Ten Reasons Why There is Nothing More Important than the Holy Mass

If we only knew how God regards this Sacrifice, we would risk our lives to be present at a single Mass. – St. Padre Pio

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. 

The one-page leaflet can be downloaded here.  In support of the Popes’ call for a New Evangelization, please make copies and distribute generously. 

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!

A MOST INTELLIGENT CHOICE: Rational Foundations of the Truth of Catholic Christian Belief

This article is contained in a free one-page leaflet. The leaflet can be downloaded here.

1.       God is real.

• Nothing can cause its own existence. In the chain of causes and effects we see, if there is no First Uncaused Cause, then the second causes and their effects could not exist. The big bang implies a Big Banger.

• Humans, the world and their evolution have such a beautiful, intricate, finely-tuned design which can only be caused by an Intelligent Designer, and not by mindless matter nor by chance. 

• We know of objective moral facts of right and wrong (e.g. do not steal my things) which obliges humans in all cultures. Its power to oblige can’t come from men obliged by the moral law. It comes from a Lawgiver.

• Our minds are in contact with eternal, objective and absolute truth superior to our minds (e.g. 2 + 2 = 4 ) and the eternal is divine, not human.

• If miracles exist, a supernatural miracle-worker exists.

• If there is no God, life is ultimately meaningless. Only God satisfies the deepest longings of the human heart for eternity. The deep joy of the saints can only come from the divine.

• To bet on God is your only chance of winning eternal happiness, and to bet against him is your only chance of losing. (Note:  Most points build on Peter Kreeft’s Extremely Brief Arguments for the Existence of God. 

2.      Jesus is the real God made man.

• Many reliable eyewitness accounts, eminent contemporary Roman historians and archaeological findings attest that the man Jesus really existed in history and was worshipped as God.

• Jesus did things only God can do, and no other human has done. He stopped a storm in one instant, raised 3 dead persons back to life, multiplied 5 loaves of bread to feed 5000 and turned 500 liters of water into top quality wine.

• Jesus fulfilled more than 300 prophecies, the first of which was written around 1400 years before his birth. The odds that one person fulfills only 8 of the prophecies is 1 out of 1017 (1 followed by 17 zeros): a virtually mathematically impossible event.

• Jesus claimed he was God. He said, I and the Father are one. He forgave sins and claimed eternity, omnipresence, and all authority in heaven and on earth. Since he was not a lunatic or a liar, he should be telling the truth: Lord.

• Jesus was confirmed dead by the best killers of ancient history, the Roman soldiers, and was seen to have resurrected by more than 500 persons.

• People around Jesus experienced him as divine and called him God. When St. Thomas saw him risen, he exclaimed, “My Lord and my God”. St. John said that Jesus is the Word and “the Word was God.”  Later, St. Paul taught about “Christ who is God over all.” St. Ignatius, a student of St. John, referred to “Jesus Christ our God,”and as “God incarnate”. 

• Thousands of people in the early years of Christianity, including former skeptics and enemies, gave their lives to testify to the truth that Jesus resurrected and is God. Hundreds of thousands continue to do so throughout history. One estimate says that in the 20th century alone, there were 45.5 million martyrs! (Barrett, Johnson)

 3. Jesus built one Church, the Catholic Church.

• The Bible and the early Christians testify that Jesus built his Church on Simon, whom he renamed Rock (Petros), and gave him the keys of the kingdom (Mt 16:18-19).  Jesus told him alone to “feed my sheep” (Jn 21:15-17).  The Church has documentary proof  that the Popes succeeded Peter and its bishops are the successors of the other apostles.

• Jesus and the Church are one.  It is not true the Catholic Church left the true Faith, since the Church is the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27), and he is inseparable from his body. He promised that “I am with you always” (Mt 28:20), evil “shall not prevail” against his Church (Mt 16:18), and his Spirit “will guide you into all the truth” (Jn 16:13).

• The Bible is a Catholic book.  It was the Catholic Synods of the 4th century, one led by Pope Damasus’ Council of Rome in 382 AD, which drew up the official list of the books of the Bible. All Christians trust the Catholic Church when they read the Bible.

• The Bible refutes the “Bible alone" principle. St. Paul says hold to traditions taught by us by word of mouth (2 Thes 2:15).  The Bible also tells of a Council’s authority where St. Peter declared what we believe (Acts 15) and that the Church –not the Bible—is the pillar and the bulwark of the truth (1 Tim 3:15).

• The true Church is universal, evangelizing in all parts of the world with more than 1.4 billion members in 2025. Compare this with the 2nd biggest Christian group, the Orthodox Churches with only 230M (1/5 of its size).

• The Church continues to perform divine miracles:  Eucharistic bread turning into blood; appearances of Mary; heroic saints; cures and sacred images that are scientifically unexplained; saints with stigmata, powers of healing, bilocation and prophecy, etc.

• Since God is Truth, Reason and Love, his Church is the greatest educational and charitable institution in the world. Modern secular research shows that the Church in Catholic Europe gave birth to modern science, university education, economics, the hospital system, support for human rights, and Western Art.

 

These statements are either true (they agree with reality) or false (they don’t). They can’t be both true and false at the same time and in the same aspect. To say “this is your truth while my truth is opposite” is to fall into relativism, the greatest problem of our time.

Relativism (no objective truth; only subjective “truths”) is (1) self-contradictory, like a square-circle, because if relativism is true then there is objective truth, and so it is false; (2) self-amputation of our mind, limiting our capacity to know reality. This goes against the universally known capability of the scientific mind to know the truth of nature, (3) self-deification: we who were not alive 100 years ago and will not be 100 years hence make ourselves God, the ultimate arbiters of truth, (4) contradictory to the obvious: there are truths that are always true everywhere,  like “mass murder of innocents is evil”.

Given the good evidence in favor of the objective truth of Catholic belief, wouldn’t it take more faith to be a non-believer? Isn’t it logical to try to learn more about this reality, and if convinced, to choose to live by this truth? And also learn more about Jesus’ loving invitation to enjoy God’s life of supreme joy—now and in heaven?

Since Jesus told his Church “He who hears you hears me,” he invites you to read the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, found online, for a modern synthesis of Jesus’ wisdom for us today, and learn to experience the peace and joy of living according to God's intelligent design for human beings. 

=========

The free one-page leaflet containing the article can be downloaded here.

RELATED ARTICLE:  THE HYPOCRISY OF CATHOLICS IS A VERY STRONG ARGUMENT FOR THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE CHURCH -- PETER KREEFT. This article went viral globally, reaching 122 K hits after 48 hours. 

See the film The Case for Christ, based on a best-selling book of an atheist who investigated the claims of Jesus as Messiah and Son of God: here.

Why Catholic Christianity is a most rational choice

By Dr. Raul Nidoy

This article is contained in a free one-page leaflet. The leaflet in Word Doc can be downloaded here.

Top reasons for the three rational foundations of the truth of Catholic Christian belief: (1) God is real; (2) Jesus is the real God who became man; (3) Jesus built one Church, the Catholic Church.

1.     God is real.

• Humans and the world have such an intricate, beautiful design which can only be caused by an Intelligent Designer, and not by mindless matter nor by chance.
• Nothing can cause its own existence. In the chain of causes and effects which we see in the world, if there is no First Uncaused Cause, then the second causes and their effects could not exist.
• We know of objective moral facts of right and wrong (e.g. help the drowning; do not steal my things) which obliges humans in all cultures. Its power to oblige can’t come from men obliged by the moral law. It comes from a Lawgiver.
• If there is no God, life is ultimately meaningless. Only God satisfies the deepest longings of the human heart for infinity and eternity.
• To bet on God is your only chance of winning eternal happiness, and to bet against him is your only chance of losing. (Note:  Most points are from Peter Kreeft’s Extremely Brief Arguments for the Existence of God.)

 2.     Jesus is the real God who became man.

• Many reliable eyewitness accounts, eminent contemporary Roman historians and archaeological findings attest that Jesus really existed and was worshipped as God.
• Jesus did things only God can do. He stopped a storm in one instant, raised 3 dead persons back to life, multiplied 5 loaves of bread to feed 5000 and turned 500 liters of water to top quality wine.
• Jesus claimed he was God. He said, “I and the Father are one”. He forgave sins and claimed eternity, omnipresence, and power over all the angels. Since he was not a lunatic or a liar, he should be telling the truth.
• Jesus was confirmed dead by the best killers of ancient history, the Roman soldiers, and was seen to have resurrected by more than 500 persons.
• Thousands of people in the early years of Christianity, including former sceptics and enemies, gave their lives to testify to the truth that Jesus resurrected and is God. Hundreds of thousands continue to do so throughout history. One estimate says that in the 20^th century alone, there were 45.5 million martyrs! (A. Socci)

 3.     Jesus built one Church, the Catholic Church.

• The Bible and the early Christians testify that Jesus built his Church on Simon, whom he renamed Rock (Peter), and gave him “the keys of the kingdom (Mt 16:18-19).  Jesus told him alone to “feed my sheep” (Jn 21:15-17).  History shows that the Popes are his successors.
• The Bible is a Catholic book.  It was Pope Damasus’ Council of Rome in 382 AD which drew up the official list of the books of the Bible. All Christians trust the Catholic Church when they read the Bible.
• The Bible refutes the “Bible alone” principle. St. Paul says “hold to traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter” (2 Thes 2:15).  The Bible also tells of a Council’s authority where Peter declared what “we believe” (Acts 15) and that the “the Church –not the Bible—is the pillar and the bulwark of the truth” (1 Tim 3:15).
• The true Church is universal, evangelizing in all parts of the world with more than 1.2 billion members today. Compare this with the 2^nd biggest Christian group, the Easter Orthodox Churches with only 230M (1/5 of its size) mainly found in Eastern Europe; Southern Baptists 16.3M (1/73).
• The Catholic Church is the greatest charitable and educational institution in the world and the longest lasting institution. Modern secular historians of science, economics, university education, human rights, international law, hospitals and Western art are showing that Catholic priests, scientists and thinkers were behind the foundation and great achievements in these areas.

If you consider the truth that God built the Church and speaks through it (“He who hears you –the Church—hears me,” said Jesus), it is logical to learn more about Jesus’ plan and how you can be aligned with it.   

Read the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church online for a a modern synthesis of God’s infinitely loving wisdom for us.

=========
The free one-page leaflet containing the article can be downloaded here.

Without the resurrection, the Christian faith itself would be dead

"The Christian faith stands or falls with the truth of the testimony that Christ is risen from the dead.

If this were taken away...the Christian faith itself would be dead. Jesus would then remain purely human, and his authority would extend only so far as his message is of interest to us.

He would no longer be a criterion; the only criterion left would be our own judgment in selecting from his heritage what strikes us as helpful...

Only if Jesus is risen has anything really new occurred that changes the world and the situation of mankind. Then he becomes the criterion on which we can rely. For then God has truly revealed himself." (Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth)

How can we find God's revelation today, the criterion on which we can rely?

Jesus' revelation was transmitted throughout the centuries through the Church he built on Peter, the Rock.

Thus, it is imperative that we listen to Peter's successors and the teachings of the Catholic Church, for then we will be listening to the God's own revelation.

---------------------

See free leaflet Ten Reasons the Catholic Church is the One True Church of Jesus.