Mark Hart - Behold the Mystery: A Deeper Understanding of the Catholic Mass

B EHOLD
THE
M YSTERY

A D EEPER U NDERSTANDING
OF THE C ATHOLIC M ASS

A D EEPER U NDERSTANDING
OF THE C ATHOLIC M ASS

M ARK H ART

Copyright 2014 by Mark Hart

All rights reserved

Published by The Word Among Us Press
7115 Guilford Drive, Suite 100
Frederick, Maryland 21704
www.wau.org

18 17 16 15 14 1 2 3 4 5

ISBN: 978-1-59325-228-1
eISBN: 978-1-59325-463-6

Scripture texts used in this work are taken from The Catholic
Edition of Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1965,
1966 by the Division of Christian Education of the National
Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
Used with permission. All rights reserved.

Cover design by John Hamilton Designs

Artwork credit: Pierre Hubert Subleyras, (1699-1749)
Saint Basil celebrating the Mass in Greek Rite before the Emperor.
Location: S. Maria degli Angeli, Rome, Italy
Photo Credit: Scala/Art Resource, NY

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic,
mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief
quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the
author and publisher.

Made and printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014931520

To all of the Catholic priests of God, who so humbly and courageously bring Christ to his people each day:

Thank you all for your dedication, your sacrifice, and your unwavering fidelity to the Lord and his Church. Your response to Gods call not only inspires us, it saves us.

May Our Lady hold you firmly in her arms and the priesthood safely in her mantle. And may the Spirit of God continue to challenge and empower you to become who you were designed by the Father to be. Never forget the privilege it is to serve in the vineyard of the Lord, and may you do so with great joy.

If we really understood the Mass, we would die of joy.
St. John Vianney

The lottery jackpot had climbed to an astounding $365 million. All over the country, people tried to increase their odds of winning at least a piece of the pie by banding together and buying tickets in large quantities. But on that night when the numbered balls began to fall, each number revealing a dwindling group of potential winners, hearts all over the country sank as well. In the end, on a cold day in February 2006, eight employees of a Nebraska meat-packing plant walked away with the prize money.

What would you do if you were the one holding the winning lottery ticket? Would you retire? Would you buy a new home? How much would you give away to the less fortunate, and what charities would benefit from your good fortune?

Now what if you had the winning ticket, but you had to walk to the lottery office to claim your winnings. How far would you be willing to walk? One hundred miles? Two hundred? How about one thousand? What if it were the dead of winter? The dog days of summer? How far would you be willing to go and what would you be willing to endure to collect a prize that is worth so much?

While the analogy is far-fetched, it reveals a deep truth our willingness to be uncomfortable for something is directly proportional to the value we place upon its worth.

People will brave biting cold or intense rain for hours on end to cheer their favorite team on to victory. People will camp out in tents on concrete for days to be the first in line for movie or concert tickets. These examples, and countless others, reaffirm a profound truth offered to us by Christ himself, namely, For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Matthew 6:21).

God has given us a gift far more valuable than those lottery winnings, far more than we can ever comprehend. God has given us the gift of himself at Mass. How much value do we place on it? How much are we willing to give him in return?

Ive had many conversations over the years with those who are confused, bored, disinterested, or disengaged with the Mass or who left the Church many years ago. Within these pages, I want to enlighten your mind, but above all, I want to stir up your soul. I believe that if we could all engage the liturgy with the passion of our souls, we would quickly awaken to the great gift, the priceless treasure, the pearl of great price that has always been before us but that has sometimes been mistaken for costume jewelry. With the Holy Spirits help, I hope to achieve two things in this book, as seen from the title.

First, Im writing it with the hope of helping all of usyoung and old, lifelong Catholics, and those new to the familyto behold this mystery of the Mass. The idea here is to simplify what can seem so complicated; not to solve the mystery, but to reframe it in such a way that we can really engage in it. We will be looking at the liturgy from many different angles. Some approach the liturgy strictly as sacrifice, others as celebration, still others merely as what Catholics are supposed to do. All are correct, yet all these perspectives are supposed to weave together into one fabric and offer context. Pull just one thread, and sooner or later the vision of the whole will unravel. The Mass is deep mystery and high drama, but in the end it is a simple sacrificeGod for usand a simple meal between God and us.

I pray that this book can make the Mass come to life for us in a new and personal way.

Second, I pray that this book can make the Mass come to life for us in a new and personal way. We are physical beings and visual people. Through the Mass and the sacraments, God interacts with us and engages us in physical and visual ways. We are also a people who love to hear and share through simple stories. Throughout the Gospels, and indeed the entire Bible, God reveals himself and his love to us through the power of the story. My hope is that each chapter will offer you physical examplesmemorable stories and practical ideasthat you can call upon in the months and years to come. As you seek to enter more deeply into the mystery of the Mass, you will come to see your own story wrapped up within Gods story and within the story and mission of the Church. I believe that you can find your story within Gods story. Whether you are at a scarcely populated weekday morning liturgy, an overflowing Christmas Eve Mass, or a Sunday Mass during Ordinary Time, you can recall the meaning of the Churchs journey within your own.

Of course, there is a danger in writing a book about the Mass, namely, that you cant make everyone happy. There have been many books on the topicmany that delve into theological concepts in a far deeper and exhaustive way. This is not one of those books. I am in no way attempting to say everything about the Catholic Mass; I am attempting to say some things about it. Im not a liturgist, nor am I a priest. I am a husband, a father, a lay minister, and, most important, a son of God. Im writing from the perspective of one in the pews, not one in the sanctuary.

Some will judge the merit of this book by whether it supports the Mass in Latin or in the Novus Ordo (ordinary language). Some will search through these pages to see whether I advocate an organ and cantor or a music ministry with guitars and drums. Ill address neither within the book. We need to get back to what the Mass is and not get sidetracked with how it is carried out. Truthfully, some in our Church wont be happy until Latin is the only Mass celebrated, while others wont be happy until every Mass has a laser light show. We dont need pews filled with people more Catholic than the pope any more than we need pews filled with those unaware of what the Church teaches liturgically or what it offers us all intellectually. Instead, we need people whose hearts and minds engage with the liturgy, whose souls are nourished by the Eucharistic Lord, and who are ready for mission when they exit the doors of the church.