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MASS OF SAINT JOHN OF MATHA - 1600 AD
DAILY MASS
When King Louis of France was told that people talked about his habit of hearing one or even more than one Mass daily, he replied, "How careful people are about my time; if I spent twice as long at play or out hunting, they would not have a word to say about it."
Saint Thomas More was accustomed to say, in connection with hearing Mass daily. that he esteemed it his greatest honor to render that mark of respect to the King of kings.
To hear Mass on week days, if possible, is a highly commendable practice, for it may be the means of gaining the greatest graces. If the holy sacrifice were celebrated in only one place in the world, and offered only by one priest, with what longing would Christian people hasten to that spot! But now that there are many priests, warmness and negligence to be deplored, which has thereby arisen.
Some people consider the half hour they take from their work to hear Mass as a loss of time: this is, however, not so, for they do their work better and more quickly through having been to Mass. Has not Our Lord said, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you?"
Fr. Martin of Cochem says, ". . . Through neglecting holy Mass one loses far more than one would gain by a whole day's work. Arrange thy business therefore, if thou canst, so as to allow of thy hearing Mass daily. And if it is impossible for thee to go thyself, give an alms to some poor person to hear Mass for thee; he will do so gladly, and thou wilt reap the greater benefit." For, as is the case with every good work, we may apply to others the merit of hearing Mass without being losers ourselves. For the priest, in the canon of the Mass, supposes that those who are present who with him offer up the holy sacrifice, do so for their families and friends as well as for themselves. Do not allow human respect to keep you from serving Christ, for if you are ashamed of Him, He will also be ashamed of you (Saint Luke ix. 26).
-- Rev. Francis Spirago (1899)
Professor of Theology
All Catholics, unfortunately, do not regard this Great Act (daily Mass), as we call it, with the same awe or attention--and yet it should be approached much as some of the old writers have put it. "if the sacrifice," they tell us, "were to be celebrated but once since the death of Our Saviour, it would be an event of such tremendous significance as to excite the awe and reverence of the whole world." And indeed we might conceive for ourselves what would be our feelings if it were announced for the first time that Our Saviour would descend from heaven upon an altar, and that there and then the sacrifice of Calvary would be renewed! Beside such an event all historical events would become tame and insignificant. It would be next interest only to the original coming of Our Lord. Yet most Catholics, from habit and familiarity, "Go to Mass," as it is called, in a languid, irresponsible fashion, for the most part once in the week.
How many look on it as some airy function or formula--a qualification, as it were, for Sunday, much as university students "put in" their "chapels." In foreign countries how often do we see the bottom of the church crowded with men standing for the necessary twenty minutes, and then hurrying away with impatience, almost before it is concluded. How few make it a practice of attending on weekdays, on the ground of there being "no obligation"--a curious delusion! It surely ought to be a wonderful feeling for the Catholic to think, during the day, that he was actually witnessed this great act, the change of bread and wine into the Lord's body, and His descent upon the altar of men! The day that follows may be considered hallowed, or even, in a lower sense, a "lucky one." Indeed, those who have gained the long habit of hearing Mass every day, will own that when they have been hindered by some casualty, there has been a sense of imcompleteness and discomfort, as though the whole day had been thrown out of gear. Saint Augustine is indeed said to have declared authoritatively that whoever hears Mass devoutly shall never die a sudden death.
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