Communion Services -Their Origin and Future

In response to a question posed in the Zenit Daily Dispatch some time ago, Father Edward McNamara wrote that “a Catholic who has even an inkling of the full meaning of the Mass would never voluntarily settle for a Communion service.”   Far too many Catholics have no clear understanding of what is happening and who is present at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  Until this lack of clarity is resolved, any discussion about Communion services will have very limited value. Out of necessity then we must begin with these questions: What is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass?  What happens at the Mass?  Who is really present there?  What benefits do we receive by participating at the Mass?

In his powerful book, The Way to God, the late Father Winfrid Herbst, S.D.S. tells us that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, “is not a mere commemoration of the Sacrifice of the cross.  No, it is the same, the actuality, the renewal, the continuation, the representation of the Sacrifice of the cross… so that when I assist at Mass I am present at the Sacrifice of the cross as much as Mary, John and Magdalen were.  It is the unbloody renewal of the bloody Sacrifice of the cross.”  How often we Catholics come to Church to socialize with friends, families and acquaintances. Should we not come primarily to worship, adore, and give honor and glory to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? When we understand what the Mass is, we shall!

When properly understood and when participated in with proper intent, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass “is offered,” as Father Herbst reminds us, “to give God Honor and Glory, to give God thanks for his benefits, to obtain the remission of our sins and make reparation for them, to obtain the precious grace of conversion by which a person is led to make repentance and reconciliation with God, to obtain victory over temptations, either by getting more efficacious actual graces or by having the temptations themselves lessened or eliminated all together.” But there is more, much more to this magnificent gift (see § 1322-1372 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church).

St. John Marie Vianney taught, “There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us" and “If we really understood the Mass, we would die of joy.” In current times, Father William Casey of the Fathers of Mercy reminds us that “the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the most important event that occurs every day on the face of the earth.”   

 “Mass,” Pope Pius VI tells us, “is the most powerful form of prayer.” “The celebration of Holy Mass,” St. Thomas Aquinas writes, “is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the cross.”  St. Padre Pio also reminded us of four beautiful truths: (1) “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do so without the Holy Mass” (2) “The heavens open and multitudes of angels come to assist in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass” (3) “If we only knew how God regards this Sacrifice we would risk our lives to be present at a single Mass” and (4) “The best preparation for a happy death is to assist at Mass daily.”

“The Eucharistic Sacrifice, the memorial of the death and resurrection of the Lord, in which the sacrifice of the cross is forever perpetuated, is the summit and the source of all worship and Christian life” according to Canon 897. Next in Canon 898, we are reminded: “Christ's faithful are to hold the Blessed Eucharist in the highest honor. They should take an active part in the celebration of the most august Sacrifice of the Mass; they should receive the sacrament with great devotion and frequently, and should reverence it with the greatest adoration.”