Thursday, November 13, 2014

Catechesis on the Mass Part 3/3 - Epic Battle


Catechesis on the Mass Part 3/3

Epic Battle

November 13, 2014

 

            A few weeks ago, I popped into the sixth grade religious education class at St. Benedict’s and was talking to them about the Mass and how it’s not entertainment, but it’s worship. One boy commented, “Yeah, the Mass is great and all, but I’d rather just watch the Avengers.” So I replied, “Oh, so you want to see an epic battle between good and evil with heroes and villains and with the hero saving the world from eternal destruction right in the nick of time?” He said, “Yeah, of course.” I replied, “Great. I just described the Mass.” He paused for a long minute before muttering, “Well, when you put it THAT way…”

            This is the last installment in my sermon series about how to get more out of the Mass. Today I want to focus on the epic battle that is Christianity. You see, Christianity isn’t a religion for the weak. Our faith is not about how to make us nice people and be kind to animals. No, the story of Christianity is an epic tale, and it is played out here at Mass.

            Think about the plots of the movies we love so much – things like “Avengers” or “Lord of the Rings” or “Man of Steel” or any one of those action-adventure movies. The plots are rather simple – there is a being (an alien, Loki, Sauron, etc.) who wants to take over the world and enslave or destroy it. Against such an evil, an unexpected hero arises. This hero fights a battle against the evil, often at great cost to himself. Finally, when all hope seems lost, the hero somehow manages to defeat the mortal enemy and restore peace and harmony to the world.

            I think the reason why these movies resonate with us is because they describe what is actually going on in the spiritual realm. We have an enemy – Satan – who has had a hatred for humanity from the very beginning, because we can love God and inherit Heaven as the Beloved Sons and Daughters of the Heavenly Father. This fills Satan with rage and jealousy. So he set out to enslave us and destroy us – and for a long time, we were willing participants in this slavery. We chose the corruption of sin over the life of freedom. So God knew He had to do something radical to ransom His people. So, in the dark of night, God staged an invasion – He entered enemy territory (the world, which was under the dominion of Satan), and faced our mortal enemy upon the Cross. Face-to-face with the one who hates humanity, Jesus Christ offered to pay the ransom for us, who were slaves. The ransom, of course, was His life, which He willingly laid down on the Cross. But just when Satan thought he had triumphed, when all hope seemed lost – the day that God was killed, proving that death wins, or so they thought – Jesus Christ rose up again, triumphing over death and sin once and for all, setting us captives free.

            But even after this resounding defeat, the forces of evil have not been silent. They still impact my life and yours, tempting us to fall away from Christ. So the battle between good and evil continues to be fought in your soul. That’s why we come here today – to gain the strength we need to do battle in our everyday lives.

            When a priest gets vested for Mass, it’s like he is putting on armor. For example, he wears an alb as a symbol of the purity of soul that he must have in order to make it to Heaven. He lays over his alb a stole which is a sign of the priest’s authority having come from Christ. And over it all he places a chasuble which is a symbol of the love of God which covers everything. A pure soul, authority over the spiritual realm, covered in the love of God – sounds like we’re ready to do battle here against the forces of evil.

            And we are aided and assisted by the many thousands of angels who attend and worship at every Mass. Many saints have said that there are thousands, millions even, of angels who are present to adore the Majesty of God at every Mass, and whose job it is to bring our prayers to God and God’s mercy to us. The unseen angels who are present here are filled with a holy jealousy of us, for they bow down and worship Christ’s true Body and Blood, but we ourselves are blessed to actually receive Him!

            It is this Body and Blood that gives us the strength to carry on the battle. The last Holy Communion that someone receives in their lifetime has a special name – it is called “Viaticum” which means “Food for the Journey” – the food for the journey from death to life. In a sense, every Communion we receive is food for the journey. Coming to Mass is like coming back to camp after a battle – we get healed from our battle wounds, we take food to strengthen us, we learn about how to fight more effectively – before we head back out there to take on another week of fighting against laziness, gossip, temptation, lust, all of the other evils that we must overcome if we are to win the victory.

             You know, when we look around at society, it’s easy to get discouraged by all the evil and darkness that is out there. We come here today, and every Sunday, to fight evil with love – with the love that Christ showed us on the Cross, which enters our souls in His Word and in His Holy Communion.

            There is much, much more going on here at Mass than we can see. Christ is coming to rescue His people again. Invisible angels kneel to worship the Most High. Divine grace is being poured out to hold back the tide of evil. We, His soldiers, are receiving the strength to fight against the darkness with the Light of Christ.

            What is happening here at Mass is an epic battle, the battle for the destiny of the world and for the eternal destiny of your soul.

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