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Our celebration of Mass each weekend must be genuine. It has to be the expression of the lives we have led the previous week.
Jesus once said: 'I desire mercy - not sacrifice'
He himself offered the only perfect sacrifice. At the Last Supper on Holy Thursday night he asked us to join him in continuing to offer that sacrifice until the end of time. That we do at every Mass.
So that leaves us with the mercy. Doing good to others, not doing bad to anyone. Fighting a desire for revenge, parting with money to help the poor, the list could be endless. But it boils down to sacrifice, sacrificing ourselves.
Our celebration of Christ's sacrifice is genuine only if we have sacrifices of our own to offer alongside his everlasting sacrifice.
From the very earliest days of the beginning of the Church the faithful considered it essential to gather together for their Sunday Mass. Often they did so even under the threat of death.
"Without fear we have celebrated the Lord's Supper ..........we cannot live without the Lord's Supper ". So spoke some martyrs before they were put to death about the year 150.
And again, around 250, the faithful were urged "Leave everything on the the Lord's Day and run to your gathering because it is your praise of God. Otherwise, what excuse will they make to God, those who do not come together on the Lord's Day to hear the word of life and to feed on the divine nourishment which lasts forever? "
One martyr, before she died, proudly said "Yes, I went to the assembly and I celebrated the Lord's Supper with my brothers and sisters because I follow the Faith that Jesus gave us ".
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