The Mass makes present the saving action of God in human history.

MOVING MOUNTAINS BY LIVING MORE PROFOUNDLY BY THE MASS
 


    “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood” (Luke 22:20)


At every Mass, Jesus offers himself completely to the Father for the life of the world. It is through this offering of Jesus that souls are being saved and prepared for a blessed eternity of unimaginable joy! By way of our sacramental life, we are called to enter into this offering of Jesus which is made present to us on our altars. The Mass makes present the saving action of God in human history.

Father George Kosicki once roughly estimated that about “4-5 Masses begin each second,” and that “there are are approximately 8-9 thousand Masses going on at any moment” (Intercession: Moving Mountains by Living Eucharistically, p. 22, Faith Publishing Company). Even if Father Kosicki’s rough calculations are on the high side, it is truly inspiring and breathtaking to consider that at any given moment thousands of Masses are being said throughout the world and the infinitely perfect sacrifice of Jesus’ Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity is being lovingly offered to the Eternal Father. What a wonder! What an amazing phenomenon!

In his Apostolic Exhortation on the Eucharist, Sacramentum Caritatis, translated as “Sacrament of Charity,” Pope Benedict XVI urges Catholics to “rediscover the Eucharistic form which their lives are meant to have,”
thus making of our lives “a constant self-offering to God….” (#72). At every moment of the day we can offer our personal sacrifices and our sufferings in union with all the Masses being said throughout the world. Saint Paul
urges, among other things, that “prayers” and “intercessions” be “offered for all men” because God “wants all men to be saved and come to know the truth” (1 Tim. 2: 1-4). By “living Eucharistically” we can fulfill this all-important obligation of intercession by offering our merits and sacrifices for the salvation of souls in union with all the Masses being said throughout the world. Right now, at this very moment, you can unite the offering of yourself to the offering of our High Priest Jesus through all of the Masses being said in the world. This is a beautiful way to give your heart to the Lord.

We might pray: “I unite myself through Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, to all the Masses being said at this moment throughout the world, so as to offer myself and this day more completely to God through Jesus Christ in union with His sacrifice at Calvary” (Saint Pope John Paul II demonstrates in Salvifici Dolores, #26, that the very nature of meritorious, redemptive suffering is to spiritually unite ourselves to the cross of Christ, “and the sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice” (CCC 1367; see also CCC 1368, 2010 and 1475).

Father Kosicki says: “Always and everywhere I can offer up the present situation. Nothing is too small to offer, nothing insignificant when offered Eucharistically, when offered in union with Jesus for the salvation of souls to the glory of the Father. It is called intercession. We are called to it” (Intercession, p.23).     

Do you have a thirst for souls? Our Lord taught Saint Faustina an effective way to intercede Eucharistically for the salvation of souls. He taught her a prayer of intercession known as The Chaplet of Divine Mercy. As Father Kosicki explains, “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy holds a special place of honor as a Eucharistic prayer because it is a continuation of the offering of the Mass” (p.31). In the Chaplet “we intercede with the power of the Eucharist” by offering to the Eternal Father the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.” Father Kosicki mentions that Our Lord encouraged Saint Faustina to say the Chaplet without ceasing (diary, #687). Here, then, by lovingly saying The Chaplet of Divine Mercy is a powerful way to intercede for the salvation of souls.

It is a tremendous grace to be Catholic, to participate in Holy Mass and to receive Holy Communion. Indeed, with profound gratitude to Jesus Christ, we are the special beneficiaries of Malachi’s prophecy that from the rising of the sun until its setting a pure sacrifice will be offered to God, and we can intercede for others through the Infinite Merits of Jesus’ sacrifice. Saint John Paul II has urged Catholics to make the Eucharist the very center of their lives (see The Mystery and Worship of the Eucharist, #7), and so I close with his own words taken from his Encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia:

“The Second Vatican Council rightly proclaimed that the Eucharistic sacrifice is “the source and summit of the Christian life”. ‘For the most holy Eucharist contains the Church’s entire spiritual wealth: Christ himself, our passover and living bread. Through his own flesh, now made living and life-giving by the Holy Spirit, he offers life to men’.  Consequently the gaze of the Church is constantly turned to her Lord, present in the Sacrament of the Altar, in which she discovers the full manifestation of his boundless love.”

Tom Mulcahy, M.A.

Ref. I am relying entirely on Father Kosicki’s book, Intercession: Moving Mountains by Living Eucharistically, (Faith Publishing Company). Father Kosicki passed into eternal life on August 11, 2014.

To SHARE on SOCIAL MEDIA: click on “Leave a comment” or “Comments” below (and this will bring up social media icons if they are not already present).

To LEAVE A COMMENT: click on “Leave a comment” or “Comments” below, and then scroll down to the box which says, “Leave Your Own Comment Here,” which is at the end of any comments already made. If the comment section is already present, merely scroll to the end of any comments already made.

All rights reserved.

Any ads following this note are by WordPress and not CatholicStrength.