Mass is not a time for small talk; Mass is prayer and memorial 

First in a series of articles about the Holy Mass.

Pope Francis gave a series of catecheses about the Holy Eucharist during his Wednesday Audiences from Nov. 8, 2017, to April 4, 2018. During his talks, the Holy Father emphasized that the Mass is not a spectacle. The Mass is prayer and the memorial of Christ’s Passover.

The Holy Father said, “Mass is prayer; rather, it is prayer par excellence, the loftiest, the most sublime, and at the same time the most ‘concrete.’ In fact, it is the loving encounter with God through his Word and the Body and Blood of Jesus. It is an encounter with the Lord.” 

The Holy Father pointed out that prayer is first of all a dialogue, a personal relationship with God. There are moments of silence in dialogues. Pope Francis said, “When we go to Mass, perhaps we arrive five minutes early and begin to chat with the person next to us. But this is not the moment for small talk; it is the moment of silence to prepare ourselves for the dialogue. It is the moment for recollection within the heart, to prepare ourselves for the encounter with Jesus.”

Regarding Mass as memorial, the Holy Father pointed to Paragraph 1363 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “In the sense of Sacred Scripture the memorial is not merely the recollection of past events but the proclamation of the mighty works wrought by God for men. In the liturgical celebration of these events, they become in a certain way present and real. This is how Israel understands its liberation from Egypt: every time Passover is celebrated, the Exodus events are made present to the memory of believers so that they may conform their lives to them.”

The Holy Father said, “As we enter the church to celebrate Mass, let us think about this: I am going to Calvary, where Jesus gave his life for me. In this way the spectacle disappears; the small talk disappears; the comments and these things that distance us from something so beautiful as the Mass, Jesus’ triumph.”

Father John Hardon wrote, “The Mass and Calvary are related in three ways: as representation, as memorial, and as effective application to mankind of the merits gained by Christ’s Death on the Cross.... The Mass re-presents Calvary by continuing Christ’s sacrifice of himself to his heavenly Father. In the Mass, no less than on Calvary, Jesus really offers his life to his heavenly Father.... The Mass is a memorial of Calvary because the apostles have handed down what Jesus ordered them to do when he said, “Do this as a memorial of me” (Lk 22:19). Consequently, in the Mass we not only call to mind what Jesus did at the Last Supper and completed on Calvary. We have reenacted what took place between Holy Thursday and Good Friday..... On the Cross, Christ merited once and for all the price of Redemption for a fallen mankind. On the altar nothing new is merited, but now the satisfaction and merits of the Cross are applied to us.”

A Catechism states: “The Mass is the same sacrifice as the sacrifice of the cross because in the Mass the victim is the same, and the principal priest is the same, Jesus Christ.” “The manner in which the sacrifice is offered is different. On the cross Christ physically shed His blood and was physically slain, while in the Mass there is no physical shedding of blood or physical death, because Christ can die no more; on the cross Christ gained merit and satisfied for us, while in the Mass He applies to us the merits and satisfaction of His death on the cross.”

Regarding Sunday Mass the Holy Father said, “We Christians go to Sunday Mass to encounter the Risen Lord, or better still to allow ourselves to be encountered by him, to hear his Word, to nourish ourselves at his table, and thus to become the Church, that is, his mystical living Body in the world.... We Christians need to participate in Sunday Mass because only with Jesus’ grace, with his living presence within us and among us, can we put his commandment into practice, and thus be his credible witnesses.”

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彌撒是祈禱和紀念

 教宗方濟各在2017年11月8日至2018年4月4日的週三公開接見活動中，就聖體聖事作了一系列講授。教宗強調，彌撒不是奇觀。彌撒是祈禱和紀念基督的逾越奧蹟。

教宗說：「彌撒是祈禱；實在是卓越的祈禱，最崇高，最高尚，同時也是最『具體』的。事實上，這是通過天主的話語及耶穌的肉身和寶血與天主愛的相遇。這是與我主的相遇。」

教宗指出，祈禱首先是一種對話，是與天主的個人關係。對話中有沉默的時刻。教宗方濟各說：「當我們去參與彌撒時，也許我們早五分鐘到達了，便與我們旁邊的人聊天。但這不是閒聊的時候；是靜默的時刻，去為對話做好準備。這是內心返思的時刻，去為與耶穌的相遇做好準備。」

關於彌撒作為紀念，教宗指出了《天主教教理》第1363段：「按照聖經的意義，紀念不但意指回憶往事，也是宣告天主為人類所完成的奇跡異事。在舉行這些事件的禮儀時，這些事件透過某種方式而得以臨在和實現。以色列子民就是以這種方式，了解他們出離埃及的事件：每當他們慶祝逾越節時，出谷的事件便臨現在信徒的記憶中，如此促使他們的生活符合這事件。   」

教宗說：「當我們進入聖堂慶祝彌撒時，讓我們想一想：我要去加爾瓦略山，耶穌在那裡為我獻出了自己的生命。這樣一來，奇觀消失了；閒聊消失了；這些閒聊和雜念使我們遠離如此美麗的事情 -  彌撒聖祭：耶穌的勝利。」

John Hardon神父寫道：「彌撒和加爾瓦略山在三個方面相關：作為代表，作為紀念，並有效地將基督在十字架上的死亡所獲得的勝利惠於人類。…彌撒中重現祂在十字架上一次而永遠地所完成的流血祭獻。在彌撒中，不次於在加爾瓦略山，耶穌真的將自己的生命獻給了天父。…彌撒是對加爾瓦略山的紀念，因為宗徒們已經傳下了耶穌所說命令他們去做的事：「你們應行此禮，為紀念我。（路22:19）」因此，在彌撒中，我們不僅讓人想起耶穌在最後晚餐中所做的和在加爾瓦略山完成的。我們重演了聖週四和耶穌受難日之間發生的事情…在十字架上，基督藉此一次為墮落的全人類付出了救贖的代價。在祭台上，沒有什麼新的功績，因現在十字架的完滿和勝利已經惠於我們身上。」

《天主教教理》說：「彌撒和十字架的犧牲是一樣的，因為在彌撒中，所奉獻的祭品是同一個，首席司祭也是同一位，耶穌基督。」「獻祭的方式是不同的。在十字架上，基督的肉體流血和被殺害，而在彌撒中，沒有肉體的流血或死亡，因為基督不能再死了；基督在十字架上為我們贏得了勝利和完滿，而在彌撒中，祂將祂在十字架上的死亡的勝利和完滿都惠於在我們身上。」

關於主日彌撒，教宗說：「我們基督信徒去參與主日彌撒是為了與復活的主相遇，或者更好的是讓自己與祂相遇，聆聽祂的話語，在祂的餐桌上滋養自己，從而成為教會，即祂在世界上奧體教會…我們基督信徒需要參與主日彌撒，因為只有靠著耶穌的恩典，靠著祂活在我們裡面和我們中間，活生生的同在，我們才能將祂的誡命付諸實踐，從而成為祂可信的見證人。」

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