Looking into The Mass

The Mass is and has always been central to Catholic Life.  But the understanding of the Mass has had its ups and downs like everything else; it has often been given a particular shape and ethos by the circumstances in which it was celebrated.

In this series of small articles, I would like to begin with the description of the Mass given at the beginning of the Missal.  This is an official description of the Mass, if you like.  It reads as follows:

“At Mass or the Lord’s Supper the People of God is called together, with a priest presiding and acting in the person of Christ, to celebrate the memorial of the Lord or the Eucharistic Sacrifice.”

Note that the Mass is seen as something done by the whole people of God who are called together to celebrate it.  It is the celebration of the whole people; it is not just the celebration of the priest which the people are called to attend. 

In recent centuries, the Mass was considered the action of the priest; this was so much so in the Missal previous to Vatican II that the entire action of the Mass was described as if the priest were the only person there. 

This mentality can easily hang over into our celebrations today.  You will notice that the role of the priest is specified in the above description of the Mass: it is to preside and act in the person of Christ and we will look into the meaning of that as this series continues.

What is crucial as our beginning point is that the Mass is OURS.  We are the celebrants of the Mass and the priest has a unique role in the unfolding of that celebration.  You will notice that all the prayers of the liturgy are in the first person plural: it is always WE who are praying even when it is the priest who expresses the prayer. 

We are altogether the body of Christ; and each of us – including the priest – are parts thereof.  We come together to enter into communion with Christ yet again, to became one with him.

By Fr Frank O’Loughlin