Why do we need to go to mass?

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It’s the difference between calling someone and visiting someone. Jesus is truly present, Body Blood Soul and Divinity in the Holy Eucharist. It’s not a symbol. It is really Him. We go to Mass to gather around Him and worship Him. Other Christian denominations don’t have the True Presence. We do. That’s the difference. That’s the reason. And…the Church teaches that it is our obligation.
 
Amac1 said:
I know going to mass is a precept of the Catholic Church. I know talking to Jesus just isn’t enough. But I can’t find a way to articulate the importance of this, and I’d like to be able to for when the conversation comes up again.

Can anyone hit me with a a few one/two liners about why we need to go to mass?
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I’m not good with one liners.

So instead I offer you this, all week you accumulate stuff. Like the dust on your feet. Feet need to be washed regularly.

Go to Mass, offer all that “stuff” to God. He washes you in the penitential rite. Nourishes you in His Word. Feeds you heavenly food to strengthen you on your journey.

Sure, He’s there when you close your eyes & lift up your hands. You should do so as often as you can remember. But He’s there, in the Mass in a very real way. In His Word, in the two or three gathered in His name, in the person of the priest, & body, blood, soul, & divinity of the Eucharist.

I love it when they end the Mass with, “Go in peace, Glorify the Lord with your lives.”

As if we’re made new & sent out as leaven into the world.
 
Amac1 said:
Can anyone hit me with a a few one/two liners about why we need to go to mass?
Click to expand...
Why do we need to breathe? To live.
Why do we need to bathe? To cleanse ourselves.
Why do we need nourishment? To live.

Re breathing:


Re bathing: If one goes for a day without bathing, their family might notice it. Go for a week without bathing, friends will avoid them. Go for a year without bathing (like the ancient Ukrainians did - they only bathed once a year!) and people will avoid that person like the plague.

One needs nourishment to live. If a baby is not fed with mother’s milk it won’t thrive. If an adult doesn’t eat they will die.

The same applies to the soul.

IIRC, it was either St. John Chrysostom or St. Padre Pio who said that prayer is the oxygen of the soul. Without oxygen, one can’t breathe and will eventually die.

The soul needs to be cleansed in either the Sacrament of Baptism (for original sin in the case of infants and original + actual sins for children and adults who have reached the age of reason) or the Sacrament of Penance (for actual sins committed by children and adults who have reached the age of reason).

The soul needs nourishment. Our Lord Himself said in the Gospel (John 6: 48 et seq.):

[48] I am the bread of life. [49] Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead. [50] This is the bread which cometh down from heaven; that if any man eat of it, he may not die. [51] I am the living bread which came down from heaven. [52] If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give, is my flesh, for the life of the world. [53]The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying: How can this man give us his flesh to eat? [54] Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. [55] He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day.

[54] “Eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood”: To receive the body and blood of Christ, is a divine precept, insinuated in this text; which the faithful fulfil, though they receive but in one kind; because in one kind they receive both body and blood, which cannot be separated from each other. Hence, life eternal is here promised to the worthy receiving, though but in one kind. Ver. 52. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give, is my flesh for the life of the world. Ver. 58. He that eateth me, the same also shall live by me. Ver. 59. He that eateth this bread, shall live for ever.

Our Lord Himself is the Physician and Nourisher of our souls and bodies.

Only in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass/Divine Liturgy do all these come together.

Cont’d
 
Cont’d from previous post

The Holy Sacrifice of the Altar aka Mass/Divine Liturgy/Qorbono has 4 ends:
  • Adoration - We adore God because He deserves it.
  • Propitiation - It satisfies Divine Justice because It is the Eternal Sacrifice of Christ for our sins which is present on the Altar
  • Thanksgiving - On our own we could never thank God enough for what He has done, is doing and will do for us. Our thanksgiving is joined to that of Our Lord, which makes It an infinite act of thanksgiving.
Btw, Eucharist is Greek for “thanksgiving”.

Remember the story of the 10 lepers in the Gospel. Our Lord cured 10 but only 1 came to thank Him. He asked: Where are the other nine?"
Even God likes to hear “Thank You!”
  • Supplication - We ask God every day for what we need but as St. Josaphat said: “The best time to ask God for anything is during the Liturgy.” Our Lord presents our needs to the Eternal Father on our behalf.
Remember APTS. That’s the easy part.
 
When you return @Amac1 this video may help you. Pax Christi,

 
“It satisfies Define Justice”

Please explain what is meant by divine justice. Is mass attendance the only requirement to satisfy it?
 
Just speak the truth in charity. Many of us have all been there and the words we don’t want to hear are what we need to hear. How one feels for us speaking truth should not weigh if you should say it. Christ said, “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated me before you.” We will be hated for living and professing our Catholic faith. Do it in charity but we must not think that Jesus was some hippy that everyone loved. They hated Him for speaking truth. The truth needs to be spoken but do it out of love for their soul.
 
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