Sunday, April 14, 2013

4 Ways the Mass Makes Present Jesus' Prayer


At Mass you and I enter into Jesus' human prayer.  There are many aspects in which this is true, mystical as well as practical; but I want to point out four in the very structure of the Mass:


  1. The Mass, in its entirety, hearkens back to the daily Temple liturgy in which Jesus participated when He made pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
  2. The Liturgy of the Word, the first half of the Mass, is the synagogue service in which Jesus regularly participated.
  3. The Liturgy of the Eucharist, even the very petitions made by our priests, come from Jesus' final celebration of the Jewish Passover on the night before He died.
  4. Further, the Liturgy of the Eucharist makes present Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension, where His prayer and gift of self were fused into one.

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