PRIEST'S DAILY MASS

YEAR FOR PRIESTS

 

The Priest’s Daily Mass

 

Canon 904 of the New Code of Canon Law (1983) urges the daily celebration of Mass as against the provision of the old Canon Law (Canon 805) of 1917, according to which a priest was obliged to say Mass only “several times a year”, although Bishops were to see to it that their priests celebrated every Sunday and holyday of obligation.

The present canon champions daily celebration, thereby making the action as universally pastoral as the action of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world. According to Vatican II, the priest, by celebrating Mass, fulfils his principal priestly rationale. “In the mystery of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, in which priests fulfil their principal function, the work of our redemption is continually carried out. For this reason, the daily celebration of it is earnestly recommended. This celebration is an act of Christ and the Church, even if it is impossible for the faithful to be present” (Decree on the Life and Ministry of Priests, art. 13). This recommendation is continuous with the inspiration of that great and pastoral pope, Paul VI, who stated in his encyclical, “Mysterium Fidei”, 3 September 1965, “The Mass, even though it is celebrated privately is still not private, but is the act of Christ and the Church. For every Mass that is celebrated is offered not merely for the salvation of some souls but for that of the whole world. Therefore, we recommend with paternal insistence to priests, who are our special joy and our crown in the Lord, that they celebrate Mass worthily and devoutly every day.”

No priest who appreciates the tremendous value of the Mass as the Christ-action of restoring the whole of material and rational creation to the Father will hesitate to offer the daily Eucharist or feel alone in doing so, the more so that he believes he does not belong to himself but to Christ, the Church, and humanity. He in fact acts “in persona Christi.”

In his encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, n. 29, the late Pope John Paul II reminds the priest that “in persona” does not mean “in the name of” or “in the place of” Christ, but means a specific sacramental identification with the Eternal High Priest who is the author and principal subject of his one and eternal self-offering. This is more than a perception of the liturgy, which is deep enough, but is a profound truth of the very assumption of the priest in his existent self to the very personal and eternal action of the Son of God turned towards the Father.  And even though the far-from-impeccable priest is conscious of his moral and spiritual frailty, he is swept up into this Son’s powerful movement as a representative of the Christian community and of humanity, indeed, of the whole of creation in their adoration and praise of the Eternal Father. He, therefore, need not deny himself this privilege beyond all telling but ride on it daily for the good of his people and his own. In no. 80 of his Apostolic Exhortation ‘Sacramentum Caritatis’ the present Holy Father states, “…. I join the Synod Fathers in recommending the daily celebration of Mass even when the faithful are not present…. motivated by the Mass’s unique spiritual fruitfulness. Mass is formative in the deepest sense of the word, since it fosters the priest’s configuration to Christ and strengthens him in his vocation.”

If it is to be truly effective, the renewal of the invitation to every priest to celebrate daily Mass (cf. Redemptionis Sacramentum, n. 110) – an invitation of the Second Vatican Council that the late Pope John Paul II made his very own (cf. Ecclesia de Eucharistia, n. 31) – will require of parish priests and rectors sincere and generous availability to ensure that every brother priest truly has an opportunity to celebrate the holy mysteries fittingly everyday, loyally complying with the liturgical norms. Good priests concentrate on what only they can do, and it is for that that they are most appreciated. This does not preclude his engagement in social action. In early Christianity, “liturgy” referred both to worship and to meeting the material needs of others, thereby implying the essential bond between worship and social action.

The Catholic priest is expected to be marked by an identity specified by his openness to God and humanity, mediator between God and man, precisely because he participates intrinsically in the great high priesthood of Jesus Christ himself. This is a gift and task, an endowment with a powerful purpose. In celebrating the Paschal Mystery the priest unites himself with Jesus who is both the offerer and the sacrifice, priest and victim, crushed and glorified, as he allows God to take over his life day by day, definitively and forever. The more willingly he accepts this calling and exercise, the more effectively does he lead his people in prayer and in their surrender to God in Jesus.

 

 

Miriam, the mother of Jesus