The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass - The Roman Rite Celebration of the Holy Eucharist

On any Sunday in many parts of the world bells ring out"--"the call to Mass for Catholics. Families prepare themselves: the little children get washed and brushed and fed"--"the older ones doing it for themselves and helping their siblings. A family breakfast can be eaten up to one hour before Holy Communion time.

Many Catholics still follow their accustomed way of fasting from one hour before the beginning of Holy Mass, others practice the devotion of abstinence from midnight onward. People who are elderly or ill are not obligated by this rule of the Church. The discipline of abstaining from food in this way disciplines the heart, mind, and soul. The focus of weekday life, work, and its demands shifts. The faithful are called to slow down, to be available exclusively to the Lord in His Word, His instruction by the priest, and in His Gift of Himself in Holy Communion"--"the Blessed Sacrament.

The Lord calls us according to the First Commandment given to Moses on the mountain:

Love the Lord your God with your whole heart, your whole soul and your whole mind"..."

Sunday is a day of obligation which full fills this decree of the Lord. He is our God and we are his people the sheep of His flock. Praise, Honor, and Thanksgiving is due to Him who made us and sustains us.

A good preparation for Mass begins at home by reading the Scripture selections and the psalm that will be prayed on Sunday. The texts are taken from the Old Testament and the New Testament of the Bible. They are chosen by the Church to flow with the liturgical cycles of Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and the Ordinary Time of the year. In many churches missalettes can be found at the entrance for use during the celebration.

When entering the Church, Chapel, or room designated for the celebration a Holy Water Font or small dish filled with Holy Water is usually on your right. This water, a sacramental, has been blessed by a priest and contains within it the graces of cleansing the person from venial offenses against God. Dip the right hand into the Holy Water and bless yourself with the sign of the cross. Trace it from forehead to chest and from left to right side of the upper body. Say prayer such as: "Lord wash away my iniquity and cleanse me all of my sins" or "Lord, bless me and forgive my sins". Do not consider this an automatic gesture, do it devoutly, attentively. It is a great help to look at the Tabernacle while praying; in this way one speaks directly to the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.

Find a pew, a chair, or a bench. Look for the Perpetual Light. The Tabernacle where the Blessed Sacrament is reserved is close by. Genuflect deeply the right knee touching the ground bowing your head. You are in the Presence of the Lord. Rise, take a place and kneeling, facing the altar talk to your Lord. Bring Him your gift of self and your thanks and your love for His Presence. You will receive courage from His Word and Eucharist to serve Him as you journey through the coming week all are part of your gift to Him. Chatting with Jesus is not so very difficult. He is always listening.

Be silent, allow the heart to open; this prepares the soul for the entrance hymn and procession.

Music. Prayer in melody and word. All people rise"--"Mass begins"--"First an acolyte with the crucifix followed by two acolytes holding candelabra with lighted candles are followed by the lector carrying the Lectionary. The celebrating priest or priests, vested in the liturgical colors of the season or special feast, process to the steps at the foot of the altar bow or genuflect before the altar, go up the steps and take their places"--"while the entrance hymn is sung.

The Church on earth worships together with the Saints and angels"--"all before the Lord who made and sustains us all. The ancient ritual, always living and new is celebrated according to the rite given by Holy Mother Church; as it was in the time of the first apostles chosen by Jesus, and continues now and and will be so unto the end of time and the beginning of Life Everlasting"..."

Some definitions:

Venial sin: This refers to the sins of omission or commission, things that we do or fail to do from carelessness or ignorance.

Tabernacle: A tabernacle is a boxlike container for the exclusive reservation of the Holy Eucharist. It is normally made of metal, stone or wood, lockable, and secured to its altar to prevent the consecrated elements within from being removed without authorization.

Genuflect: This means to touch the right knee to the floor or ground especially in worship.

Acolytes: young men and women altar servers.

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Rites of Sacrifice in Hinduism and Western Religion

The rite of sacrifice, which in the simple form of an offering supposed to be agreeable to the deity is the principal ceremony in the early stages of most religions, persists in their later stages but gives rise to clouds of theory and mystical interpretations. Thus in Christianity, the Jewish sacrifices are regarded as prototypes of the death of Christ and that death itself as a sacrifice to the Almighty, an offering of himself to himself, which in some way acts as an expiation for the sins of the world. And by a further development the sacrifice of the mass, that is, the offering of portions of bread and wine which are held to be miraculously transformed into the body and blood of Christ by the manipulations of a qualified priest, is believed to repeat every day the tragedy of Calvary.

The prevalence of this view in Europe should make us chary of stigmatizing Hindu ideas about sacrifice as mental aberrations. They represent the fancies of acute intellects dealing with ancient ceremonies which they cannot abandon but which they transform into something more congenial to their own transitional mode of thought.

Though the BrâhmaGas and Upanishads mix up ritual with physical and metaphysical theories in the most extraordinary fashion, their main motive deserves sympathy and respect. Their weakness lies in their inability to detach themselves (as the Buddha succeeded in doing) from a ritual which though elaborate was neither edifying nor artistic: they seem unable to see the great problems of existence except through the mists of altar smoke. Their merit is their evident conviction that this formalism is inadequate. Their wish is not to distort and cramp nature by bringing it within the limits of the ritual, but to enlarge and expand the ritual until it becomes cosmic.

If they regard the whole universe as one long act of prayer and sacrifice, the idea is grandiose rather than pedantic, though the details may not always be to our taste. And the Upanishads pass from ritual and theology to real speculation in a way unknown to Christian thought.

We are told that the gods obtained immortality and heaven by sacrifice, that they created the universe by sacrifice, that Prajâpati, the creator, is the sacrifice. Although some writers are disposed to distinguish magic sharply from religion, the two are not separated in the Vedas. Sacrifice is not merely a means of pleasing the gods: it is a system of authorized magic or sacred science controlling all worlds, if properly understood. It is a mysterious cosmic force like electricity which can be utilized by a properly trained priest but is dangerous in unskilful hands, for the rites, if wrongly performed, bring disaster or even death on bunglers.

Though the Vedic sacrifices fell more and more out of general use, this notion of the power of rites and formulae did not fade with them but has deeply infected modern Hinduism and even Buddhism, in both of which the lore of spells and gestures assumes monstrous proportions. The Vedic and modern tantric rituals are different but they are based on the same supposition that the universe (including the gods which are part of it) is regulated by some permeating principle, and that this principle can be apprehended by sacred science and controlled by the use of proper methods. So far as these systems express the idea that the human mind can grasp the universe by knowledge, they offer an example of the bold sweep of the Hindu intellect, but the methods prescribed are often fatuous.

To learn more about Hinduism and Hindu beliefs, practices, rituals and theology; visit my new site. There you will find many free articles.

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