Making the Most of Mass

Is there such thing as a perfect Mass? What would it look like? Would it be a Pontifical High Mass with Bishop, Deacon and Subdeacon and a swathe of incense obscuring the altar while the eternal dialogue follows the Tridentine Rite, or the Liturgy of St James? Well, not necessarily. There is no ostensible difference between a Mass that’s acted out on television as part of a play and one that’s done for real. The difference is necessarily that of intention.

Is there such thing as an imperfect Mass? Again, what would constitute such a thing? Clearly the sinfulness of the priest and the congregation don’t play a part, and as long as the priest is validly ordained, the Sacrament is present and thus perfection is literally within our grasp as the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. If there is imperfection at Mass, then surely it’s the imperfection that comes from within us that mars the sacrament. It’s how we receive it that determines what its effect is for us. We are capable of refusing grace! Christ our God to Earth descendeth, will we recognise Him if we don't seek to find Him? Or in the Eastern Orthodox vein, at Mass we are lifted to God, but how will we know if we don't seek to be transported?

So why is it then that we get so uppity about how the Mass is done, which liturgy is used, which songs are sung, if at the end of it all the effect is the same and we are fed with the Body and Blood of Christ? Are we too bound by distractions from the norm? Yet if Mass is deliberately constructed to be precisely the same week after week, what difference would there be from reciting a magic spell, or pressing a button on a vending machine – a Host-O-Matic? Say the right words and ping! out pops God. Now surely that is a blasphemy worthy of Jack Chick! But how much do we treat our Masses like that?

It’s clear then that Mass is done with people as they are at the present time. Thus by embracing the fact that we are not the same people as those who attended Mass last time do we avoid the falseness of the vending machine Mass. Thus a necessary requirement is that we attend Divine Worship in the light of the Truth about who we really are. This truth is borne out in our acceptance of our sinfulness and physical frailty, and yet that, in possessing the image of God Himself, we are permitted to receive into ourselves what is truly the Body and Blood of our God.

Yet in recognising this truth, we come to Mass with another view – to give of our best in worship. The whole point of worship is that we focus on how much worth we put on our relationship with God. The word “worship” does have its roots in the idea of worth-ship. We therefore come to Mass with a view to considering how much value we place on God being present in our lives. I’ve worshipped in a parish in the Church of England where the Ciborium holding the Reserve Sacrament has been carried about like a mug of cocoa – what does that say about the worth of Christ in that parish? Of course, some parishes (probably most, theoretically all) in the C of E don’t hold to Transubstantiation, so one wonders about the level of consistency of belief and the resulting quality of worship. Lex orandi, lex credendi!

I’m struck mainly about the lack of thought that goes into Mass. With a lack of thought comes a deficiency in intention, and thus for many the effects of the Sacrament are compromised. Too many parishes seem to be engaged in an attempt to lure people into church with the right “ethos”, with the right music, or liturgy that explains everything, or a brilliant preacher. In so doing they have changed the object of worth into a bottom on a pew. The only way that the Church will grow is if people engage in a relationship with Christ that demonstrates the reverence and love we have for Him.

The Mass is the centre of our worship. It is where we encounter God physically. If we allow ourselves to be distracted from this central fact, if we allow dumbing-down of our admittedly and necessarily limited understanding of the Sacrament by the winds of false teaching, or by the insipid babble of prattled pious platitudes, if we do nothing to make some kind of preparation to come before God, then what’s the point of Mass, what’s the point of grace and what’s the point of faith?