What is Mass and why is it so important?

The Mass is the ‘source and summit’ of our Catholic Faith – it nourishes us and is the high point of the week.  It has two main parts to it – the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist, and in both we encounter God personally.

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In the first part we hear God in the Bible readings (and we meet Jesus in the Gospel), then we state what we believe and pray for the needs of the world.

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In the second, we are fed at Mass by Jesus in the form of bread and wine which are transformed into his Body and Blood in ways that we neither see nor fully understand, hence we call them the “holy Mysteries”.  At the Last Supper, Jesus took, blessed, broke and shared bread and wine with his disciples, saying “This is my body, this is my blood”, and told them to “Do this in memory of me”. We believe we receive Jesus’ Body and Blood when we go to Mass because at Mass we do those things in his memory as he commanded, and Jesus is ‘made present’ to us there.

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At Mass we are united not only with God, but with other members of the Church: other Catholics, and, in different ways, with other Christians.  Coming to Mass unites us with all of God’s creation.