Why do we go to Mass? The answer, of course, is because either our parents make us, or because our parents made us when WE were younger, and now we get to make OUR kids sit through it.
Obviously neither of those is a good reason. I’d say that the best reason for going to Church isn’t even because God commanded us to “Keep Holy the Sabbath Day.” (Don’t worry, I’ll unpack each commandment in its own post later.) I’d say that the best reason for going to Mass is so that we can be a witness to the ever-present sacrifice of Christ’s death on the cross, in which he gave up his own body and blood as a sacrifice in atonement for OUR sins, and so that we can receive the Body and Blood of the Risen Christ in its true substance in the physical guise of what looks like ordinary unleavened bread and ordinary wine. How do we experience this? Through the Eucharist.
At this point in the Mass, we come to Communion. We jumped the gun a little in the last post, mentioning the silent prayer the priest prays, asking God to prepare his spirit for receiving the Eucharist. After this silent prayer, the priest holds the Body of Christ up over the Chalice filled with the Blood of Christ (or over the paten), so that the congregation can see the true presence of Christ in their midst. He then says:
Current Text:
This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Happy are those who are called to his supper.
Beginning Advent 2011:
Behold the Lamb of God; behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.
We respond:
Current Text:
Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed.
Beginning Advent 2011:
Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.
We’ve already talked a good bit about Jesus as the Lamb of God. We mentioned in ‘Cause I Gotta Have Faith – Part V that the title “Lamb of God” is reminiscent of the ancient Jewish ritual (prescribed by God in the Old Testament) of sacrificing an animal in atonement for sins. The basic idea was that it’s easy to sacrifice pocket lint or a dust bunny or something else that has no value and we don’t want to keep for ourselves, anyway, but sacrificing an animal—a GOOD animal—was a real sacrifice for the Jewish people. They relied on these animals for food AND drink (they milked goats the way we milk cows today). They could also use these animals to trade for other goods they needed. It was a real sacrifice to offer God one of your better animals, but this was a good way of showing God that you were really sorry for what you did and you wanted to be back in a solid relationship with him. So it’s very fitting that when the priest shows the newly changed Body and Blood of Christ to the congregation that he would take a moment to remind us that what we’re looking at IS Jesus—the Lamb of God—who was sacrificed in atonement for our sins.
Then he says something a little interesting: “Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.” I know we’re about to go and “eat” the Body and Blood, but should we go so far as to call it supper? I mean most people go to Mass even before lunch time on Sunday morning. Why would we call it supper if we’re eating it between breakfast and lunch? Shouldn’t we call it the “Brunch of the Lamb?” Well, not exactly. We get this term from the Book of Revelation. In Revelation 19:9 John writes, “Then the angel said to me, ‘Write this: Blessed are those who have been called to the wedding feast of the Lamb.’ And he said to me, ‘These words are true; they come from God.’”
So if the Mass is a wedding feast, who’s the happy couple? Well, interestingly enough, the wedding is that of Christ and the Church. Bear with me for a second, here…In his Letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul draws a parallel between the relationship of Christ and the Church (the entire group of believers in and followers of Christ…not the Church “building”) and that of a husband and his wife. It’s the whole “Wives should be subordinate to their husbands, as to the Lord,” (Ephesians 5:22) line that you often hear at weddings, although it’s been neglected in more recent weddings because women don’t like to hear that they should be “subordinate” to their husbands. (There’s that whole “women’s lib” issue that arises with this passage.) The problem many people have with this passage (like many other passages from the Bible) is that they stop reading when they hit something they don’t like. If you KEEP reading past this line, you read the REAL heart of this passage: “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, that he might present to himself the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:25-27) Now that’s good stuff, right there.
The Eucharist is that ever-present proof of the sacrifice of Christ for his church. He handed himself over to be sacrificed like a lamb of the old Jewish traditions, so that we could be cleansed of our sins. In the Eucharist, we are forever joined to Christ on earth that foreshadows the relationship we’ll have with God in heaven.
So now the Priest takes the Eucharist and prays a little prayer:
Current Text:
Before Receiving the Body of Christ: May the Body of Christ bring me to everlasting life.
Before Receiving the Blood of Christ: May the Blood of Christ bring me to everlasting life.
Beginning Advent 2011:
Before Receiving the Body of Christ: May the Body of Christ keep me safe for eternal life.
Before Receiving the Blood of Christ: May the blood of Christ keep me safe for eternal life.
Next time we’ll talk about who distributes Communion and why. Peace out!
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