Mass Does Not Equal Love of Jesus

The Mass is not what makes one holy. That's what the pharisees and the strict followers of the mosaic law thought, that holiness was determined, in part, by how you worshipped.

For Jews of the Old Testament, worship was sacrifice, and it only happened at the temple in Jerusalem. That is why the law commanded that men go up to the temple three times each year, to offer worship to God. It was the most important thing a Jew could ever do in his life, offer worship to God at the temple.

But Jesus radically redifines what is important to God in the sermon on the mount.

Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift. (Matthew 5:23-24)

Jesus redefined holiness from how you worshipped, or even if you worshipped, to how you treated other people, going so far as to tell us that we should not worship if we have treated anyone badly - that we should go seek forgiveness from that person first, and only then should we offer worship to God.

King David understood this.

For you do not desire sacrifice or I would give it;
a burnt offering you would not accept.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a contrite, humbled heart, O God, you will not scorn.
Then you will desire the sacrifices of the just,
burnt offering and whole offerings;
then they will offer up young bulls on your altar
(Psalm 51:18-19,21)

David understood what was important to God. That worship without a clean heart and a life of virtue - which begins with humility - was of no value to God.

Yes, God deserves the greatest worship we can offer. He deserves the most grand, most reverent, highest Mass we can afford to offer. And even that will not begin to approach what he really deserves. That is why God gave us the Mass itself, so that we could offer God the Son to God the Father. Offering God to himself is the only way we can begin to worship God the way he really deserves. But worship is our absolute minimum requirement.

The word "Mass" mans "Sending forth". Mass is just the beginning. If Mass is all we do,  then we are nothing more than unprofitable servants. If we think that the Mass is what makes us holy, then we are wicked and unfaithful servants. Worship is just our minimum requirement.

But how we treat people every day, the other 167 hours of the week, is what makes us holy. Jesus sees how much we love him not because of what Mass we go to, or how many Masses we go to, but in how we treat each other and how we treat the lowest in our society. That's how Jesus knows if we love him or not, and not by our attendance at Mass.

Attending Mass, does not equal love of Jesus. Mass is just the start.


-Tim-