"The heart of Catholic worship of God..."

"... is located in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass."

Father Kenneth Baker expounds:

The one thing Catholics are commanded to do each week is to attend Mass on Sunday and to take part in the divine worship. The main event in salvation history was the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, both God and Man, on the cross on Calvary more than two thousand years ago. We Catholics believe that the Mass is the sacramental re-presentation of the sacrifice of Calvary. So the sacrifice of the Mass is not a new or different sacrifice; it is the same sacrifice presented now in an unbloody manner through the consecration of the bread and wine when an ordained priest repeats the words of Christ over the bread, “This is my body,” and over the wine, “This is the cup of my blood.”

When the priest says those words something miraculous happens. The bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ as he is now gloriously reigning in heaven. Christ now becomes physically present on the altar under the appearances of bread and wine. A substantial change has taken place, which the Catholic Church calls “transubstantiation.” This means that the substance of bread and wine has been changed into the substance of Jesus Christ, but the accidents of quantity and quality—weight, color, size, smell, taste—remain the same. The miraculous change therefore is not observable by the senses and cannot be detected in any scientific laboratory. The reason for this is that substance itself means what a thing is and is not detectable by the senses, but only by the mind. Thus a change of substance is not observable by the senses.

Transubstantiation makes Christ really and truly present—body, blood, soul and divinity—under the appearances of bread and wine. Since Christ is there and he is God almighty, the sacrament is worthy of adoration. That is why we genuflect before the Blessed Sacrament; we adore it in the tabernacle and in the monstrance at Benediction. Jesus remains present under the appearances of bread and wine as long as they remain bread and wine. It is an enduring presence which Catholics call “the Real Presence.”

This miraculous change of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is the most important event in all of Catholic worship. Our churches and basilicas are built around it—it is the center of focus. Priests spend eight years of training to prepare for celebrating Mass. The Blessed Sacrament is reserved in the tabernacle and a light burns constantly before it as a reminder to all of the presence of Christ. Because of his presence, the space in a Catholic church is very different from the space in a Protestant church or a synagogue or a mosque. In those buildings there is no physical presence of God. When a Catholic makes a visit to the Blessed Sacrament, he knows that Jesus is present there in a way he is not present outside the church in mountains, valleys, oceans and in the distant stars.

...

Many Catholics do not understand what the Mass is and why it is so important. That is probably why so many Catholics do not attend Mass on Sunday. It is important for us priests to know what the Church teaches about the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and to explain it to our people.

On Tuesday night at our local Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) class, Father Mike Joly spoke for an hour and a half on the Eucharist.  It seemed more like 10 minutes.  I was enthralled and hungry to learn.  At one point during his powerful lecture, he asked those gathered to throw out quick questions as to the Eucharist.  I had two, each consisting of one word.  How?  And when?  The how question (how does it become the real presence) he went on to answer in various ways throughout the evening.  The when question, when will I believe in it, a belief I have the strongest of desires and yearning to embrace but one I'm not quite where I need to be to do so, he answered matter of factly after a momentary pause.  He said that he personally felt desire was enough, that desire was something I could not manufacture on my own, that indeed, my desire and yearning were birthed by God Himself, that the God who seeds desire and yearning is the God who would see those seedlings bear fruit. The answer was satisfying.  Very much so.

And so my trek back to Rome continues.  I'm enjoying the trip more and more.

H/T to The Insight Scoop for the Father Baker piece.