By Guest Writer J.T. Doudna II
The Monstrance at Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Chapel Adoration– Photo byJ.T. Doudna II.
The Liturgy, or Mass, is an encounter with the Living God. In Mass, the Lord of All draws one to the well and again shows Himself as the Saviour and draws one ever closer to His Sacred Heart. Mass is not just a compilation of old prayers and rituals, but truly the Passion made present again. In the Liturgy, the church joins in with the choir of Creation, chanting, “holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty, who was and is and is to come” (Rev 4:8 NRSVCE). Mass is the total outpouring of the Trinitarian Life where God Himself invites one into a closer and deeper communion with Him. This is where He preserves each person and makes him to be holy and blameless at the Second Coming of Our Lord. In Mass, each participant all at once thanks God for His saving grace, responds to God as He continues to save each individual, and participates in the foreshadowing of the Heavenly Banquet of Salvation.
However, the Liturgy is not a concert or up for personal interpretation. Mass is not meant to be for each person’s “experience” or to inspire “good feelings.” The Liturgy is God’s work, not one’s own. The Liturgy is not up for alteration or able to be changed to fit personal taste. The Liturgy is God’s outpouring of His Divine Life and consequently belongs to Him. The Mass is for each person but it is certaintly not one’s own. In Mass, one must empty oneself of the expectation of receiving. Instead one should pray that the Lord may inspire in each the desire of giving and self-sacrifice. In Mass, the Cross of Our Lord is re-presented to the Father and one is called to participate in this complete and total self-giving and unite one’s dreams, desires, and struggles with the sufferings of the Christ so as to imitate Our Lord.
In the Liturgy, one is truly at the Calvary. The once-and-for-all and eternal sacrifice of the Priest-Victim is brought forth for one’s Salvation. One is continuously invited into a deeper communion with the Triune God and is given the grace necessary to pursue holiness.
The Saint 