I try and go to Mass everyday. Its reminds me of who I am and let’s other know what to expect. I can’t really be a terrible person, than waltz into Mass everyday to see the Creator who told me to love my neighbor as myself, and feel good or proud. Likewise I cannot fess up to going to mass everyday, to my friends and family, if I am also going to gamble and take drugs everyday. The mass is a badge that sets me apart both in my mind and raises an expectation in others minds about how I should act.
I also try and get a milkshake everyday. The milkshake symbolizes nothing and indicates nothing. They are both regular activities, but they have completely different meanings. One defines me and the other pleases my cravings for chocolatey goodness.
When Jesus lifted the bread and wine at the Passover supper He said “This is my body and this is my blood, do this in memory of me.” He didn’t say do it everyday, he didn’t say do it once in your lifetime. He also strongly indicated that the bread and the wine were actually His body and blood, and He didn’t say ‘symbolically’ they were that, He said they Are actually that. Why would it be symbolic? It would really have made little sense, what type of symbolism is there in taking the already symbolic unleavened bread of Passover meal and the wine lifted as a symbol and redefining the symbolism to the person who is doing the ceremony in front of you. The Passover ceremony He was performing already had symbolic meaning. He removed that meaning, the connection with the freedom from Egyptian oppression, and replaced it with.. Himself. Before He died on the Cross. Picture yourself there, getting ready for the annual Passover celebration, when Jesus, who you have seen raise the dead and heal people, who has preached all sorts of new and exciting idea, now takes a centuries old ritual and makes it about Himself. Hey guys, never mind Moses and the whole parting of the Red Sea, the destruction of Pharaohs armies. From now on this is going to be about Me, Jesus, your leader.
Now either Jesus is a man made of bread with wine running through his veins, or the bread and wine are somehow magically transformed. He also seemed to indicate that everytime we raise the bread and wine, as He did, in memory of Him it would happen again. If that is the case, why not do it everyday? In that way its is sort of like the milkshake, It makes your day better in some feel good way, but its better than the milkshake because it brings you into better union with Jesus. Doing what Jesus told you to do, makes you a team player. Someone Jesus can count on.
Can you get to Heaven without going to Mass or copying the Passover meal that Jesus had? Maybe, but why take the chance. If you are a gambler you measure the risk of the gamble before you enter into it. The exception being gambling addicts who are motivated by a compulsion. Is Heaven something you are okay losing a bet on? That would be an all or nothing type of wager. Personally I am not willing to gamble away my eternity, so when Jesus says do this or do that, it seems to me to make sense to do those things. He said lift bread and water in remembrance of Him, I say let’s do it.
The early church believed this also. To alleviate the endless discussion of the nuance of fulfilling this wish they came together and created the ritual we call the Mass. Everything in the Mass is a remembrance of Jesus and His death and Resurrection. It also incorporates a prayer Jesus taught us to pray and makes room for us to intercede for other needs we may have. That ritual has marked Christians, in particular Catholics who perform the same ceremony as was done 2000 years ago, and has become the litmus test for Catholic Faith. Catholics are rated on this earth by how often they attend Mass. Holier and stronger faith Catholics attend more regularly that those who are Catholic for cultural or familial reasons. The former goes because they understand the meaning, the latter because of guilt attached to not going. Taking that privilege away from a Catholic is still a very grave and serious matter that evokes a very emotional response.
There is always a discussion amongst my Protestant friends, who believe no one should tell you what to do or how you are going to get to Heaven, about the Mass. They don’t believe that the Mass is significant, nor do they honor the early church. It seems to me that there is a little confusion about Jesus words and the early church leaders, people who knew Him and created these rituals. Its one thing to say Peter Gallic is wrong, its another to tell Peter the Apostle that he was mistaken. I guess the real question is “Do we get to pick and choose which of Jesus words we want to obey or follow?”. If its up to us how we are to respond, and we get to decide, than I guess Heaven is our possession and not Jesus’ home. We, who were saved by Jesus, now get to push Jesus aside and take possession of Heaven, our promised reward. Sacrifice complete, thank you for your hard work, now lets get to Heaven and make it my own, I will decide who can enter and how those who enter may live. It was promised to me. That seems to be the attitude, similar to spoiled children of wealthy parents, who march through life throwing airs of entitlement, not because of there own successes but the residual effect of their parents. I am not sure that argument holds water with Jesus, He doesn’t seem particularly fond of feckless and entitled behavior, something He regularly condemned while on this earth. Jesus promised persecution and suffering for His namesake. You want to find a Jesus follower, stand outside a Catholic Church on a weekday after 8 am mass. I think Heaven is Jesus home and He has to let you in. So heeding his words is probably a better idea than schooling Him.
But I may be crazy.
The musings of Peter 