The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-02-06
THE HEARING OF MASS.

We are bound by the precept of the
Church, under pain of mortal sin, to
hear Mass on every Sunday and Holy
Day of obligation. There is nothing
in the world SO great as the Holy
Mass. There is no act of religion
which gives to God so much glory and
to ourselves so much of blessing as
the Holy Mass. 1t is the indirect sacri-
flee of the Body and Blood of Christ,
it is the renewal of the sacrifice of
Calvary, it is the Offering to God of
his own Divine Son at the hands of His
consecrated priest, it is the word of
praise to God and it bestows upon us
from God the abundance of His bless
ings. To accomplish the precept it is
not sufficiently for us to hear Mass
in an Indifferent manner; it should be
heard with attention and devotion and
in its entirety. We are not command
ed to hear part of the Mass but the
entire Mass, and our love of the Holy
Sacrifice should force us to be present
at the very beginning and to remain
the important part of the Mass con-
sists of Conservation and the Com
munion, and by being absent during
the celebration of any of these essen
tial parts, we fail to comply with the
divine precept, and hence commit
grievous sin. The other parts of the
Mass are those that precede the Con-
lon
There are many who maintain that it
is absolutely necessary to sbe present
at the Offertory in order to comply
with the obligation. Our anxiety
should be not only to be present at
the essentials of the Mass but to be
present at least few moments before
Mass, in order to put the mind into
proper state for the consideration of
the Holy Sacrifice, and to remain for
few minutes after, to thank God for
the blessings which have been re-
ceived. We should not only be pres
ent at the entire Mass but we should
assist with devotion, that is to say,
proper consideration. We should
give exterior and interior attention
and be filled with something of that
affection which manifests our love for
the good God in the Holy Sacrifice.
II there is grieVous sin in the heart,
. there is lacking that good disposition
which one should have in order to
comply with the precept. Rather is
it not a proclamation to assist at the
greatest sacrifice earth and heaven
have ever known, while the heart is
filled with sin against that God who
sacrificed Himself that sin might be
atoned for. When the priest says
the Crate Fratres, he says, Pray,
brethren, that God may deign to &C
cept my sacrifice and yours" How
anxious then child of God should be
Ito have his soul ever. free from sin
that his sacrifice may be accepted by
God. How often people attend Mass
out of mere habit Their minds are
filled with all sorts of thoughts, and
their hearts with all sorts of desires.
They pay little attention to the great
sacrifice, they have little intelligent
appreciation of what it all means. 1t
is duty to be fulfilled and they fulfil
it as quickly as possible, and with the
least devotion. Many attend Mass
without a prayer book or beads, and
the result is that the Mass time is
one constant distraction. The prayer
book helps to direct the thoughts to
parts of the Mass, the beads help to
say the prayer by which we call upon
God for the graces we need through
the intercession of the Blessed Mother.
The serious-minded Catholic will real
ize that in hearing Mass he is assist
ing at the greatest act of religion, and
he is in the way of obtaining from
God the greatest of all blessings. He
is in the very presence of God Himself
in the Holy Sacrament of the Altar,
and never is there a moment in his
life when God is more ready to hear
his prayer and give him the graces
which he needs. If we only realized
the. gift of God which is in the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass, our Sunday
would be sanctified, God would be hon
ored and blessings in abundance would
come upon us. The sinner would
realize the necessity of conversion,
and feel that the God of all mercy is
there waiting to receive the Prodigal
Son and give him the grace of CONVEX
sion. Those in sorrow and affiiction
would know that the God of all con-
ISOLATION is there to console them.
Those in doubt would be strengthened
in the truth and the just ones would
receive an increase of justice. oh,
the blessing of the Mass heard in the
spirit of the early Christians!
Los Angeles "7fdfn0S. /"