Catholic Massterclass: All About Holy Mass

60. Eucharistic Miracles

Big news, everyone: I think this will be our final Catholic Massterclass! I never thought it would last this long, and yet I think it could go even longer. Holy Mass is so rich! We’re going out with a mystery, which is fitting for our mysterious worship. Today we’re talking about Eucharistic miracles. A Eucharistic miracle is an extraordinary event in which God makes visible what is normally hidden. At every Mass, a true miracle takes place: bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ, though this change is invisible. In Eucharistic miracles, that same reality becomes visible in a way that we can perceive. In that sense, they are something like a “double miracle.” I have three miracles that I’d like to briefly share with you.   First is the Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano, the earliest recorded Eucharistic miracle. It took place in Italy around the year 700. A priest who was experiencing doubts about the Real Presence saw the appearance of the bread and wine change at the words of consecration. The Host became visible flesh, and the wine became visible blood. These miraculous species have been preserved for over 1,300 years. Scientific studies in the 1970s found that the flesh is human heart tissue and the blood is real human blood, type AB.   Next is the Eucharistic Miracle of Bolsena. Once again, a priest wrestling with doubt witnessed the Host begin to bleed during Mass. The blood stained the corporal, which is still preserved today in Orvieto, Italy.   Finally, we turn to the Eucharistic Miracle of Buenos Aires. A discarded Host was found and placed in water so that it would dissolve. Instead, it became a bloody substance. Scientific analysis later revealed that it was human heart tissue with AB blood type. Even more striking, white blood cells were present, indicating that the tissue was living at the time of examination. The scientist who analyzed the sample was not told its origin.   There are many more examples of Eucharstic miracles from history, some of them seem unbelievable - I suppose they all seem unbelievable, which is part of what makes it a miracle - but they all point to the reality of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, which comes to us at Holy Mass. You could read more about them by going to this website, designed by St. Carlo Acutis when he was just a teenager: https://www.miracolieucaristici.org/ [https://www.miracolieucaristici.org/] May the Lord grant us all a greater love for the Mass and for the Holy Eucharist!

59. Deacons

This week we’re going to talk about deacons. Although we don’t have any deacons in our parishes, you may attend Mass where a deacon is assisting the priest or bishop. It’s worthwhile to know what that role is all about.   We have to go back to the Old Testament. In the Temple of Jerusalem, God established a clear distinction among His people. Only the priests—descendants of Aaron—could offer sacrifice. Yet they did not act alone. The Levites, drawn from the same tribe but not ordained as priests, were entrusted with assisting in the worship of God. They prepared what was needed, cared for the sacred spaces, and supported the priests in carrying out the liturgy with reverence and order.   There is a similar pattern in the Mass. In the New Covenant, the bishop and priest act in the person of Christ the High Priest, offering the one sacrifice of Christ made present on the altar. Alongside them stands the deacon, ordained not to the priesthood, but to service. The role of the deacon closely resembles that of the Levites. At Mass, the deacon proclaims the Gospel, may preach, prepares the altar, assists the priest during the Eucharistic Prayer, and helps distribute Holy Communion. He does not consecrate the Eucharist, just as the Levites did not offer sacrifice, but his role assists the beauty, order, and integrity of the liturgy.   Alongside his assistance in the liturgy, deacons also add something to the life of the Church. While the Levites were primarily focused on the Temple, the deacon is sent beyond the walls of the church. From the earliest days of the Church, deacons were entrusted with caring for the poor, the neglected, and those in need. Their ministry reminds us that the sacrifice we participate in at the altar must be lived out in love and service in the world. In this way, the deacon becomes a bridge—connecting the worship of God with the needs of His people.   This structure teaches us something important: not everyone has the same role, and that is by God’s design. The beauty of the Mass is not found in everyone doing everything, but in each person fulfilling the role entrusted to them. The priest offers the sacrifice. The deacon assists and serves. The faithful unite themselves to Christ’s offering. Together, this ordered harmony reflects the worship of heaven itself—where all is directed toward the glory of God.   Deacons wear similar, but different vestments as a priest and bishop. Their main vestment is called a dalmatic, which looks similar to a priestly chasuble, but it has sleeves. The stole they wear is diagonal from the right shoulder to the left side. The practicality of these vestments allows them to assist more freely than the flowing vestments of the priest.

58. Bells During the Eucharistic Prayer

Today’s Catholic Massterclass will focus on the use of bells during the Eucharistic Prayer. The GIRM provides this instruction: A little before the consecration, when appropriate, a server rings a bell as a signal to the faithful. According to local custom, the server also rings the bell as the priest shows the host and then the chalice (GIRM, no. 150).   Two simple points about this: first, it is optional, not required, to use bells just before the consecration (often interpreted as the epiclesis) and at the elevation of the Sacred Host and Chalice after the gifts are consecrated; second, the common practice when bells are used is that there is one ring at the epiclesis and three rings at each of the elevations. A smaller number of parishes also ring the bell one time immediately after the priest consumes the Body and Blood of the Lord.   The purpose of the bells comes from traditional liturgies when the Mass was offered in a language other than the vernacular (the common language of the people in any given location), mostly in Latin. The Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) was offered in Latin, of course, but also with the priest facing the same direction as everyone else (ad orientem), which made it more difficult for people to hear and see what was happening at the altar. What’s more, the priest was speaking quietly, so often the only people who could hear anything were the altar servers. The servers would ring the bells at those times which were most worth paying attention to, namely the calling forth of the Holy Spirit on the gifts, the moment when the people had a chance to adore Jesus in the Eucharist, and at the completion of the sacrifice. The ringing of the bells helped people to be drawn toward the altar when they were perhaps focusing on some other prayers or meditations. Today, even though Mass is often offered in the common language and with the priest facing the people (versus populum), the bells are still helpful because humans still tend to get distracted at inopportune times. They can help to call our minds back to the present moment to focus on the only truly important thing taking place, which is the worship of God ordained by Jesus.

57. Bowing During Mass

Now that we’ve completed our walk through the Mass, we’ll spend a few weeks talking about some unique topics surrounding and included in the Mass. This week’s topic is focused on the practice of bowing at the mention of sacred names and during the Creed. Bowing at the mention of sacred names is something that has largely fallen out of practice, although it is still the expected gesture (i.e. the norm) to be made at the appropriate times. Here is what the GIRM has to say about it: A bow of the head is made when the three Divine Persons are named together and at the names of Jesus, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of the Saint in whose honor Mass is being celebrated. (GIRM, no 275, a.) A bow signifies reverence and honor shown to the persons themselves or to the signs that represent them. It is a simple gesture of lowering oneself before someone greater. You may notice this if you pay close attention to the priest while at Mass - he makes a slight bow of the head when mentioning any of these sacred names. You are invited to do the same. If you have a difficult time keeping your attention fixed on the Mass, making the resolution to bow at the mention of these sacred names just might help you focus better. Another place where Catholics bow during Mass is during the recitation of the Creed: A bow of the body, that is to say a profound bow, is made in the Creed at the words Et incarnatus est (by the power of the Holy Spirit . . . and became man). (GIRM, no 275, b.) The Lord Jesus came down from Heaven to dwell among us, beginning in the womb of Mary. This is an act of unspeakable humility. He still dwells among us in the lowliness of the Holy Eucharist. Incredible. While we profess our Creed, we show particular honor at the mention of the Incarnation by the Holy Spirit. A profound bow, bending at the waist instead of the head, expresses that we are willing to lower ourselves in humility as we consider the humility of Christ.

56. Prayer, Blessing, and Dismissal

We will finally reach the conclusion of Mass in this week’s Catholic Massterclass! What an incredible journey! Our final three actions to explore are the Prayer After Communion, the Blessing, and the Dismissal. All three are fairly brief, so we should be able to cover them all today.   After a moment of silence, the priest offers the Prayer After Communion, which is provided in the Roman Missal. The prayer includes an acknowledgment that we have received the incredible gift of the Eucharist, while asking for that gift to bear fruit in our lives as we move forth into the world. This is a very important part that will eventually lead to the dismissal: our worship and reception of the Holy Eucharist is meant to lead to greater righteousness in our lives. This prayer is an acknowledgment that we need the Lord’s help for that to happen, alongside our own participation in the work of redemption.   After that prayer, the Roman Missal states that necessary, brief announcements may be given before the final blessing. It seems worth highlighting those two words: necessary and brief. This is all still within the context of worship of God, so we don’t want to put all the focus back on ourselves when it should remain on God.   The final Blessing comes from a couple different places in Scripture. First, we see in Leviticus 9:22-23 that the priest would go and offer sacrifice, followed by a priestly blessing of the people. In Luke 24:50-51, while Jesus is ascending into Heaven, Luke tells us that Jesus blessed his disciples. The ascension is a good image of the end of Mass. The sacrifice has been completed and Jesus returns to sit at the right hand of the Father, but he first provides his High Priestly blessing. At Mass, the priest acts in the person of Christ. He has offered the sacrifice. Before he departs from the sanctuary, he offers the High Priestly blessing of Jesus. The blessing provides a sign of grace and protection for those who are going into a world where they might encounter a variety of situations both pleasant and unpleasant. With the blessing of God, his faithful people can be confident that the Lord is with them every step of the way.   Finally we come to the part of the Mass that gives the Mass its name. The current form of the Mass has four possible dismissals that the priest may use. In the older form of the Mass, which was always spoken in Latin, the priest said, “Ite, missa est,” which translates to something like, “Go, it is the dismissal.” The Mass receives its name from the word missa, which translates into a sending forth. Ultimately, our worship of God is meant to send us into the world as people transformed by what we have done and received. We shared union with God and now we bring that union into our homes, work places, friendships, families…anywhere in need of God’s loving presence. The people of God are sent on a mission to glorify the Lord by the way they live their lives. This is an incredible mission, and the people express their joy and gladness at such a command: Thanks be to God!   Holy Mass ends there. You’ll notice there is not actually prescribed a closing hymn or extra prayer in our current form of the Mass. Many parishes pray the St. Michael Prayer and/or sing a hymn, which is not a problem, but it’s worth noting that these are not officially part of Catholic Mass. We’ll have a few more sessions of our Massterclass to cover a few more topics - stay tuned!