The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-07-29
WHY PEOPLE GO TO MASS.

WHY PEOPLE GO TO MASS.
Protestants often wonder why Cath
olics are so anxious to assist at Mass.
Very early in the morning, rain or
snow, in hot or cold weather, they
come in crowds to attend Mass, fire.
quently at great inconvenience, and
the sacrifice of comfort and money.
Non-Catholics are reused from sleep
by the patter of feet on the sidewalk;
people are returning from Mass. Ana
this same anxiety is manifested by
Catholics all the world over; 1t has
been their way for over nineteen
hundred years, and it will be their way
until time shall be no more.
"You Catholics must think an awful
lot of your service" non-Cathol1c re-
marked to me the other day. ex-
plained that our principal service is
the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, hol1er
than which there is neither in heaven
nor upon earth. Nothing can be sub
stituted for this sacrifice; no devotion
can supply it. In the Mass God re-
ceives a worship and honor worthy OF
Himself. Here His own Son prays
and sacrifices; here the name OF COO
is truly glorifed; here the words OF
the prophet find their fulf1lment:
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 NV name a clean oblation: for My
name is great among the Gentlles'
saith the Lord of hosts" (Malacn
I, III.
After the Blessed Savior had
changed bread and wine into His hesn
and blood at the Last Supper he added
the precious words: "Do this in COM
memoration of Me-" With these words
Christ gave to His Apostles and to
their successors in the priesthood the
power of renewing what He had just
completed. Thus every Catholic priest
when celebrating Mass, takes bread
and blesses it and says: This is MY
Body" and Immediately the whole
substance of the bread is changed into
the body of Christ, so that after the
, conservation there is no longer bread
on the altar, but Jesus Christ, the Son
of God and of Mary Immaculate You
hear nothing but the sound of tink-
ling bell, you see nothing but an up
lifted Host and the CLEAN of challce:
1.-THE sound of low, sweet whisper
Floats over a little bread,
And the priest bows down his head. y
Yes, the priest sinks on his knee
and the faithful strike their breasts
and adore, because their Lord and
Savior, the Lamb of God, is present,
though hidden under the sacramental
veil On Calvary He redeemed the
world by His death on the cross. In
the Mass, the same divine blood is
poured out again; the death of Christ
is repeated in mysterious and un.
bloody manner. The Mass is the
memorial and renewal of the sacrifice
on Calvary, the effects of which, in
spite of the difference in time and
place, reach us and all His followers
For fifteen hundred years no Chris
tan doubted the reality and necessity
of the adorable sacrifice of the Mass
There were religious quarrels and
controversies, but all, even heretics
and schismatics, held to the doctrine
of the Mass. Martin Luther believed
in it and said Mass, even after being
expelled from the Church of his ia
theirs. Henry VIII of England be
lieved in it, and in his last will left
money for Masses to be said for his
soul. It took years and physical force
to steal the Mass from the people Of
England and Protestant Germany
The Mass is the center of Christian
life and devotion. Where there is nc
Mass there is no Christianity" (Fa
ber). Call your church meeting
house, but do not call it the house o.
God. 1t may be gorgeous pile, raised
in Catholic times; the glory Of the
Lord has departed from it. On Its
affairs there is no longer sacrifice
Death and silence dwell under its lofty
vaults. The Mass is the best test o.
true worship A Church without Mas:
is not the Church of God.
Bishop Stang.