A story for every day...

Mass is the public and solemn act of religion: besides Sundays and feasts of obligation which impose the rigorous precept of attending the Holy Sacrifice, piety often leads the zealous Christian to the foot of the holy altars. It is on certain feasts, to strengthen the bonds of the family, on the solemnity of the dead, to link the bonds of the past with the hope of a better life; It is for the success of a business venture, for the health of a loved one, to call down God’s grace on the union of spouses, to offer to the Lord the child who has just been born, to accompany to the altar the mortal remains of our brothers and sisters, before depositing them in the earth; finally, the Mass is the consecration and sanctification of all the solemn and important events of life. If fervor comes to animate a wisely regulated life, one will almost always find, without harming the duties of one’s state, the means of consecrating, by the oblation of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, the labors and labors of the day; In a position free from cares and worries, more filled with the blessings of heaven and the favors of earth, one will feel that it would be ingratitude and cowardice not to make it a duty to offer to God every day the great Victim of thanksgiving, and one will take up this holy habit in order to surround oneself unceasingly with the powerful protection of God.

– Nothing could be more edifying than the feelings of faith and piety that filled the heart of M. de Bernières, Treasurer of France. “I would rather lose the whole world, if I had it, than one Mass, he said, knowing that the greatest action we can do on earth, and which gives the most honor to God, is that in which Jesus Christ, equal to His Father, annihilates Himself and sacrifices Himself in His sight to give Him infinite glory. It is the priest who offers the divine Host with his own hands, but it is in the name of the whole Church, especially of those who are present and who have the joy of offering it with him. What a consolation for me when I have attended Mass! I have offered to God a sacrifice of infinite price, even though I do not have the honor of being a priest. I have therefore glorified Him infinitely, I have thanked Him worthily, I have offered a price that can pay all my debts; I have therefore done more in this one action than in all the others of my life. O my Jesus! what a priceless treasure we have in Thee, if we knew how to recognize it!”