The celebration of the MASS!

Dedication: To my Pope Paul the VI. Thank you for never leaving me.

How often have I noticed people go from one Church to the other? From one Mary to the other. Mary is the same. Mary is a mother to all and there is nothing a mother won’t do.

Last year, a person I know was so thrilled that for her 50^th wedding anniversary mass she had 25 Priests celebrate. That is what she told me the first thing that morning of the 11th of January. I mean that is really good. But it is good if one understood what happens at the celebration of the mass.

People have their snaps clicked with the Bishop or the Cardinal, maybe the Pope too. It’s good that you want to showcase it to the world. Perhaps I would do the very same thing, I think. It is okay to be thrilled. After all each Priest is Jesus Himself.  

But have you never understood that Jesus is above the Bishop or the Cardinal, matter of fact even the Pope. No offence to any order. Jesus is The Son of God. If each Priest is Jesus then we ignore the Jesus that waits as a Host in the monstrance, waiting for us. I am dust and to dust I will return. But I write this just as the Spirit of God instructs me to.

Please read: On PRIESTS

Jesus waits as a Host a thin wafer of bread. He waits in all humility. He waits for us to show our face to Him. Do you at all want to click a snap (you and a Host together) and tell everyone that here is my God? Here is the love of my life. Do you realize that Mary stands near the Tabernacle, at the side of her Son? Every Church is the same. Mary is always by her Son. Whether it is Mt. Carmel, St. Peter’s or St. Vincent De Paul? Jesus is everywhere, and where Jesus is Mary is always there. Our Lady of Mt. Carmel is no different from our Lady of the Mount. Mary is the same.

So you say you have been to the Holy places. And I am truly happy for you. You have the means and you made good use of it. But have you really understood that the celebration of the mass covers all the Holy places? I doubt you do?

People speak of Pota and Tabor. People who go, I have noticed speak of really high ideals of religiosity. Holiness is not an act. It is conferred to one by God. One cannot declare it on oneself. And one cannot force their point of view of religion on family members.

Now don’t get me wrong. There is a difference here. Children must always be taught about God. And they will follow only what they see from their parents.

People have involved themselves in so many things in the Church that they seem to have forgotten the ONE that matters the most. At the wedding at Cana, Mary specifically directs us to Jesus, ‘Do what He tells you’ Do we follow Mary without ever understanding the meaning of her words.

If you’d ask me for the single most important aspect in each of our life. I’d just tell you the celebration of the mass. Nothing will ever equal it.

Everything I have learnt, most of the aspects of the mass, however much I have come to understand is from what I have learnt from the teachings of Fr. Ashlyn during the Bible class and his explanation of each and every aspect of the mass during the celebration of the mass and his homilies and his continuous prayers over us. He speaks with the whole point being Jesus. Nothing I write is of me. It is with learning from Fr. Ashlyn and as instructed by the Holy-Spirit. To The Almighty God be all glory and praise!

My prayer, Jesus, bid me to come to You. Each and every time, every day. Your grace oh Lord, my soul awaits.

The purposes of the Mass

• Jesus gave perfect glory to God the Father from the Cross, and He continues to do so from the Altar. When we unite ourselves to Him, we will be offering a perfect sacrifice of adoration and praise.
• Let us always be thankful to God.
• Jesus took our sins on Himself. When we come to Mass with repentance, we will draw from it great strength to fight against temptations and to realize that, despite our weaknesses, God loves us very much.
• God is merciful and wants to give us eternal life. When we unite our prayers to that of Jesus, we can be sure that our requests will be heard by Abba Father.

Always remember never in your power advise a Priest to hurry the mass. Whether in a community or whatever group one represents never ever hurry a mass to end. Never hurry God. God is patience Himself. When one does what one does, they imply, that they have very little time to spare for God. CAUTION! Do not hurt the Heart of God! Tread carefully!

Remember that THE MASS has infinite value.

We begin the mass with the sign of the cross - In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy-Spirit. Amen.

The priest greets the people "the Lord be with you," and we reply -‘And with your Spirit.’ (We pray that the grace of God will enable our Priests in their duties.)

• The ‘I confess’ that we say together at the start of the Mass helps to obtain pardon for venial sins. A mortal sin – must be confessed. One cannot receive communion unless he goes to confession.
• The Glory to God is sung or said at all Sunday Masses, and feasts with the exclusion of Advent and Lent. Our voices should be lifted in praise as we say it!

   

• Priest: Let us Pray. (in silence-ask God, what you need) Fr. Ashlyn would always remind us to pray for our need.

  

The liturgy of the word

• The first reading highlights the Gospel.
• The Responsorial Psalm from the book of Psalms.
• The second reading taken from the Letters in the New Testament. They were written to the early church by St. Paul and the Apostles.
• The Gospel means “good news.” When the Gospel is proclaimed, it is Christ Himself speaking. One makes a small sign of the cross on the forehead, lips, and heart before the Gospel. We ask God to bless our mind, that we may ponder His Word; our lips, that we may speak His praise; and our heart, that we may love the Word of God!
• The Creed addressing the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, stressing that the three persons are one God. It is our belief that God became one of us at the birth of Jesus. 







The Prayers of the Faithful, it follows an order - For those burdened with difficulty and for the local community.

The Eucharistic liturgy is made up of the presentation of the gifts, the Eucharistic prayer and the Communion.

The presentation of the gifts - (the offertory) The Priest (and we with him) offer the hosts and wine. Offer all that is yours in this moment of the Mass. Take all of that and put it on the paten beside the hosts.

Fr. Ashlyn says that the best gift we can offer God is ourselves. We must offer our hearts when the priest offers the oblation of this Sacrifice.

18^th April 2017. Fr. Ashlyn and Fr. Francis. St. Joseph’s Chapel.

Fr. Ashlyn at the offertory, asked us to come forward just as we do for Holy Communion and lift up a host and place it in the chalice. When doing so he asked us to think of what our biggest fear or concern is and when lifting the host, offer it up to God. I offered up my biggest fear and worry to God.

• Be focused when the Priest offers the gifts. If not, then the bread and the wine won't be our gifts.
• At the moment of consecration, Jesus comes to the Altar by turning the bread and the wine into His own Body and Blood a miracle known as 'Transubstantiation'.
• Before the wine is offered to the Father, the Priest adds a drop of water into the chalice. The wine represents the divine nature, water represents our human nature, so that the mixing of the water and wine signifies the Incarnation of Christ. We pray that we also become one with Christ.
• A hymn at this point-makes one miss out on the essence of the offering-thus it is not essential. 

Priest: Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness we have received the bread we offer you: fruit of the earth and work of human hands, it will become for us the bread of life. 

(I offer up my fears, my worries, my life in totality)

People: Blessed be God for ever.

Priest: Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness we have received the wine we offer you: fruit of the vine and work of human hands it will become our spiritual drink.

(I pray that I may never speak bad of Priests)
People: Blessed be God for ever.

The Priest then will wash his hands in holy water, symbolic of Pontius Pilate washing his hands of Jesus, the Innocent Victim.

• The Mass is Christ's sacrifice. But it is also the sacrifice of the priest and of the people. It is our sacrifice if we have really put some part of ourselves into this sacrifice. In the Offertory, Christ unites our desires and prayers to His own offering of Himself to the Father.

Priest: Pray, brethren, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father.

People: May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands, for the praise and glory of his name, for our good, and the good of all his holy Church.

Priest:  And so, with Angels and Archangels,
         with Thrones and Dominions,
         and with all the hosts and Powers of heaven,
         we sing the hymn of your glory,
         as without end we acclaim:
Please read the words above and understand the way we must sing THE SANCTUS or say it out loud. How must our response be? I’ll go with enthusiastic and full of reverence. The whole of Heaven is at the celebration of the mass and therefore with joy we must acclaim!
  

The Sanctus: "Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest."

It is a hymn of adoration and a shout of victory. The triple “Holy” represents The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit – the Holy Trinity. The words must remain the same. I know of a lady in Mt. Carmel’s who when singing would just omit the 4th and the 5th line while leading the singing at the morning mass. That is clearly wrong.



Fr. Alvaro on Sunday the 15th of April at the 10:15 am mass, told us of these lines which are mentioned below. Fr. Alvaro mentioned that both Mother Mary and St. Joseph are the greatest of the Saints and their names figure on top most with the other saints being mentioned later. He said they did simple things with all the love and obedience to God. They were patient always. They were humble and lived in all holiness to the will of God.
Talk about God's perfect timing, of Fr. Alvaro explaining the lines and me writing it with the grace of God. What are the chances. Go by God!

In communion with those whose memory we venerate, especially the glorious ever-Virgin Mary, Mother of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ,

and blessed Joseph, her Spouse,
your blessed Apostles and Martyrs, Peter and Paul, Andrew, (James, John, Thomas, James, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Simon and Jude; Linus, Cletus, Clement, Sixtus, Cornelius, Cyprian, Lawrence, Chrysogonus, John and Paul, Cosmas and Damian) and all your Saints; we ask that through their merits and prayers, in all things we may be defended by your protecting help. (Through Christ our Lord. Amen.)

The Eucharistic prayer is the Church’s greatest prayer. The word Eucharist means thanksgiving, and it is a petition to God.

 

Priest: TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU, AND EAT OF IT, FOR THIS IS MY BODY, WHICH WILL BE GIVEN UP FOR YOU.

I pray for all the different orders of Priests and those studying. I pray for all the Nuns and those studying. I also pray for both our Popes (Pope Francis & Pope Benedict). I pray for all of their good health and protection from all evil. If there is a pause I am able to personally pray for all the Priests I know. I somehow do that.

Priest: TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU AND DRINK FROM IT, FOR THIS IS THE CHALICE OF MY BLOOD, THE BLOOD OF THE NEW AND ETERNAL COVENANT, WHICH WILL BE POURED OUT FOR YOU AND FOR MANY FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS. DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME.

I pray for my family and my friends and people who have asked me to pray for them. I pray for the world, it’s people.

• The priest says "This is my body"; "This is the Chalice of my blood”. Jesus this moment on is at the Altar in the form of The Body and Blood. 
• We are in Calvary, like our Lady and St. John who were beside Him and kept Him company.

When-if, a single person accompanies the priest, the whole Church is present. Through the mass, the work of our redemption continues to be carried out. Priests must celebrate mass every day, it is an act of Christ and the Church. The whole Church includes the Angels and the Saints.

I have heard Fr. Leonard N (Lenny) on numerous occasions celebrate back to back masses. And I remember Fr. Alvaro celebrating mass where there were only 3-4 people. And this happened on couple of occasions. WOW! Sometimes Fr. Alvaro has also celebrated back to back masses.

After the consecration, the priest invites us to proclaim the Mystery of Faith – 
Christ has died,
Christ is risen,
Christ will come again.

What we see with our eyes as bread and wine is - the true Body and Blood of Jesus Christ who suffered, died, and was raised from the dead for our redemption!

Priest: Welcome into your kingdom our departed brothers and sisters, and all who left this world in your friendship. We hope to enjoy forever the vision of your glory, through Christ our Lord, from whom all good things come.

Fr. Leonard and Fr. Ashlyn always make a stop. Fr. Joe too takes a moment. Praise God!

At this time, I pray for all the souls who have come from the beginning of time and for those who are leaving the world today, until the next time I attend mass. I pray for God’s mercy on them. I pray for the souls of Purgatory and for their release from Purgatory. I pray for God’s mercy on those who have no one to pray for them.

I pray - I hope for no soul to be neglected. I pray, ‘if it be Your will,’ bid me to suffer for all of them. ‘Your will be done, not mine.’ But if it is Your will that my life be nothing then permit me to suffer for all of them, so that all can be saved. 

Priest: Through him, with him, in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honour is yours, almighty Father for ever and ever.

People: Amen.

If one is standing at this moment one would need to take a bow to the Holy presence of The Triune God on the Altar. All praise of God is through with and in Christ.

Fr. Joe never ever missed on telling us to bow down to the presence of God.

• Let us express our faith with the words of Saint Thomas, "My Lord and my God." 

The Lord’s Prayer: We dare to call God - Our Father.

LINK:-http://godofimpossibles.blogspot.in/2017/11/thy-kingdom-come.html (The Our Father explained)

When we pray the Our Father together as a community, we pray for our Daily Bread-the Eucharist.

Priest:  Deliver us, Lord, from every evil, and grant us peace in our day. In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

People:  For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever.

 

Priest: Lord Jesus Christ, you said to your apostles: I leave you peace, my peace I give you. Look not on our sins, but on the faith of your Church, and grant us the peace and unity of your kingdom where you live for ever and ever.

People: Amen.

Priest: The Peace of the Lord be with you always. 

People: And also with you.

Priest:  Let us offer each other a sign of peace.
At the sign of peace, turn and say, “Peace be with you.”

After the sign of peace, the priest will break his Host into smaller pieces for himself and to distribute to the people. The breaking of the Host reminds us that Christ was broken and died for us. The priest will also take a small piece of the host and place it in the chalice.

  

“Lamb of God,” we pray once more for God’s mercy and peace.

Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: have mercy on us.

Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: have mercy on us.

Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: grant us peace.

  

Priest: This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Happy are those who are called to his supper.
We should be filled with joy of receiving the Eucharist, but also humility at the incredible gift that we are about to receive.

People: Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.

We are not worthy to have Him enter into our poor soul. But we must never receive Him unworthily with a mortal sin which has not been confessed.

Communion:

"Happy are those who are called to his supper."

"If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man, you will not have life in you."

"Anyone who eats this bread will live forever..."

When we realize it is Jesus we receive, we will receive Him with all the love in our heart.

When one comes to receive Jesus in Communion, one has the option of receiving in the hand or on the tongue. If you receive in the hand, remember to hold your left hand over your right, so that you can then gently lift up the Host with your right hand to consume the Body of Christ. 

Priest: “The Body of Christ,”

You:  Amen.

When one has received communion, it is the best moment to ask graces from our Lord. Pray for everyone. And remember to thank Jesus.

After communion, the priest, will place the remaining Hosts in the Tabernacle. Every particle and drop of the Body and Blood of Christ is reverently consumed.

The priest gives us God’s blessing and says “go in peace to love and serve the Lord.” We are called just as the word states to love everybody-no distinction and to serve not ourselves but each and everybody, with no conditions attached. While we have been dismissed, it is a mark of respect to allow the Priest to leave first.

After the celebration of the mass, I have always seen, Fr. Leonard N, Fr. Alvaro and Fr. Joe pray in their own ways. It is their way of thanking the Lord, I think.  

To receive Communion, is the greatest thing in the whole wide world. Once Mass has ended it is only love of the heart to the Other, that one remains for a few minutes speaking with the Lord. My heart is in union with my Master, I don’t want to ever leave.

With faith, we will realize that the celebration of the mass is our greatest strength. Heaven is here at the celebration of the Mass. This is a wonderful life, when we understand how awesome our God is.

Thank You, Abba Father.
Thank You, Jesus.
Thank You, Holy Spirit. 

Please do read:

To REBUKE or not...
Rebuke 2-Trials
Rebuke 3-The Wilderness
Rebuke-4 The Sacrifice