The mass and calvary

[Flame_of_Christ]

I have heard people say that mass is all about calvary and really nothing else. I have a few problems with this however. Are we not to celebrate the resurrection? Is the beginning of the mass a time to be joyful, when our King is coming? How about saying “Hosanna in the highest”, or “by your cross and resurrection, you have set us free.” I feel like the idea that the entire mass is a sad and solemn occasion just is way out of proportion. Granted, part of it is sad though.

Yet, is it wrong to feel a need to praise Jesus? or am I not allowed to do that at mass?

Do I need to praise and thank Him elsewhere?

 

[DebChris]

All the forms of prayer are a part of the Mass. This includes repentance, praise, thanksgiving, petition, and adoration.
Eucharistic means celebration and so, yes, we are called to celebrate the fact that Christ overcame death for our sake. There is reason to be thankful, to praise God for what He has done.
During the Mass, we remember Calvary. Our remembrance is that of a resurrection people.

Think about other events in human history. Many died in the American revolution. While we don’t want to forget the cost paid, our focus is on the freedoms we celebrate today, I am not suggesting fireworks, but it is our praise that we owe God for the salvation we have received.
Praise Him with timbrel and harp.

 

[Flame_of_Christ]

All the forms of prayer are a part of the Mass. This includes repentance, praise, thanksgiving, petition, and adoration.
Eucharistic means celebration and so, yes, we are called to celebrate the fact that Christ overcame death for our sake. There is reason to be thankful, to praise God for what He has done.
During the Mass, we remember Calvary. Our remembrance is that of a resurrection people.

Think about other events in human history. Many died in the American revolution. While we don’t want to forget the cost paid, our focus is on the freedoms we celebrate today, I am not suggesting fireworks, but it is our praise that we owe God for the salvation we have received.
Praise Him with timbrel and harp.

I agree and have always thought that the mass is the gretest prayer that ever was. Being as it may, shouldn’t we be giving God our all there? Or does He only want us beating our breasts as the true form of worship?

 

[basenji]

I have heard people say that mass is all about calvary and really nothing else. I have a few problems with this however. Are we not to celebrate the resurrection?

Every Sunday, indeed every Mass, is Easter Sunday.

However, the joy we receive and subsequently live out does not necessarily have to be celebrated within the context of a charismatic liturgy each and every time. One of the coolest aspects of our Catholic faith, one that many people forget, is that we are all about the “both/and”. It’s often difficult to acheive that combination but it is well worth it, IMHO.

Peace

 

[Flame_of_Christ]

Every Sunday, indeed every Mass, is Easter Sunday.

However, the joy we receive and subsequently live out does not necessarily have to be celebrated within the context of a charismatic liturgy each and every time. One of the coolest aspects of our Catholic faith, one that many people forget, is that we are all about the “both/and”. It’s often difficult to acheive that combination but it is well worth it, IMHO.

Peace

I have found some very solemn moments in a charismatic mass (the consercration for one among many). I don’t doubt that we are a both/and people. Praise Jesus for that!

many blessings

 

[DebChris]

I agree and have always thought that the mass is the gretest prayer that ever was. Being as it may, shouldn’t we be giving God our all there? Or does He only want us beating our breasts as the true form of worship?

I don’t sit beating my breast. I like that the Confiteor is prayed at least during daily Mass in my parish. Notice that in the Mass, repentance is near the beginning. It is immediately followed by the Gloria, except during Lent, before we listen to the readings of the day.
This leads us to that part of the Mass that calls for solemn adoration, drawing us, if our hearts are open, into contemplation, into the unknown, into intimacy.
I would agree that we cannot have thankful hearts if we focus simply on the negative, that a man named Jesus was tortured and killed, without looking at the triumph, the victorious destruction of death. That overcoming of death, the willingness of Jesus to give Himself to us in the form of bread and wine is reason to celebrate.
This next question is one for theologians that just crossed my mind. During the Last Supper, Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” Is it not Calvary that we are called to remember, not simply because a man died, but because of what Christ did in allowing himself to killed upon the cross? We are called to remember that Christ died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again. Jesus took our sins upon Himself, that our sins might be destroyed and that we might have life through Him, life in the fullest. Are we not called to celebrate the life we have been given, remembering Who it is that gave us life?
Again, Mass is a Eucharistic celebration. We are called to Praise God and give Him Thanks.
Correction to my earlier post. Eucharistic does not mean celebration. It means Thanksgiving. The Mass is a Eucharistic celebration, a celebration of Thanksgiving.

 

[NHInsider]

Saying that the Mass is “all about Calvary” is not saying it should be a time of sorrow. It is a reminder that the Mass allows us to be present at the Cross. But the Mass is a celebration.

Part of the Mystery of the Incarnation, Passion and Resurrection is that the Cross, an instrument of torture and death, has become the source and symbol of life.

God’s wisdom is foolishness to the world.

 

[Cluny]

I agree and have always thought that the mass is the gretest prayer that ever was. Being as it may, shouldn’t we be giving God our all there? Or does He only want us beating our breasts as the true form of worship?

I’ve never seen people beating their breasts at Mass, except maybe during the Confiteor.

I don’t know about where you attend, though.

However, it is true that until relatively recently, the Western devotional emphasis on the Mass was as a “renewal” or “re-presentation” of Calvary.

Which is curious, because the actual prayers never said such a think.

 

[japhy]

There is a lot going on at the Mass. It’s not just “Calvary”, it’s the whole Sacrifice of Calvary, the whole Paschal Mystery. It’s Palm Sunday through Ascension Thursday. It’s a great exchange between God and man.

 

[Cathryn]

I’ve never seen people beating their breasts at Mass, except maybe during the Confiteor.

I don’t know about where you attend, though.

However, it is true that until relatively recently, the Western devotional emphasis on the Mass was as a “renewal” or “re-presentation” of Calvary.

Which is curious, because the actual prayers never said such a think.

The Mass is still Calvary made present for us. The Last Supper is re-created and Calvary is re-presented (made present). Vatican II didn’t change this.

The Catholic Church, like St. Paul, “preaches Christ crucified”. This is how we have been redeemed by Christ. The Eucharist is how we share in the Body of Christ, and also how we share in the blood of Christ according to St. Paul. We are sharing in His Sacrifice on the Cross. The Sacrifice of the Mass is the meaning of the Mass. Vatican II didn’t change this. This is why Catholics have a corpus on our crosses, unlike most Protestants who prefer to celebrate His Resurrection without having to think about Calvary. And most Protestants don’t believe they share in His Sacrifice, like we do, at Mass.

 

[DebChris]

CCC1073…In the liturgy, all Christian prayer finds its source and good. Through the liturgy the inner man is rooted and grounded in "the great love with which [the Father] loved us "in his beloved Son. It is the same “marvelous work of God” that is lived and internalized by all prayer, “at all times in the Spirit.”
CCC1085…The Paschal Mystery of Christ. by contrast [to other historical events] cannot remain only in the past, because by his death he destroyed death, and all that Christ is–all that he did and suffered for all men–participates in the divine eternity, and so transcends all times while being made present in them all. The event of the Cross and Resurrection abides and draws everything toward life.

From The United States Catholic Catechism for Adults
The Mass is a sacred meal, a sacred banquet, like the Last Supper, in which bread and wine become Christ’s Body and Blood, received in Holy Communion.
Through the ministry of the ordained priest, the Holy Spirit makes present at Mass Christ’s Paschal mystery, his dying and rising in which Christ is offered to the father to give him adoration and praise to save us from our sins and bring us divine life.

In the Mass, The lives of the faithful, their praise, sufferings, prayers, and work. are united with those of Christ and with his total offering, and acquire a new value reminding us of the importance of sacrifice in each individual’s life.
The offering of Christ unites the members here on earth and those in heaven.
The Eucharistic Liturgy contains the entire treasure of the Church since it makes present the Paschal Mystery, the central event of salvation. Eucharistic adoration and devotion flow from and lead to the Eucharistic Liturgy of the Mass.