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I live
a spiritual life in my own way. Why go to church? It’s just filled with
hypocrites anyway.
 t’s true that many of those
who go to church are trying primarily to feel good about themselves,
and they often treat the Blessed Sacrament and the sanctity of the church
environment with casualness, if not outright carelessness. They attend
Mass out of habit and guilt. Worship for them
isn’t an expression of true love, and it
doesn’t arise out of an ardent desire to
sacrifice everything and
suffer anything to live a holy life.
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Christ’s
sacrifice on the cross for our sake was met with indifference, ingratitude,
and contempt, even by His own people. So should it be any surprise that today
the celebration of the holy Mass is met with
indifference, ingratitude, and contempt, even
by His own anointed? |
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The
Eucharist
Now, the whole point of the Mass
is the Eucharist. And because the Mass is both a sacrifice and a
“meal,” we have two reasons for attending (assisting at)
Mass.
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If angels were
capable of envy, they would envy us for two things: one is the receiving
of Holy Communion, and the other is suffering. |
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—Saint Faustina,
Diary, 1804 |
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Suffering
Sacrifice
Worship
The liturgical work of joining
our lives to the sacrifice of Christ is called worship, and worship
far transcends mere spirituality. Many persons today
who do not even believe in God call themselves “spiritual,” but
when we join with Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross, we give meaning to
our constant sacrifices for the souls of others.
Christ’s Passion and death made it perfectly clear that suffering sacrifice
is the only way to crack open the hardened free will
of the human heart. So when we freely suffer for the sake of other souls,
we contribute to paying the mystical price of their
repentance. Even angels cannot do such majestic
work!
Faith and
Love
 Moreover, keep in mind that
the Body of Christ is faith, and the Blood of Christ is love.
Therefore, to take Communion worthily (1 Corinthians
11:27) [1]
does not mean only that you must be free from mortal sin and able to receive
graces in pure faith. It also means that you
must be willing to “pay the price” of receiving Christ within you.
And what is that price? It is the willingness to make the personal sacrifice
of shedding your own blood—that is, to stop defending your
pride and personal pleasure—so as to
love others according to the Way of the Cross,
in perfect sacrifice. Only in this way can you receive Christ’s love
worthily.
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When Jesus told
Peter that “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mark
14:38), He said this as a warning, not as an excuse. In speaking to Peter,
He speaks to all of us. Unless we discipline ourselves with fasting and
sacrifice, we will fail to reach deep enough within ourselves to overcome
the unconscious anger and
fear that leads us into
disobedience. Without disciplined sacrifice,
all those pious words on our lips won’t do very much at all to help
us attain the holiness we think we
want.
Remember also
that Christ warned us that worship must be an act of genuine love: “I
tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees,
you will not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew
5:20). |
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Therefore, understand that the
Blessed Sacrament is sacred and that we should partake of it with
due reverence:
1. |
In the Roman rite,
make a
genuflection [2]
before receiving holy Communion, or receive kneeling. |
2. |
Receive the Host
on the
tongue.[3] |
3. |
Dress
modestly (no jeans; no sneakers; no shorts; no
short skirts, bare shoulders, or low necklines; no shirts or jackets with
sports or political insignia; no visible
tattoos,[4]
etc.). |
4. |
Arrive before the
formal greeting by the priest, and do not leave before the
dismissal.[5]
Anything less than this makes a mockery of your lay obligation to
assist [6]
at Mass. If extraordinary circumstances prevent you from arriving on time,
do not take
Communion.[7] |
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Protestants say
that their Communion is just a symbol. Well, they’re right. Just as
Melchizedek’s offering of bread and wine was a symbol of Christ’s
sacrifice of His Body and Blood, the Protestants’ “Communion”
is a symbol—a symbol of the real sacrifice of the Catholic
Mass. |
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Physical and
Spiritual Sustenance
We partake of the Eucharist as
a “meal” to sustain us physically and spiritually. Without the
Eucharist you don’t have a chance to sustain yourself through all the
trials of suffering and sacrifice you will have
to face. The Eucharist will sustain you regardless of what anyone around
you does—even regardless of wicked bishops, priests, and deacons given
over to liberal heresies.
In this regard, Jesus told Saint
Faustina,
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My daughter,
do not pay so much attention to the vessel of grace as to the grace itself
which I give you, because you are not always pleased with the vessel, and
then the graces, too, become deficient. I want to guard you from that, and
I want you never to pay attention to the vessel in which I send you My grace.
Let all the attention of your soul be concentrated on responding to My grace
as faithfully as possible. . . . eternal life must begin already here on
earth through Holy Communion. Each Holy Communion makes you more capable
of communing with God throughout eternity. |
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—Diary,
1599; 1811 |
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Be Not
Afraid
So do not be
afraid. Commune with God in ways that even angels
cannot. Remain steadfast in the Faith and think not
of the sins of others, but of the
mercy that awaits them, if only they would repent
their sins and accept God’s mercy. And then
pray and make
sacrifices that they do accept it.
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Pray, and make
sacrifices. |
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—The Blessed
Virgin Mary,
Fátima, 1917 |
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___________
1. “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks
the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood
of the Lord.” For more information about documented and authenticated
Eucharistic miracles, see
Eucharistic
Miracles from The Real Presence Association.
2. See Peter Elliot’s definitive text,
Ceremonies of the Modern Roman Rite (San Francisco: Ignatius Press,
1995), §336. A genuflection is a sign of adoration due to God.
To make a proper genuflection, keep your back straight, bend your left leg,
and touch your right knee to the floor. Note that a curtsy is not a genuflection.
Note also that a bow, in the Roman rite, is simply is sign of respect,
as would be given to another person; to bow, rather than to genuflect (or
kneel), before the Blessed Sacrament is to give the appearance of acknowledging
Christ while secretly denying His sacred presence.
3. This is not an issue in the Eastern rites because
of the universal practice of intinction (dipping the host into the
Precious Blood, with reception in the mouth), but all Roman Catholics have
the right to receive the Host on the tongue (see
Redemptionis Sacramentum, 92 and
GIRM, 161). This right cannot be legally denied,
even in the flu season, and any priest who denies you does so illicitly and
thereby commits a grave sin. (If any priest consistently tries to force you
to receive in the hands, then start wearing gloves. Every priest knows that
reception of the host in gloved hands is absolutely forbidden.) It is also
illicit to be denied Communion for kneeling (see
Redemptionis Sacramentum, 91).
4. If you have a tattoo that you acquired in a
time of spiritual ignorance, then, to prevent the sin of giving scandal to
others, cover it in shame for having so desecrated your personal
temple of the Holy Spirit.
5. “Eating and running” is a social
blunder that can get you barred from future dinner invitations. Do you think
that it offends Christ any the less?
6. See Can. 1247
and 1248.
7. You are obligated by Church law to receive
holy Communion only once a year (see Can.
920 §1); partaking of the sacrament of the Eucharist more than this
minimum is optional. Therefore, refraining from taking holy Communion when
you have not been able to prepare yourself properly (e.g., in quiet meditation
before Mass begins) would be of greater honor to Christ than taking Communion
as a formality simply because you managed to get there “before it was
all over.”
Additional
Resources
Messages to
any mystic from the Blessed Virgin and Jesus do not have to be accepted by
anyone as articles of faith, even though the messages may be approved by
the local bishop as not contradicting the faith. Nevertheless, regardless
of what you might think about the revelations made to Catalina Rivas, you
should still read this explanation of the awesome meaning of the Holy Mass.
After reading it, you might think differently about your personal responsibility
to Christ’s marvelous sacrifice for all mankind.
 The
Holy Mass explained to Catalina by Jesus and Mary
No
advertising—no sponsor—just the simple truth . . .
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Huh? Freewill website?