Part 1: The Beginning
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How personal is your relationship with Jesus during Mass? The entire Catholic liturgy is an encounter with the True Presence of Christ, and it should change us: We should be healed by participating the Holy Mass. We should feel loved and become more fully loving as a result of it. Our hearts should become more peaceful. Our tendencies to sin should be transformed into greater strength to resist sin. A true encounter with Christ makes a difference. This is what attending church is designed to do.
Mass begins with a gathering song and procession. This is as important as any other part of the Mass and should never be missed.
The transcript can be downloaded from our Media Center.
Part 2: The Unifying Gift of the Penitential Rite
Why is the Penitential Rite so important that we cannot celebrate Mass without it?
The Catholic Mass is a celebration of our union with God the Father, God the Son our Savior, and God the Holy Spirit who empowers us to become the saints God designed us to be, the saints Jesus suffered and died for us to become. Because Jesus is present in the community, we need forgiveness for the unloving things that we have done to each other – and “each other” means anyone at all, anywhere – all children of God. Therefore our sins, because they divide us from God and from each other, must first be absolved prior to receiving the Eucharist.
The Sacrament of Reconciliation and the Penitential Rite restore our unity with God and with the Church – with each other – so that we can receive the Eucharist rightly. In other words, so that we can be mystically and fully united to Christ and all that he offers us – all the love of the Father, all the help and all the guidance of the Holy Spirit, all the miracles that Jesus promised when he said in John 15:7, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
The transcript can be downloaded from our Media Center.
Part 3: The Soul-lifting Gloria
The timing of the Gloria during the Catholic Mass is important. It comes immediately after the Penitential Rite for a reason. We sing our praises to God after we’ve opened ourselves to the healing of our souls. Having received forgiveness, we want to sing praises to God and give him our gratefulness. We are grateful that Jesus died on the cross for us to take away the sins that we thought about during the Penitential Rite. We sing “Glory!” because we are excited that we have been set free from the enslavement of sins. In a spirit of thanksgiving, we sing or pray the Gloria together – the priest and laity together as one body. This is when we begin to really enter into celebrating the glory of God. The Gloria is meant to inspire awe.
The transcript can be downloaded from our Media Center.
Part 4: The Life-Changing Liturgy of the Word
It’s important to really have an open mind and heart and to really listen to what God wants to say to us throughout the Holy Mass. He speaks most clearly during the Liturgy of the Word. It’s meant to change us! And it’s meant to empower us to go out from church and change the world. This is why the ministry of reading the Word of God – and cantoring the psalms — is the work of evangelization.
It’s important for us also, in-between readings, to have moments of silence and reflection, to ponder the Word of God. To allow it to touch our hearts and our minds and to change our lives, to heal us, inspire us, and help us grow in holiness.
The transcript can be downloaded from our Media Center.
Part 5: The Creed of True Belief
When we proclaim our faith out loud, the devil hears us and knows he has been defeated. This is one reason why we recite the Creed during Mass and why it’s important to not be silent but to pay close attention to the words of the Creed and what they mean. Every line of the Creed conquers lies about who God really is — God the Father, God the Savior Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit – and also who we are as the Church. In this episode, I describe the heresies that the Creed overcomes.
The transcript can be downloaded from our Media Center.
Part 6: The Offertory Miracle of Multiplication
During the Offertory, we are offering back to God the gifts and blessings that he has given to us. In thanksgiving, we give God the gift of money to help the Church do the works of Jesus. We give the gift of the fruits of our labors. What has he given you? What are your personality traits, the good ones, which God designed you to have? These are gifts from the God – you were made in his image – and at this point in the Mass, now is the time to thank him for what makes you the wonderful you that you are.
You can supernaturally place any of the giftedness of your life on the altar when the priest accepts (when Jesus accepts) the monetary collection. Now is the time to thank God for the blessings in your life by offering them back to him for his use. And thus the gifts are multiplied!
The transcript can be downloaded from our Media Center.
Part 7: The Eucharistic Pregnancy
WHEN DOES THE BREAD AND WINE BECOME JESUS?
The Eucharistic Prayers of the Mass bring us to the source and the summit of our faith. This is when we receive what we need to live the holy, make a difference in the world and experience the miracles that faith is supposed to provide for us.
At what point during the Eucharistic Prayers does the miracle of transubstantiation happen and the bread and wine supernaturally become Jesus? Or – is there just a moment in time? I explain how it’s really like a pregnancy.
The transcript can be downloaded from our Media Center.
Part 8: The Eucharistic Experience of Heaven
THE COMMUNION RITE
In this episode, I cover the apostolic succession that makes it possible for bread and wine to become the body and blood of Jesus, why Jesus called his blood the new and everlasting covenant, and the dialog we have with Jesus as we receive him. Listen to find out how the Communion Rite during Mass gives us a Eucharistic experience of heaven.
She also answers the question: Why do we pray for Jesus to come “under my roof” just before we receive him in the Eucharistic Liturgy?
This episode continues the explain the highlight and most important part of the Mass, which is also the highlight and most important moment in our faith. It is the source and summit of everything that we believe, do, say, and live in the faith. It empowers us to do everything that God the father is calling us to do it. It empowers us to be united with God in such a way that we can make a difference in the lives of others. We can make the world a better place!
The transcript can be downloaded from our Media Center.
Part 9: The Way of the Eucharist is Out the Door
THE FINAL BLESSING
What do you think is the high point of the Holy Mass? What is the high point for you? Is it when you received forgiveness in the penitential rite? Is it when you received Jesus in the Eucharist? Or is it the final blessing of the Mass? Everything that happened during Mass is intended not only for our benefit but for the sake of others. In the final blessing, Jesus in the priest blesses us so that we can go out the door and be successful in continuing to live the life of the Eucharist — the life of Christ. Think of the Mass as a sort of wedding ceremony, like the renewal of wedding vows. Every Mass is a recommitment of our faithfulness to Christ and a renewal of our openness to his commitment to us. But like every wedding, the wedding day is not the most important day. More important is the marriage that follows.
The transcript can be downloaded from our Media Center.
For more help on this topic, see Take, Eat, Drink: Drawing Deeper Faith through Understanding the Mass, a playlist of 17 short videos for understanding the Mass.
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