There are many reasons people give for not attending Sunday Mass. But perhaps the most frequently-given reason is that “I don’t go because I don’t get anything out of the Mass.”

 

In this second year of the Eucharistic Revival being held by the Church in the United States, the meaning of “getting something out of going to Mass” is intimately connected to the understanding of, and faith in, the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. This needs to be at the heart of our renewal and our catechesis regarding the Eucharist.

 

A strong influence on all of us is that our culture is very individualistic. And that often means that instead of searching for the truth or beauty or meaning that resides outside of ourselves, we take a quick look inward. One of the hallmarks of modern society is that it reduces us to individuals who are merely living or standing together. But at that moment, even in the midst of a crowd, we remain isolated.

 

When we do that, we fail to form bonds with others. Families and communities are undervalued. As a result, primacy is given to our individual feelings and preferences, often without the formation that comes from our faith or history or a deeper reflection on who and what we are as human beings.

 

Our American society plays further into that individualism. Our cell phone and video culture has the effect of narrowing and shortening attention spans. Many people are left seeking constant and changing stimuli in an effort to ward off boredom. As a result, time in silence, in reflection and in prayer become a lost art. Perhaps even distasteful. 

 

In this context, the Mass can falsely seem to be a gathering of our own human invention, simply being a well-intended reenactment of a story about a supper among Jesus and His friends 2,000 years ago. In that case, if it does not appeal to one’s personal spirituality or emotions of the moment, it can rightly be said that one doesn’t get anything out of that moment.

 

But the Church has been entrusted with a reality that is beyond our senses but is as real as the earth we walk on and the air that we breathe. Christ told His apostles that the bread truly becomes His body and the wine His blood at every Mass as it did at the Last Supper.

 

Suddenly, the world has changed. At Mass we are in the sacramental but real presence of Jesus Himself, even today. We hold that presence in our hand or receive it on the tongue. We adore that presence as the priest elevates the host and chalice during Mass. In all these moments, we have an opportunity for a personal relationship not with a memory but with the person of Jesus Christ, that is to say, with God Himself. It can be said that Jesus is with us as truly as He was with those who spoke to Him and touched and listened to Him more than 2,000 years ago.

 

This reality, of heaven touching earth in the Eucharist, is a test of faith. It requires receiving the grace of faith and then our own openness and effort to accept it and enter into it. Even in the time of Jesus Himself, some of His followers did not. And they walked away.

 

Our Eucharistic Revival is working to help us overcome the influences of our culture and, in truth, of an accumulation over many years of often inadequate catechesis. By recognizing the True Presence of Jesus, we can understand the world, ourselves, and the love of God that calls to us with the offer of eternal life.

 

There is a spectacular meaning in the Mass for us to “get something out of.” It challenges us to let go of the influences of this world to be open to God. But it is the way to happiness, sacrifice and fulfilment of our human nature. If more people can be brought to this understanding during this Revival, it will have been worth all the effort.