(This article courtesy of the Arlington Catholic Herald.)
The same can be said about the Mass. People often say they “get nothing out of the Mass.” The comment usually expresses frustration rather than a bitter complaint. In any case, it reveals a spiritual sickness that needs immediate attention. When the integrity of prayer breaks down, friendship with God deteriorates. Christ directs us to the solution when He exhorts us: “Go and learn the meaning of the words, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'”
What is the connection between mercy and sacrifice? A sacrifice is an outward expression of obedience to God. A true sacrifice reflects, in a religious expression, a desire to please God in obedience through acts of mercy and generosity. Without obedience, there cannot be a true sacrifice. Without mercy, there cannot be true religion.
The struggle to integrate sacrificial worship with generous and merciful hearts is a main theme of the Bible. In the Old Testament, the Law of Moses prescribed various sacrifices. Animal sacrifice was a bloody business. It is easy to imagine priests, over time, simply going through the motions as they butchered the animals of sacrifice. It is also easy to imagine the people going through the motions of religious duty, forgetting that their sacrifices should express a true spirit of obedience.
The multiple sacrifices of the Old Testament gave way to the perfect sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. The one sacrifice of Christ, expressing the “new and everlasting covenant,” rendered obsolete the sacrifices of the Old Law. Nevertheless, the horror of the Cross, in itself, has no meaning without mercy. It is the mercy of Christ — his love for sinners and His perfect obedience to the Father “unto death” — that gives the Cross meaning. Jesus on the Cross is truly the sacrificial “Lamb of God” who, with infinite mercy, takes away the sins of the world.
In God's providence, others were given the privilege to participate in the saving action of Christ. At the foot of the Cross, Mary joined her grief with the sufferings of Christ in an act of true compassion. The Cross became a sacrificial sign of her generous love and mercy as well.
But not everyone at the foot of the Cross could make the same claim. The Roman soldiers, going through the motions of another day on the job, were indifferent to and contemptuous of the suffering of Christ. For them, the Cross was not a sign of sacrifice, but an indictment of their brutality.
For us, the Cross can also be a sacrificial sign of our mercy or an indictment of our indifference and sinfulness. The Sacrifice of the Mass sacramentally “makes present” the one sacrifice of Christ. At every Mass, we enter into the sacred mysteries and we are present at the foot of the Cross. The Church, therefore, encourages an “active participation” in the celebration of the Mass that might be summed up in one word: attentiveness. Do we have a desire to participate generously and attentively at every Mass? Do we dismiss distractions as soon as possible? Do we allow the prayers of the Mass to provide a framework for a gentle return to prayerful recollection?
The prayers and ritual of the Mass give us a choice. Will we join the soldiers at the foot of Cross, going through the motions of routine, in a spirit of indifference? Or will we join Mary, St. John and the holy women in the sacred drama of our redemption and salvation? Does our sacrificial worship truly reflect a spirit of mercy and generosity? Have we learned the meaning of the words, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”?
