Sunday Mass and the meaning of time

 

Credit: Timothy McIntyre

The Mass is rightly referred to as a ‘Memorial’ of Christ’s passion, death and resurrection.  However, this does not mean that the Mass is merely a recall event in which past events are remembered and for which we give thanks.  It is infinitely more than that. Through the Eucharist, the saving events of Christ's passion, death and resurrection are made present in a living and active way here and now, whenever bread is broken, wine is poured and the prayer of consecration is offered.  We are more than just verbally proclaiming our faith in the crucified and risen Christ: we are caught up in the mystery of that death and resurrection in the midst of our turbulent and troubled world.

At a general audience in St Peter’s Basilica, yesterday, Pope Leo XIV spoke of the special place of Sunday Mass in the liturgy of the church. The full text of his address is here. He reminded us of the central importance of Sunday as the Day of resurrection.  Pope Leo recalled what Pope John Paul II had written in DiesDomini  almost three decades ago:

Since Sunday is the weekly Easter, recalling and making present the day upon which Christ rose from the dead, it is also the day which reveals the meaning of time. … Springing from the Resurrection, it cuts through human time, the months, the years, the centuries, like a directional arrow which points them towards their target: Christ’s Second Coming. Sunday foreshadows the last day, the day of the Parousia.

Millions of people around Europe marvelled at the solar eclipse yesterday evening: it brought people together in a moment of awe reminding us of our small place in the universe and the gigantic sweep of time.  Some may feel almost a sense of anti-climax today because we will have to wait until 2090 before another total or near-total solar eclipse becomes visible!  However, we can focus our temporal waiting on the coming Sunday because that is the Day of days on which the Lord rose from the dead and invites us to celebrate the feast of the Lamb:

Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch, as you really are unleavened. For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (1 Corinthians 5:7-8) – emphasis added.

Pope Leo underlined the importance of our meeting together on the Lord’s Day as follows:

I urge everyone to seek the best possible conditions so that even those who are unable to take time off work on Sundays may take part in Holy Mass.

In each Sunday Mass we are present at a wonderful celebration.  Bishop William Waltersheid of the US Catholic diocese of Pittsburgh put it eloquently here:

After the words of the Consecration are spoken over the bread and wine, the faithful are shown the Sacred Body in the Consecrated Host and the Precious Blood in the chalice, and they proclaim the mystery of faith, “We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again” as they kneel and adore the Real Presence of Jesus Christ.