In his admirable little treatise on Daily Mass, Father McDonnell writes: "The earnest wish of the Pope (Pius X) that the faithful should receive the Blessed Eucharist daily is an obvious and implicit expression of his desire that they should assist at Mass daily. The connection between daily Mass and daily communion is clear. Moreover, for such as have not as yet taken up the practice of daily communion, daily Mass will be a step, and a very important step, in the right direction.
"Many persons urge that they have not time to go to Mass every day. I am afraid in the vast majority of cases this is a mere excuse. They have time to read the newspapers, time to visit their friends, time to amuse themselves, to go to places of public entertainment, to spend, perhaps, hours together in useless or idle conversation, and yet, they say, they have not time to give one half-hour in the day to what is immeasurably the most important occupation it could possibly be devoted to!
"Others assert, and with some show of reason, that domestic duties render it impossible for them to leave their homes in order to hear Mass. No doubt there are cases where this is true; a mother must see after her husband and children, and attend to the breakfast arrangements at home. Yet there is an old saying, 'Where there's a will, there's a way.'
"Again, it is a common excuse to say: 'Well I should be only too happy to go to Mass every day, if I could; but really it is beyond my power. I have to earn my bread, to support my family, and, even, as it is, it is as much as I can do, by constant attention to business, to make ends meet, without sacrificing an hour, or half an hour, of my day to hearing Mass.' To this I reply: 'What about the help that God would give you, my friend, and the grace and blessing that would go with your work in return for the little sacrifice you make in going to daily Mass? Do you think God will allow Himself to be outdone in generosity, or that He is not able, by the blessing and the success He will grant to your efforts, to make up to you, a hundredfold, for the hour or half hour that you give to His service? You are in business, or in a profession, or otherwise occupied; can not and will not God, in return for the homage you do Him, by hearing daily Mass, make your business or your profession or occupation a thousand times more successful than your own unaided efforts could possibly make it, even if you were to slave from morning till night? Can not He ward off a thousand sources of failure? Is He likely, in return for your fidelity in His service, to allow you and your family to starve or fall into penury? Listen to His own words on the subject: 'Be not solicitous, therefore, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed? . . . For your Father knoweth you have need of all these things. Seek ye therefore, first the kingdom of God, and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.' (Matt. 5: 31-39)
"Our one and only real business on earth is to 'seek the kingdom of God and His justice,' and we may assume that, if we do so, God will never allow us to suffer, even in temporal affairs; on the contrary, He will bless us and give us a certain measure of prosperity even in these temporal matters. However, even granting that you did suffer some small diminution of earthly prosperity by devoting an hour to Mass, or did gain some advantage by the saving of time, yet 'What doth it profit a man to gain the whole world if he suffer the loss of his own soul?' Against this awful misfortune there is, with the exception of daily communion, no greater safeguard than the hearing of daily Mass."
Upon asking an elderly couple why they left their warm cottage on winter mornings to attend daily Mass, the reply was: "To thank God for creating them and redeeming them and making it possible for them to spend an eternity of happiness with Him. To ask God's blessing on all their loved ones, to whom they can only leave spiritual wealth, having little else to bequeath them. To make reparation for their own failings, those of their loved ones and the leaders of nations and all others who feel no need of God. For the welfare of Holy Mother Church and because of the tremendous, priceless value of one Holy Mass."
"You will gain more from one single Mass than you would from distributing all your goods to the poor or making pilgrimages to all the most holy shrines in Christendom." (Saint Bernard, 1090-1153)
"All the glory all the angels by their homages have ever given to God, all that men by their virtues, penances, and martyrdoms have ever done to glorify Him, all these together could never give Him as much glory as one single Mass. For all the honors of creatures are finite honors, but the honor given to God in the Holy Sacrifice, because it proceeds from a Divine Person, is infinite." (Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, 1696-1787)
The Blessed Virgin Mary once told Her faithful servant Alan: "My Son so loves those who assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that, if it were necessary He would die for them as many times as they have heard Masses."
For each Mass we hear with devotion, Our Lord sends a saint to comfort us at death. (Revelation of Our Lord to St. Gertrude the Great).
Padre Pio, the stigmatic priest, said that the world could exist more easily without the sun than without the Mass.
The Cure of Ars, St. John Vianney, said that if we knew the value of the Mass we would die of joy.
A great doctor of the Church, St. Anselm, declares that a single Mass offered for oneself during life may be worth more than a thousand celebrated for the same intention after death. St. Leonard of Port Maurice supports this statement by saying that one Mass before death may be more profitable than many after it.
"The Holy Mass would be of greater profit if people had it offered in their lifetime, rather than having it celebrated for the relief of their souls after death." (Pope Benedict XV).
Once, St. Theresa was overwhelmed with God's Goodness and asked Our Lord, "How can I thank you?" Our Lord replied, "ATTEND ONE MASS."
The following quotes are taken from the life of Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich (the greatest visionary in the history of the Church).
"Mass badly celebrated is an enormous evil. Ah! it is not a matter of indifference how it is said! . . . I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it." (V.2, p. 182)
"She said what is most painful for me to repeat, that if only one priest offered the Unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church." (V. 2, p. 239)
An excellent booklet on the Mass by Fr. Paul O'Sullivan O.P., |