Yesterday, we learned about living a holy life with the help of the Holy Spirit, the Sacrament of Confession, Our Dear Mother Mary and the saints in Heaven. Today, on this seventh and last day, we will learn about one more incredible gift Jesus gives to us to succeed in living a holy life: Jesus’ gift of Himself in the Mass.
Prayer
Come O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit, O Lord, and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.
+ Amen +
The Last Supper
On the night before Christ died to save us, He had the Last Supper with His Apostles.
He took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to His apostles, and said: “Take and eat; this is My body.”
Then He took a cup of wine, blessed it, gave it to them, and said: “All of you drink of this; for this is My blood of the new covenant which is being shed for many unto the forgiveness of sins.”
When He did this, because Jesus commanded it and because Jesus is God, the bread and wine became His body and blood.
His body and blood in the form of bread and wine is called the Holy Eucharist. This change is called Transubstantiation.
After Jesus did this, He gave His apostles the command: “Do this in remembrance of Me.”
The next day, Jesus went to the Cross on Good Friday and sacrificed His life to save us.
The Mass
The Mass is Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross that happened on Good Friday. In other words, when we go to Mass, we are there on the day Jesus was crucified on the Cross.
We must go for Mass every Saturday evening or Sunday for three reasons.
The first reason is so that we may love Jesus who died for us on the Cross.
The second reason is because Jesus commanded us to remember His sacrifice (“Do this in remembrance of Me”).
And the third reason is because Jesus gives us the gift of Himself in the Mass.
You see, during the Mass, when the priest recalls the Last Supper, he lifts up the bread and says, “This is my Body.” Then he lifts up the wine and says, “This is my blood,” just as Jesus did.
At that very moment, during Mass, the bread and wine become the Holy Eucharist, the body and blood of Jesus. Though the Eucharist looks like bread and wine, it is, in fact, Jesus Himself.
Then, when we go to receive the Eucharist, Jesus gives His whole self to us and nourishes us.
And He even stays with us on Earth. Jesus does not live in the distance. Because of Mass, Jesus is personally there in every parish sitting in the tabernacle. We can always go to church to worship Him knowing that Jesus is there and that He loves us.
Receiving Holy Communion
When we attend Mass, we worship and thank God and ask Him to bless and forgive us. Jesus also gives us His whole self in the Holy Eucharist. This is why we must pray at Mass with devotion.
When we receive Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, this is called Holy Communion. To receive Holy Communion properly, we must:
- Be free of mortal sin
- Have the right intention; and
- Fast for one hour before receiving the Eucharist (water and medicine are allowed)
Once we receive Communion, we must worship God who is in us and also thank Him, love Him, promise to obey Him and pray for others. Jesus also gives us the graces to be holier.
We must go for Mass on Saturday evening or Sunday. But, we are encouraged to go to Mass everyday if we can, though we must remember that we can only receive Communion once daily.
Our Good God
God is so good.
We sinned and became His enemy, but God chose to save us by sending us His own beloved Son, Jesus.
Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords, but He came to us in the form of a poor baby.
He was given a name, like we have names, and His name is Jesus.
He grew up with a family like we do and knows what our life is like.
He came to save us, but that meant dying by Crucifixion. And He did so because He loved us.
He won over the devil and death by His Resurrection.
He gave us the Holy Spirit at Pentecost to help us become holy.
In addition, He gave us the Sacrament of Confession whenever we fail to love Him so that we can go back to Him.
He gave us His own beloved Mother, Mother Mary, to be our own mother. He gave us the saints to pray for us. He gives us chances to help the Souls in Purgatory.
And He even gave us Himself in the form of the Holy Eucharist so that we may worship Him, love Him and talk with Him about all our victories and trials.
All we must do in return is love Him above everything, do all things out of love for Him, go for Mass, help others through the works of mercy, repent and atone for our sins, fast, and endure suffering and wrongs with patience.
And Jesus in return will bring us to Heaven.