The one-page leaflet can be downloaded here.
1. Take part in Jesus’ world-changing sacrifice
at Calvary. In a mysterious way,
the eternal God “makes present” a two-thousand year old event which is the
turning-point of human history: when the
greatest evil ever done (killing of God) was turned around by Jesus into the
greatest good action—a sacrificial death followed by his resurrection, which
saved all men throughout the centuries and gave unsurpassable glory to God. In
the Mass, we “time travel” to the event which is the center of our life: the Paschal Mystery.
2. Do the greatest good action. Put together all our
good actions, all the social work of NGOs and all the sacrifices of martyrs and saints, and they are just specks of dust compared with the infinite value of Jesus’ sacrifice made present in the
Mass. “All good works in the world are
the works of men. But the Mass is the work of God.” (St. John Mary
Vianney)
3. Receive the most expensive gift. “If you were told by your dad that in a
specific room in the city you can get a billion dollar gift, won’t you drop
everything to find the place and pick it up? What if the gift is the Owner
himself of the entire universe? Shouldn’t you scramble to receive this gift?” (Fr. H. Raynal) In the Mass we receive
far more than a billion times of a billion universes filled with treasures.
Since God can’t find something greater to express his love, he gives us the
ultimate gift: his body, blood, soul and Divinity--Himself.
4. Enter heaven. Encounter the Mystery of
Infinite Beauty. We experience heaven touching down on earth, and share a foretaste of the heavenly liturgy described in the Book of Revelations. We personally meet Jesus and he himself speaks when the holy scriptures are read (Vat II SC 7). In a madness of love, he “pours upon us all of his mercy and his love, so as to renew
our hearts, our lives, and our way of relating with Him and with the brethren.”
(Francis) Jesus
tells us: “This is my body which will
be given up for you.”
5. Attain the summit of love and prayer. God our Maker created
us for one purpose: to love him with all our heart and
strength. This is our greatest dignity: to be able to dialogue with the Supreme
Being as his intimate friend. In the Mass, we reach the “summit” of our
conversation and worship as we join God’s own loving prayer to God. Above
all, Jesus unites us to Himself, drawing us into “the very dynamic of his
self-giving.” (Benedict XVI)
6. Enjoy the most delightful family reunion
feast. In any Mass, we experience singing to the Trinity with
the biggest and most harmonious chorus: all of Jesus’ angels and all the
children of God’s great family, both living and dead, chanting Holy, Holy,
Holy! And to their envy, we do something no angel can do: partake of the
banquet from paradise, the Bread and the Lamb of God, “containing in itself all
delight.” (Rite of Benediction)
7. Tap into the source of omnipotent help. The Mass is “summit” but
also the “source” of the Christian life.
Its power has greater force than many nuclear bombs! Amazingly, Omnipotence
bends down to change bread into God’s body and like a slave feeds us. He puts
himself at our service, at the service of those in need, the poor, the sick,
and the suffering souls in purgatory. He sends us with exceedingly powerful
grace to solve the greatest problems and to responsibly tackle our personal
mission.
8. Be at the best time to talk to Jesus and ask
for gifts. There is no better
time to ask God for something and to advance in virtue than the moments when we
are at our closest to him. While the appearances of bread are not yet digested
(10-15 mins.), Jesus is present in our body as in an altar. So stay on after
Mass during that time to thank God, adore him and ask for presents.
9. Build and expand the greatest project. In the Eucharist, Christ continues his work of
redeeming all men and the Christian shares in this work. The last words of
Jesus at Mass, uttered through his priest, resound like his last command to us:
Go! Go and make disciples of all
nations...I will be with you until the end of the world.
10. Follow Jesus. The secret of Jesus’
joyful and fruitful life is his obedience to God. The Bible gave a one-phrase
summary of his life as a child and teenager: “he obeyed his parents”, God’s
representatives. He saved all men by being “obedient unto death on the cross.”
When we go to Mass, we follow his footsteps and obey his command: “Do this in memory
of me.”
To
willfully miss Mass on Sunday is to commit a sin that is mortal or deadly. Much like the rejection of air, water, and
food kills. We can’t survive without the spiritual food offered by God in the
Mass. And we have a serious natural obligation to render public worship to our
Creator and Sustainer—without whom we vanish.
Thus, God commanded us to keep the Lord’s Day holy and his Church states
that those who deliberately fail in the obligation to attend Mass on Sundays
and holy days of obligation “commit a grave sin.” (CCC
2181)
How
to attend Mass: (1) Be acutely aware that you
are in the presence of Christ’s bloody sacrifice on the cross: “In your
mind’s eye transport yourself to Calvary.” (St.
Padre Pio) (2) Prepare your soul through
prayer. (3) Wear appropriate clothing when meeting an important person. (4) Listen
to what God is telling you through his Word, the Scriptures. (5) Pray using
words of the Mass and consciously refer them to God. (6) Offer yourself with Jesus.
(7) Receive Jesus worthily in communion. Go to confession first if in the state
of mortal sin. (You commit mortal sin when you offend God in a grave matter,
with full knowledge and consent). To receive him in a state of mortal sin is to
commit a new sin—the very grave sin of sacrilege. (8) Thank God profusely for a
few minutes after the Mass.
These one-page leaflets have started going viral around the world. One leaflet was posted in the website of the Archdiocese of Westminster in London ("The Mother Church of England") and in the Corpus Christi Parish in Canada. Irish priest, Fr. Conor Donelly, has posted some in Kenya and Fr. Jose Mandia has published some in O Clarim in Macau, and has translated one to Chinese. To get the full collection, please visit this page of this blog: One Page Leaflets for New Evangelization Starting to Go Viral!
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