Guest Column: Let’s Go To Mass!

Editor’s Note: Sister María Elena Ferrer originally composed this column for the Nov. 3, 2019 issue of The West Texas Catholic. With the focus of the Saturday, Sept. 7 Catechetical Event at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Amarillo, on the Mass, we asked her to freshen up her original composition and this is the result.
 
Sunday is the day of the resurrection of Jesus, the new creation, the new glorified life! Going to Mass every Sunday and feasts of obligation is the greatest good that parents can do for their children. This is why for many Catholic families going to Mass together every Sunday is a priority!
 
Often it seems to us that we have little time to give to God. How do we handle important commitments that tempt us to skip Mass? We may want to discuss such questions as a family.  
At Mass we participate in the life and mission of Jesus Christ, through Him, with Him and in Him, offering ourselves and our work, asking for forgiveness, giving praise of endless value through the mystery of His Eucharistic presence. With this we open ourselves to the gifts that God desires to give us and to the whole Church.
 
Mass is the celebration of the Sacrament of the Eucharist, and we may go to Mass daily! Its origin goes back to the earliest times of the Church, where the apostles and the first disciples gathered on the first day of the week (Sunday), recalling the Resurrection of Christ, to study the Scriptures and to share the bread of the Eucharist. Pope Benedict XVI expressed his longing for every Catholic to be aware that without Sundays we cannot live. What do these words mean to you? In the Eucharist, Christ is truly present among us. His presence is not inactive, it is a dynamic presence; Christ makes each one of us His own and conforms us to His image.
 
Communion with the Body and Blood of Christ is spiritual nourishment which heals our thoughts and strengthens our will, helping us to discover once again what we truly need. We all know that when we eat, we become stronger, since we assimilate food, making the food part of our body. St. Augustine teaches us that in the Eucharist exactly the opposite happens. The center is Christ who draws us to Himself, inviting us to surrender, to make us one with Him. Thus, all of us, sons and daughters of God, in eating and drinking of the Eucharist celebrate who we really are—a community of brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.
 
Pope Francis, in his catechesis on Holy Mass, tells us that we Christians go to Sunday Mass to encounter the Risen Christ, or rather, says the Pope, to let ourselves be encountered by Him; to listen to His Word, to be fed at His table, and so receive what is so needed to function as the Church, that is, the Body of Christ in the world that greatly needs our missionary discipleship.
 
Often, we may feel we have little time to dedicate part of our Sunday to God. Let's go to Mass, let's not miss Mass! The celebration of the Eucharist calls forth in us deep Faith so that we can receive all the gifts that Jesus wishes to give us; a continual availability to share with others what we are celebrating; good formation to participate fully and actively in the liturgy; a festive participation with dialogues, songs, liturgical gestures that express our deepest feelings of love for God and our neighbor.
 
Let's go to Mass and take our children, let’s be on time, enjoy being a community, ask for forgiveness, listen, learn, share the peace of Christ, give of our wealth and receive the Eucharist! We give so little and in return receive so much. Let us give thanks for the abundant gift of participating at the table of the Word and at the Eucharistic table!
 
Sister María Elena Ferrer, SSND, is Coordinator of Faith Formation for the Diocese of Amarillo.