What is Mass?

A Reflection on the Body and Blood of Christ

By Fr. Frederick Edlefsen

J.R.R. Tolkien wrote this in a letter to his son Michael, dated November 1, 1963: “You speak of ‘sagging faith,’ however… The only cure for sagging faith is Communion.  Though always Itself, perfect and complete and inviolate, the Blessed Sacrament does not operate completely and once for all in any of us. Like the act of Faith it must be continuous and grow by exercise.  Frequency is of the highest effect… Also I can recommend this as an exercise (alas! only too easy…): make your communion in circumstances that affront your taste.  Choose a snuffling or gabbling priest or a proud and vulgar friar; and a church full of the usual bourgeois crowd, ill-behaved children – from those who yell to those products of Catholic schools who the moment the tabernacle is opened sit back and yawn... Go to Communion with them (and pray for them).  It will be just the same (or better than that) as a mass said beautifully by a visibly holy man, and shared by a few devout and decorous people.  (It could not be worse than the mess of the feeding the Five Thousand – after which Our Lord propounded the feeding that was to come).”

Mass and Holy Communion bear fruit with consistent practice. That’s true of life’s most important things.  Like regular meals, some are good, and some are bad, most are forgotten, but over time they all sustain life.  Mass after Mass after Mass, the sanctifying power of the Eucharistic Sacrifice works in ways that are usually unnoticeable and yet life-giving.

In the Church’s liturgy, Christ makes present his Paschal mystery – his death and resurrection.  Good Friday and Easter are not just past events.  Rather, Christ’s death destroyed death for all time.  His sacrifice transcends all times and events.  “The event of the Cross and Resurrection abides and draws everything toward life” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1085).

   Mass continuously makes present Christ’s Paschal mystery until the End of Time.  When you attend Mass regularly, your whole life is continuously offered to the Father through Christ’s sacrifice.  “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day” (John 6:54).