The Mass is a communal celebration.
The Eucharist that we receive is the Body and Blood of Jesus. It is sometimes called Holy Communion because when we receive it we are united with God in heaven. Through the Eucharist we are also united with all the Catholics worldwide who also receive the Eucharist and those who have died and gone before us to the glory of heaven.
The Mass is a sacrifice.
Jesus offers himself to us in the Eucharist and in exchange we offer our lives to God and commit to serve one another in charity. Every Mass presents again the death and resurrection of Jesus, the making present and the sacramental offering of his unique sacrifice, in the liturgy of the Church. In the celebration of the Mass somehow these events, become present and real to us. In the Eucharist Christ gives us the very body which he gave up for us on the cross, the very blood which he “poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
The Mass is a Meal.
The Mass feeds us with the word of God from the Scripture readings and with the Eucharist, the Bread of Heaven and the food of eternal life. To prepare ourselves we fast for at least an hour before Mass. As we need food and drink to keep our bodies healthy so we need the Eucharist to keep our spiritual life healthy and to grow in our Christian life. “I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “Those who come to me will never be hungry; those who believe in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35).
The Eucharist strengthens us. When we receive Holy Communion we are given the grace to help us to stay close to God, to resist the temptation of sin and to be more loving to others. Through the Eucharist we are united with Christ Jesus and become more like him. “He who eats my esh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I in him.” (John 6:56)
The Mass is The source and summit of our christian life.
It is the source because we derive our strength from the Eucharist and when we receive Jesus, in the Blessed Sacrament, we are receiving the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings into our bodies. This must be the high point of our lives. Nothing can compare with the great privilege of being reconciled with the Father, united with Jesus and lled with the Holy Spirit.
The Mass is a promise of the things to come.
In the Mass we get a foretaste of heaven. Jesus is present but his presence is veiled. Receiving the Eucharist prepares us for the time that we will meet Jesus face to face in his heavenly kingdom.
We are all participants, There are no spectators.
Christ himself is present, presiding invisibly over the celebration while the priest celebrating the Mass acts in the person of Christ to lead the liturgy. We may be in the pews, but when we gather together for Mass we are all participants, there are no spectators. There is a role for everyone in the celebration by joining in the prayers and the hymn singing, by silently offering ourselves to God when the gifts are presented and by echoing the great “Amen” at the end of the Eucharistic prayer. It is by participating more fully in the Mass that we will appreciate more fully the great grace that owes from it into our lives.