Author: Daniel Pizarro

After listening to the readings and their explanation in the homily and having participated in Holy Communion, have I already fulfilled my duties as a Catholic by attending mass? We, as disciples of Jesus Christ, have to follow the example of those first disciples and not let ourselves be carried away by the sorrows of the world.

Let us remember that on the same Sunday of the Resurrection, the risen Jesus accompanied two of his disciples who were saddened by the crucifixion of the Messiah and left Jerusalem on the way to Emmaus. It is on this road that our Lord Jesus Christ opens the Scriptures for them, explaining them the passages that referred to Him, and that it had been necessary for the Messiah to suffer all these things in order to later be glorified. And then, upon reaching Emmaus, the disciples shared dinner with Jesus, who took the bread in his hands, and giving thanks to God, broke it and gave it to him. It is just then that the disciples recognized Jesus (Luke 24:13-31). In this passage we can recognize the structure of the Mass: the reading of the Scriptures, their explanation, the Eucharistic dinner: take the bread, bless it, break it and give it to the disciples.

But the passage does not stop there, the evangelist continues and tells us that the disciples without waiting any longer set out for Jerusalem, even when it was already night (Luke 24:29), to proclaim the good news: “It is true! The Lord has risen” (Luke 24:34).

Thus, our mission as disciples of Jesus Christ is not only to attend mass, listen to his word and participate in Holy Communion; rather it starts after the mass. Our Lord Jesus Christ exhorts us to proclaim the good news, to evangelize, using the talents that have been given to us, and to be recognized as disciples of Jesus and children of God by our fruits (Matthew 7:15-20)

Let us not be sponge-like Christians who only receive the word without taking action, rather let us be like a honeycomb, Christians overflowing with the sweetness of the Gospel through our example of life, let our hearts burn when listening to the Scriptures and recognize the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist; and after mass has ended, let us go out and evangelize, bearing fruit thirty, sixty or one hundredfold.

Our Lord Jesus Christ clearly said that by eating the bread that is His Body and drinking the wine that is His Blood we will have eternal life (John 6:53-54). So why is it also read from the scriptures at mass?

The figure of bread is strongly linked to Jesus Christ, from the unleavened bread at the Passover meal; where yeast represents sin (Exodus 12:15-20, Matthew 16:6, 1 Corinthians 5:5-7); the birthplace of Jesus himself, Bethlehem which in Hebrew means “House of bread”; Jesus Christ himself describing himself as the bread of life and the bread that came down from heaven (John 6:35-41); and the last supper of our Lord Jesus Christ with his disciples, where he establishes communion through unleavened bread that will be transubstantiated into His Body (Luke 22:14-20). We must remember that this last event occurs in the context of the Passover feast (Luke 22:7), in which the tradition is to read the story of the Exodus from Egypt and comment on its meaning.

All of this establishes the importance of the communion of His Body through bread, but we must not forget Jesus’ own words when he was tempted, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4, Deuteronomy 8:3).

Jesus Christ also gave us an example of how to celebrate mass, when He met the disciples who were on their way to Emmaus, where He recounted the passages in the scriptures that spoke about Him and explained their meaning, ending at dinner where Jesus takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it and gives it to them, at which point their eyes are opened and they go out to proclaim the good news. (Luke 24:27-31)

The Church in its immense wisdom takes the words and works of our Lord Jesus Christ and gives us the mass, the paschal banquet through which we are to be able to achieve eternal life, through the Word of God and the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us go to Mass filled with joy and hope, let our hearts burn when we listen to the scriptures and participate in Holy Communion, for both are life that comes from God.

During the Preparation of the Altar and the Gifts, various movements are made. The gifts of bread and wine are processed forward by members of the liturgical assembly and received by the presider at the altar (GIRM 73). The priest pours water into the wine. Finally, after incensing, usually the server pours a good quantity of water on both the fingers and the hands of the presider, who then uses a towel to dry his fingers and hands fully. The priest says inaudibly while washing his hands, “Lord, wash away my iniquity; cleanse me from my sin” (Roman Missal 28, p.530 ). Because the prayer is inaudible, and because in most parishes music is being sung during the preparation rites, members of the liturgical assembly do not hear the personal prayer of the priest while washing his hands, yet see the washing of his hands. Thus, the question is often asked, “Why does the priest wash his hands at Mass?”.

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal states that “The priest then washes his hands at the side of the altar, a rite that is an expression of his desire for interior purification” (GIRM 76). Thus, more than cleansing the hands is suggested by this prayer. Many of us tend to believe that the washing of his hands is a physical cleansing of the hands. Rather, the priest’s prayer during the washing is about the interior dimension of the priest so that he may be purified. The prayer also confirms this desire so that he may be cleansed from his sin and freed from iniquity. In the prayer, twice “my” is used to express that this is for the priest’s personal benefit.

Let us accompany the priest asking for forgiveness for our sins and faults so that we can be ready to receive the bread and wine now transformed into the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Seaman, Kristopher “Why Does the Priest Wash His Hands during Mass?  Liturgy Training Publications https://pastoralliturgy.org/resources/1009ReproRsrc.pdf

After the universal prayer, once everyone sits down, the offertory song begins, it is at this moment that the offerings of bread and wine are presented by the faithful to the priest, processing from among the community; the priest receives the offerings on the steps of the presbytery, and then, assisted by the acolyte or the deacon the offerings are taken to the altar, the priest proceeds to bless the offerings, purifies his hands, and pronounces: “Let us pray that your sacrifice and mine, maybe acceptable to God the almighty Father”, to which the community responds: “May the Lord accept this sacrifice at your hands, for the praise and glory of His Name, for our good and the good of all his holy Church”. These two prayers are where our sacrifice is presented by the priest ‘In persona Christi’ directly to God and us as a community ask for their acceptance by praising Him and asking for blessings. This bread and wine will then be consecrated and transubstantiated in the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and offered in communion to the community.

This bread and wine not only commemorate the bread and wine of the Last Supper, but also represents the whole community gathered offering themselves as a sacrifice so that not only through the hands of the priest, but also with him, through Christ the Mediator, they should be drawn day by day into ever more perfect union with God and with each other, so that finally God may be all in all (Sacrosanctum Concilium 48). This bread and wine, our sacrifice, will be made into the Body and Blood of Christ who died for our sins, is then offered to us so that we may join Him in communion, and obtain eternal life in Him.

Let us always be prepared to receive the sacred sacrament of communion, for that is the banquet that gives us eternal life and we are all invited to the Lord’s Supper.