Reflections

REFLECTIONS

"Praying What Jesus Prays"

A lot of Catholics go to Mass on Sundays because it would be a serious offence against God not to, or because it would look odd to other people if they stayed away, or because they have become so used to going every week that it has become mechanical.... Such reasons are good enough as far as they go - because even to go automatically to Mass every Sunday shows at least that a good habit has been kept up - but they do not go very far. If a person's fidelity to Sunday Mass rests on nothing more solid he will find excuses eventually for not going as regularly as he used to. Fidelity to the Mass must rest on a firmer foundation.

There must be an understanding of what is going on and a love of our Lord who is the central figure. So avoid the idea that you come to Mass simply to follow the words out of a book, trying frantically to catch up with what the priest is saying, and to be able at the end to pat yourself on the back for having been obedient to the Church .... "Now that's over," you would tell yourself with relief, "and now I can get on with my ordinary day and forget about Mass until I have to go again." ... Nor is watching the actions of the priest the main thing - because you could watch a televised showing of it and not say a single prayer or take any part in it whatever - while still less is listening to the music or a sermon the main thing. The main thing is trying to get so near to our Lord in spirit that you do what he does, and pray what he prays, and love as he loves. This is really the whole point about your going to Mass…. .

In other words, your best way of assisting at Mass...is to hand yourself over, with our Lord, for the service of the Father. The Mass is in the most real sense a "service," and not simply a ceremony. It serves the Father. And because the Mass is offered by our Lord, it serves the Father perfectly. Other services, whether held in church like Benediction or given privately to God like acts of self-denial, are not guaranteed perfect as the Mass is guaranteed perfect. Where the act is our Lord's own act, and the prayer is our Lord's own prayer, there is no room for the slightest imperfection. It is bound to be infinitely good in the Father's sight.

DOM HUBERT VAN ZELLER, O.S.B.
Dom Hubert van Zeller (┼1984) was a Benedictine monk and an artist.