Third Sunday of Year C
Januay 2007
Someone has asked me to explain why we come to Mass.
1) The Mass is the Last Supper.
We come to Mass because Jesus told us to remember him by taking part in the Mass. The last thing he did before his arrest and execution was to share the Last Supper with his followers. Then he told them to do this in memory of him.
The Mass is the Last Supper and we take part in it to remember Jesus and what he has done for us. The early Christian community were indistinguishable from their Jewish neighbours in all religious practises except one.
We read in Acts 2:46. 'Each day, with one heart, they regularly went to the Temple but met in their houses for the breaking of bread.'
The Breaking of Bread (what Jesus did at the Last Supper) was, from the very beginning, the way they re-enacted their relationship with Jesus, strengthened their bond with Jesus and remembered again what Jesus had said and done while he was visibly among them. Today we call it the Mass.
So we attend Mass because Jesus asked us to do so.