Presenting the Mass

Since today is the feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, our parish priest celebrated Mass with a small addition. He gave us a Presentation of the Mass. What does that mean exactly? It is very simple, hopefully not controversial, and highly educational. He explained the "whats" and the "whys" of Mass. I know, I know. I can hear the statements now: "But I'm a cradle Catholic. I KNOW what the Mass is." However, even though I've gone to church every week for many, many years, am a Catholic author and teacher and Editor-in-Chief of an online Catholic magazine, I still learned something new this morning. I think everyone there did.

At the beginning, he told us instead of a long homily, he was going to explain why he is doing something or why our responses are important. It may have been a little unorthodox, but the gift he gave us was monumental and certainly served Christ. He gave us a better understanding of what is happening at Mass. When we get the meaning - the true meaning- of something, it means more to us. We're not just going to say a few prayers and mumble some responses. No!

We are clearing our souls of venial sins,

 praying in unison with the saints and angels,

 and participating in the miracle that joins heaven and earth.

People of all different levels in their faith journey were there. We will never know the lengths of this great service caused today. There could have been a person who usually misses Mass, but made it today. Imagine the good it did if anything Father said today touched this person's heart. That goes for everyone there. We all learned something new, all grew a little more and hopefully deepened our faith a bit more. Two thousand years ago Mary and Joseph gave gifts in celebration of Jesus' Presentation. Today, our priest did the same.