“In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” With these words, the priest who presides at the Celebration of the Eucharist draws the congregation into the sacred moment of worship. We believe in God who is both one and yet a communion of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Made in the image and likeness of God, who is one God in three Persons, we are called to worship not only alone but also as a community. When I explain the Mass to children, I compare it to a special celebration we would have at home, such as Thanksgiving or Christmas or someone’s birthday. Just as we invite family and friends to celebrate, and usually include a festive meal, so in the Celebration of the Eucharist, the presiding priest invites the parish family to celebrate the mystery of our salvation which includes a sacred meal. And, just as we usually begin our gathering for a special celebration with time to chat and catch up on the news in each others’ lives, so the Eucharist begins with time to hear the timeless Good News contained in Sacred Scriptures. Then, as we do with family and friends, we gather around the Table of the Lord to share a meal. Although this provides a good foundation for children to begin to understand the Eucharist, it is a very simplistic explanation of this Sacrament. It is very important to recognize that it is much more than just a meal. It is also the one perfect sacrifice we can offer to God. From the very beginning, humanity has striven to develop a relationship with the gods, whom they acknowledged as the ones who created and controlled their world and their lives. And just as we try to return the favor with a gift of equal value when someone presents us with a gift, humans throughout the ages have used a wide variety of gifts –from the first fruits of the land to human sacrifice –to express their gratitude to the gods and to win their favor. No human gift, however, can offer a return worthy of all that God has given us, and no offering we can provide could fully compensate for our sinfulness. In the Eucharistic Celebration, we finally have a gift that is worthy of God, since we believe that Jesus Christ is God himself. At last, as a result of Jesus’ freely offering himself for us, we can offer God to God. And, Jesus offered himself for the remission of our sins as well and, as the divine sacrifice for humanity’s sins, his offering is finally able to compensate for our sins. In his generosity, however, God is not to be outdone, and so after we offer Jesus, the Son of God, to God, our Heavenly Father –both in thanksgiving and for the remission of our sins -God gives his only Son back to us for our spiritual nourishment as we journey through this life to eternal life with God in heaven. As you can see, this is clearly a sacred moment, very different from any other human activity. And so we call it a liturgy. Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Catholic Doctrinedefines the word “liturgy” as a “public service in the interest of the entire people.” Certainly, our Lord’s offering himself at the Last Supper and on the cross at Calvary is the supreme public service in the interest of all people, as he offers himself for our sins and offers himself to us for our salvation.
