours may be pleasing to God the Father Almighty.” What are we being told? We are being told that the Mass is a sacrifice twice over. It is a sacrifice which Jesus makes when the priest consecrates the bread and wine separately, to signify the separation of Christ’s blood from his body which caused his death. The Mass is also our sacrifice in separating our selfish will in order to surrender ourselves to the will of God. The degree of this self-surrender is the norm by which we profit from the Mass. The more sacrificial our lives the more beneficial is every Mass offered on all the altars of the world every day.
Prayer
“Mary, mother of our redeemer, obtain for us something of the generous surrender of will which you made as you stood under the cross on Calvary. Help us to put into practice the words you spoke at Nazareth when you conceived your divine son. Let the motto of our lives be, “be it done to me according to your word.” Amen.
Copyright © 1998 by Inter Mirifica
Does prayer only involve our spirit and not our body?
While prayer might appear to be only a spiritual experience, it is something that involves our entire being, both body and spirit.
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