‘My Sacrifice and Yours:’ Gift of Presence in the Mass

By Father Joseph S. I. Illés, Special Contributor

There are many ways we can describe the Mass. It can be a banquet, a celebration, a gathering – “church” in Greek means not a physical building but an assembly of believers. Traditionally, we refer to the Mass as a Sacrifice.

This term references the action of Good Friday in which we are drawn as a congregation into the Sacrifice of the Altar, a reminder to us every Mass of the love, goodness, mercy and suffering of the Lord which brought about our salvation.

More broadly, however, the use of the word “Sacrifice” to describe the Mass points not just to the work of the Lord and the ordained priest, but to that of the congregation of the baptized gathered in prayer and worship.

In Baptism, we are all given a share in the three roles, the munera (duties), of Jesus Christ as priest, prophet and king. We of course exercise these differently than Jesus did, and we exercise them to different degrees, but all of us – priest and laity alike – share in each. Each of the three roles has their part in our lives, but, of particular note here, is the role of priest.

By their scriptural and functional nature, priests offer sacrifice, and so our common priesthood in Baptism has a part in the Sacrifice of the Mass. The role of the ordained priest is clear in the Mass, but the laity, too, have a priestly role. In their priestly configuration, the laity are called to “fully conscious, and active participation” in the Mass (Sacrosanctum concilium, 14). This means participation in the responses, prayer, and music and offering a sacrifice in the collection.

More importantly, it means a gift of self. As Christians, we are all called to follow Jesus and to imitate him. In the lay participation in the priesthood of Jesus Christ, this means offering ourselves in service to God. “Fully conscious, and active participation,” then, means more than merely attending Mass.

It means giving ourselves to the Lord, to be taken up in the sacrificial mystery, to become a sacrifice of love and service to the Lord whom we follow. It means being drawn into greater communion with God, and with each other, as we grow to resemble the union of Jesus and his Church. It means being transformed by the Eucharistic Lord.

This is why belief in the Real Presence of the Eucharist is critical to our faith. When we understand whom it is we receive, why it is we receive him, and what it means (spiritually and evangelically) to receive him, we recognize the singular dignity given us as Christians.

When we believe that the Eucharist is the Real Presence of the Lord for whom we are made and to whom we are directed, we cannot help but be moved by the sacramental graces to embrace more fully and more readily the call to evangelization and service, not just within the church building, but to the world.

We might describe the Mass as many things, but when we recognize the importance of the Mass as a Sacrifice, we understand, too, that the Mass is so much more than something to be attended, observed or endured. The Mass is a call to service, to sacrifice, to union with the Eucharistic Lord whom we receive, and whom we are called to follow.

The Mass is where we are called to give of ourselves in a “fully conscious and active” way, offering ourselves as the sacrifice to be sent out into the world to preach the life, death and Resurrection of him into whom we are transformed.

As we attend the Sacrifice of the Mass in this Year of the Eucharist, let us then resolve to give ourselves in service to the Lord, and so be transformed as instruments of the Lord’s evangelical mission in our Diocese of Metuchen, and especially to the world outside our church doors.

Father Joseph S. I. Illés serves as parochial vicar in Immaculate Conception Parish and director of Catholic Identity, Immaculata High School, both in Somerville.