Objective
Pay more attention during mass and learn to encounter Jesus
1. In the community
2. In His Word
3. Through the Priest
4. Through the Eucharist
When we learn how to “be on the lookout for Jesus Christ at Mass; when the Mass is no longer just a ritual that repeats the same old thing every time, but becomes an event through which we encounter Jesus Christ, then it will be anything but boring.
Bible Readings
1. 1 Cor. 11:23-26
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant of my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes”
2. Matthew. 5:23–24
Assemble on the Lord’s day, and break bread and offer the Eucharist; but first make confession of your faults, so that your sacrifice may be a pure one. Anyone who has a difference with his fellow is not to take part with you until he has been reconciled, so as to avoid any profanation of your sacrifice.
3. Luke 22:19
And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me’.
Catechism Readings
1. Paragraph 1382
The Mass is at the same time, and inseparably, the sacrificial memorial in which the sacrifice of the cross is perpetuated and the sacred banquet of communion with the Lord’s body and blood. But the celebration of the Eucharistic sacrifice is wholly directed toward the intimate union of the faithful with Christ through communion. To receive communion is to receive Christ himself who has offered himself for us.
2. Paragraph 1378
Worship of the Eucharist.
In the liturgy of the Mass we express our faith in the real presence of Christ under the species of bread and wine by, among other ways, genuflecting or bowing deeply as a sign of adoration of the Lord. “The Catholic Church has always offered and still offers to the sacrament of the Eucharist the cult of adoration, not only during Mass, but also outside of it, reserving the consecrated hosts with the utmost care, exposing them to the solemn veneration of the faithful, and carrying them in procession.
Small Group Questions
1. What effort do you put in to understanding what is going on during Mass? You only get out of it what you put in.
2. Do you challenge your family to participate and be attentive during Mass?
Recommended Resources
1. The Mass: Four Encounters with Jesus That Will Change Your Life, Dr. Tom Curran
2. “The Holy Mass- The Testimony of Catalina” – Document is on the Father’s Team website
3. “The Lamb’s Supper – Scott Hahn
Accountability
1. Next time you attend Mass actively try to encounter Jesus through your fellow parishioners, in the readings, through the priest’s homily and through the Eucharist.
Author(s)
Tony Heekin