WHERE DID THE MASS COME FROM?

In the early 1980's when my sons were young and attending a Catholic Primary School I attended a meeting of parents.  It was to discuss a new program 'Here I Am' on the Catholic Faith which was anything but.  One of the main concerns I and many faithful Catholic had with the programme is that the most important teaching on the Blessed Sacrament was missing in fact all teaching on the Blessed Sacrament had been omitted.    I expressed my concern that this would greatly destroy the Faith of the children.  Of course my words went unheard among the reformers and academics.   The Real Presence, the reverence and the Adoration that was part of my Catholic upbringing was removed from Catholic schools, to remove adoration the Tabernacle was moved in many parishes into a corner, and the inevitable happened -  and children lost their Faith.    Since it was not part of their teachings in school young people viewed as old fashioned the idea of the substantial presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.  Many parents were viewed as stuck in the past and they were told everything had changed with Vatican II in their schools.   They most certainly were never brought by the school to that old fashioned devotion  - Adoration.   And since they did not understand the doctrine of the Real Presence how on earth were thy to understand the Mass?   

It is for these lost children I am going to dedicate my next blogs.   What is the Mass?   What is its relevance to the Real Presence.

We will start in the Old Testament in the book of Malachi.   Malachi was a prophet who was angered by the behaviour of the priests who were making an offering to God of lame and injured animals instead of the best, and he pointed out if you are not offering your best why would God be pleased with your sacrifice.  These offerings he said would continue to be rejected by God until one day there would be a worthy sacrifice he would accept, and not offered by the Jews but by the Gentiles.   In Malachi 1:11 we read " For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered in my name, and A PURE OFFERING, for my name is great among the nations" says the Lord of hosts.

And when the Church was spread around the world did this PURE OFFERING foretold by Malachi come to pass?   I am not aware of any country where this offering has not at some time taken place and in the name of the God of Israel whose name is now known and is great among the nations of the world.  The PURE OFFERING is the Body and Blood of Jesus on the altar.   And just like the Jews made their offerings for the forgiveness of sins, so does Jesus on the altar.   It is not just a spiritual offering it is a real offering of the real Jesus who comes into bread and wine and in a way beyond our understanding makes it his very self,  the human who was God and Man, the sacrifice of the Son acceptable to the Father.   But yes, there was once Sacrifice in Calvary but God stands outside of time and what is happening on the altar is that Jesus is reaching out from the Cross on Calvary to be present in all ages offering himself to the Father for the sins of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Nest time we will look at Machabees.

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