The post A Mention of Some of the Graces for Attending Holy Mass first appeared on AirMaria.com.

“From the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is Sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for my name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts.”(Malac. 1:11)

Reflections of a priest on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass: “O wondrous exchange: The Creator of the human race taking to Himself a living body, deigned to be born of a virgin, and coming forth a man without the concurrence of man, bestows on us men His divinity.”

That, dear Lord, is love – for it is You! And that, dear Lord, is exactly what everyone should see when he looks at Mass. It is the Holy Trinity’s Second Person whom you meet in Mass. He is divine. He is “God of God, true God of true God,” as we sing in the Credo of the Mass.

But He is not there as Omnipotence, though His omnipotence is truly there. Hence, you need never shrink before His power when Mass is being offered; for Almighty God is not there as The Almighty. Nor need you cringe before His infinite majesty, though that majesty is there in all its infinite­ness. Nor is there any call for that fear which one may feel in the presence of a judge who is to pass a sentence from which there is no appeal,Christ, who is Mass, will one day be our Judge; but He does not come as Judge in Mass; He comes only in one guise ­that of a Lover.

You meet God in Mass. Never forget that. You meet Him in Person, but garbed in that personality, if you will allow the word, of the Good Samaritan, the Good Shepherd, or the Father of the Prodigal. Actually jt is in the personality of the One who, with His dying gaze, looked upon those who had just driven spikes through His hands and feet to affix Him to that awful cross, that gibbet of shame, then lifted His voice in prayerful plea to His Father, asking Him to “forgive them,” saying that “they do not know what they are doing” (Lk 23: 34). That is the personality in which you meet God in Mass.

It is that of Him who looked with almost His last glance upon a thief who was dying with Him and said: “I assure you, this very day you will be with me in paradise” (Lk 23:43). It cannot be overstressed that you meet God in Mass, but it must not be under stressed that you meet Him as the One who would not condemn the woman taken in adultery, forgave the Magdalene, stated bluntly that He had “come for sinners,” and summed up His mission in the words: “I have come that they may have life and have it in abundance” (Jn 10:10).

Since that is the guise in which God is met in Mass, you will understand why this aging priest, your present instructor, far from experiencing any lessening of that holy impatience he knew before his first Mass, that sleep-forbidding longing to be vested and to stand holding Him in his hands, knows now an ever greater concen­tration of time. My day seems all of one hour – the hour of Mass.

Every moment leads to my meeting with my God – or away from today’s meeting and on toward tomorrow’s. God is my life! 1 have Him in Mass in the most tangible form possible this side of eternity. Small wonder, then, that Mass is my life! As for you – realize that in Mass you meet God not as your Maker, certainly not as your Judge, in one sense not even as your Redeemer, but only as your Lover. For this is He who said: “I have loved thee with an everlasting love” (Jer 31: 3).

Fr. Raymond O.C.S.O (This is Love)

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ON THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS

The Sacrifice of the Mass is essentially the same as the Sacrifice of the Cross. It is the most pleasing offering we could make to God during an entire eternity. It is, of all things here below, that which procures most joy to the Church Triumphant—most help to the Church Suffering—most profit to the Church Militant.

The Sacrifice of the Mass is a holocaust most perfect, since we render to God an infinite honor in offering to him our Divine Lord.

It is a sacrifice of propitiation, since it is the same as that offered on the Cross, which has effaced all the sins of men by the Blood of Jesus Christ shed thereon ; which has paid with superabundance, all that was due for them to the Divine Justice. We ought then to use with great care this means of obtaining pardon of our sins, and of averting from us the vengeance of God.

The Sacrifice of the Mass is Eucharistic; by it we offer to God thanksgiving worthy of the benefits he bestows upon us. What shall I render to the Lord for all he has done for me ? asks holy David. What can we render for all his benefits? Alas! we have nothing… But, our dear Lord, touched with compassion at the sight of our poverty, has enriched us with all his treasures, has instituted the Sacrifice of the Mass in which he gives Himself to us, that we may take Him and offer Him to God His Father, in gratitude for all He has given to us.

Finally, the Sacrifice of the Mass is impetratory to obtain all goods of body and soul of which we have need; for our Lord is of infinitely greater value than anything we can ask of God.

Holy Mass has the power of obtaining what we ask:

1. Because Jesus Christ offers to his Father in our favor all the merits of His life and death.

2. Because our Lord actually prays in heaven for those who offer the Mass or for whom it is offered.

3. Because of the prayers of the Church which are made at Mass.

4. Because of our own prayers which are then more efficacious than they are at any other time.

The Sacrifice of the Mass obtains for the sinner the grace of repentance: that is, it presses the divine mercy to have pity on him. It obtains for the just, pardon of venial sins; because of the interior acts of virtue it makes him practice, and which acts of themselves efface these sins. It obtains for the just an increase of habitual grace, charity, and all virtues; it obtains great actual graces, particular succors to perform good works, to live in charity and to persevere till death. Finally, we obtain by this Sacrifice all necessary temporal things, as far as God finds it expedient to bestow them for His glory and our own salvation. Let us then always bring to this august Sacrifice the most earnest devotion; let us make an offering of ourselves with Christ to His Eternal Father, let our hearts, thoughts and imaginations be buried in God from the beginning to the end of the Mass : for there is no other act of religion so holy, so divine, so rich in graces and in heavenly blessings.

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The post On the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, part two first appeared on AirMaria.com.

In the homily for this Requiem Mass (Sep 25, 2019), Fr. Matthias explains the Franciscan custom of praying for the dead, as we do in this monthly Mass offered for deceased Friars, Sisters, Third Order members and associated lay faithful, relatives, and benefactors.

The fruits of the Redemption, obtained by Our Lord at Calvary and applied to each generation through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, have to be applied to each and every faithful soul. We can assist the deceased in the expiation of their sins by praying for them. That is why we offer Masses for the holy souls in Purgatory.

Ave Maria!

Mass: Wednesday 25th Week of Ordinary Time – Wkdy

Readings: 
1st: Ezr 9:5-9
Resp: Tob 13:2, 3-4, 6, 7-8, 6
Gsp: Lk 9:1-6

More on the Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/092519.cfm

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Part 1: Adoration. Starting at the beginning of the Gospel. Here is where you pay the first obligation: honor and praise the majesty of God Who is worthy of infinite honor and praise. Humble yourself with Jesus by plunging into the depths of your nothingness. This is a time to thoroughly humble yourself, internally and externally, before such an immense majesty.

Part 2. Atonement. After the Gospel until the Elevation. Glance over your sins and recognize your debts to Divine Justice.  Repeat many acts of contrition.

Part 3. Thanksgiving. From the Elevation to Communion.
Stir your soul to wonder at the overflowing torrent of great and good gifts bestowed on you or designed for you by God.  Here you can offer in return a gift of infinite value: the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.  Invite all the angels and saints to thank God on your behalf.  Offer sincere prayers of Thanksgiving.

Part 4. Petition. From Communion to the end of Mass.
Look upon the God who is within you… now is the time to summon up the holy courage to ask God for many graces.  This courage comes from Jesus: He has united Himself to you in the Eucharist, He is praying with you on your behalf.  Do not ask for small things – ask for great things! Do not ask with lukewarmness, ask with great confidence! If your prayers are united to those of Jesus, they will indeed be heard. Ask for help for all your needs, spiritual and temporal.

from the writings of St Leonard of Port Maurice

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A Prayer Before Holy Mass:

O almighty, everlasting God, seeing that it is the true faith of Your Church that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass instituted by Your Son is infinitely pleasing to Your divine Majesty, and renders You an infinite worship and praise, and since by it alone You can be worthily and adequately worshiped and praised; impelled by an ardent desire of Your honor and glory, I purpose to assist at this present sacrifice with the utmost devotion of which I am capable, and to offer this most Holy Oblation to You in union with Your priest. 

I offer You not only this sacrifice, but all those which shall be this day offered from every part of the world; and I protest before You that if it depended on me whether they should be offered or omitted, I would put forth all my powers to procure and further their being offered. And were I able now to raise up to You, of the stones which are scattered over the earth, most devoted priests, who should day by day and with glowing fervor offer to You this sacrifice of praise, I would most gladly do it. But, being what I am, I implore you, O most holy Father, through Jesus Christ Your Son, to pour into the hearts of all your priests, and especially those who might perchance otherwise offer You this acceptable sacrifice coldly and without due recollectedness, the spirit of grace and of fervor, that they may be enabled to celebrate Your tremendous Mystery with becoming awe and devotion.

Grant to me, and to all those who are here present with me, that we may join in this most sacred action with reverence and devotion, so that we may have our portion in its fruit and effect. I confess to You, O almighty God, and to the Blessed Mary ever Virgin, and to all the Saints, my own sins and those of all the world; and I lay them on Your sacred Altar, that they may be entirely blotted out by the virtue of this sacrifice. Do You deign to grant us this grace, by that love which held back Your hand from smiting when Your most beloved Son, Your only Son, was immolated by the hands of ungodly men. Amen.

by Saint Mechtilde

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