A WALK THROUGH THE MASS

WITH
THE CHURCH FATHERS

Pastors should be committed to that “mystagogical” catechesis so dear to the Fathers of

the Church, by which the faithful are helped to understand the meaning of the liturgy's
words and actions, to pass from its signs to the mystery which they contain, and to enter
into that mystery in every aspect of their lives.
Mane Nobiscum Domine
Blessed John
Paul II

The Introductory Rites

“We should believe that the angelic spirits are especially present to us when we give ourselves in
a special way to divine services, that is, when we enter a church and open our ears to sacred
reading, or give our attention to psalm singing, or apply ourselves to prayer, or celebrate the
solemnity of the mass….We are not permitted to doubt that where the mysteries of the Lord’s
body and blood are being enacted, a gathering of the citizens from on high is present….Hence
we must strive meticulously, my brothers, when we come into the church to pay the due service
of divine praise or to perform the solemnity of the mass, to be always mindful of the angelic
presence, and to fulfill our heavenly duty with fear and fitting veneration.” Bede (d. 735)
“Think now of what kind of choir you are going to enter. Although vested with a body, you
have been judged worthy to join the Powers of heaven in singing the praises of Him who is Lord
of all.” St. John Chrysostom (d. 407)

The Entrance
“The people who have been purified and enriched with wonderful gifts (Baptism and
Confirmation) begin to walk in procession toward the altar, saying: ‘I will go in to the altar of
God, to God who rejoices my youth.’ Having stripped themselves of the last traces of the ancient
error, renewed in the youth of the eagle, they hasten to go to the heavenly banquet. They enter,
then, and, seeing the holy altar prepared, they cry out: ‘You have prepared a table before me’”
St. Ambrose (d. 397)

“You being to go towards the altar; the angels are watching you; they have seen you being to
walk in; they have seen your appearance, which previously was wretched, suddenly becoming
shining.” St. Ambrose

“The station which you will make immediately after Baptism, before the great throne, is the
prefiguration of the glory on high. The chant of the psalms, with which you will be received, is
the prelude to the hymns of heaven. The candles which you hold in your hands are the
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sacrament of the escort of lights from on high, with which we shall go to meet the Bridegroom,
our souls luminous and virgin, carrying the lighted candles of faith.” St. Gregory of Nazianzen
(d. 389)

Reverence to the Altar

“The altar is the figure of the body, and the body of Christ is upon the altar.” St. Ambrose

“Christ is the altar, the offering and the priest.” Ambrose and Origen (d. 232)

“Let us look with a gaze that is not of this world at this altar of the divine sacrifices. It is, in fact,
Jesus the Most Holy Who offers Himself for us and Who dispenses to us the fullness of His Own
consecration.” Pseudo-Dionysius (c. 500)

“The angels surround the priest. The whole sanctuary and the space around the altar are filled
with the heavenly powers to honor Him Who is present on the altar.” St. John Chrysostom

The Greeting of the Assembled People

“At every forward step and movement, at every going in and out, when we put on our clothes
and shoes, when we bathe, when we sit at table, when we light the lamps, on couch, on seat, in
all the ordinary actions of daily life, we trace upon the forehead the sign.” Tertullian (c. 200)

“He foretold that His just ones should suffer equally with Him— both the apostles and all the
faithful in succession; and He signed them with that very seal of which Ezekiel spoke: The Lord
said unto me, Go through the gate, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set the mark Tau upon
the foreheads of the men. Now the Greek letter Tau and our own letter T is the very form of the
cross, which He predicted would be the sign on our foreheads in the true Catholic Jerusalem, in
which, according to the twenty-first Psalm, the brethren of Christ or children of God would
ascribe glory to God the Father, in the person of Christ Himself addressing His Father; I will
declare Your name unto my brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I sing praise unto
You.” Tertullian

“Let us not then be ashamed to confess the Crucified. Be the Cross our seal made with boldness
by our fingers on our brow, and on everything; over the bread we eat, and the cups we drink; in
our comings in, and goings out; before our sleep, when we lie down and when we rise up; when
we are in the way, and when we are still. Great is that preservative; it is without price, for the
sake of the poor; without toil, for the sick; since also its grace is from God. It is the Sign of the
faithful, and the dread of devils: for He triumphed over them in it, having made a show of them
openly [Col 2:15]; for when they see the Cross they are reminded of the Crucified; they are
afraid of Him, who bruised the heads of the dragon. Despise not the Seal, because of the freeness
of the gift; out for this the rather honor your Benefactor.” St. Cyril of Jerusalem (d. 386)

“He gives the name ‘spirit’ not to the soul of the priest but to the Spirit he has received through
the laying on of hands.” Narsai of Nisibis (5th c.)

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The Collect
“We not only lift them [our hands], but even extend them, imitating the Lord’s passion, as we
also confess Christ in prayer.” Tertullian

The earliest depiction of the crucifixion of Christ on the wooden portals of Santa Sabina on the
Aventine in Rome (6th c.) shows the crucified Lord with slightly bent arms and open, nailed
hands, but without an express depiction of the cross—the orans posture as Tertullian pictures it.
The Gospel
“We are reading the sacred Scriptures. For me, the Gospel is the Body of Christ; for me, the holy
Scriptures are his teaching. And when he says: whoever does not eat my flesh and drink my
blood (Jn 6:53), even though these words can also be understood of the [Eucharistic] Mystery,
Christ’s body and blood are really the word of Scripture, God’s teaching. When we approach the
[Eucharistic] Mystery, if a crumb falls to the ground we are troubled. Yet when we are listening
to the word of God, and God’s Word and Christ’s flesh and blood are being poured into our ears
yet we pay no heed, what great peril should we not fee.” St. Jerome (d. 420)

The Profession of Faith

“The confession of faith is handed down in the Creed, as it were, as coming from the person of
the whole Church, united by means of the Faith.” St. Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274)

The Universal Prayer

“We offer prayers in common for ourselves, for the one who has just been enlightened, and for
all human beings everywhere. It is our desire, now that we have come to know the truth, to be
found worthy of doing good deeds and obeying the commandments, and thus to obtain eternal
salvation.” Justin Martyr (c. 155)

"After the spiritual sacrifice, the un-bloody act of worship, has been completed, we bend over
this propitiatory offering and beg God to grant peace to all the Churches, to give harmony to the
whole world, to bless our rulers, our soldiers and our companions, to aid the sick and afflicted,
and in general to assist all those who stand in need; we all pray for all these intentions and we
offer this victim for them . . . and last of all for our deceased holy forefathers and bishops and for
all those who have lived among us. For we have a deep conviction that great help will be
afforded those souls for whom prayers are offered while this holy and awesome victim is
present." St. Cyril of Jerusalem

The Liturgy of the Eucharist

The Preparation of the Gifts

“When the wine is mixed with water in the chalice, the people are joined to Christ. If someone
offers only wine, the blood of Christ remains without us; if someone offers only water, the
people are without Christ.” St. Cyprian of Carthage (d. 258)

The Eucharistic Prayer

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 “Reflect upon whom it is that you are near and with whom you are about to invoke God—the
Cherubim. Think of the choirs you are about to enter. Let no one have any thought of earthy
(sursum corda—Lift up your hearts), but let him lose himself of every earthly thing and transport
himself whole and entire into heaven. Let him abide there beside the very throne of glory,
hovering with the Seraphim, and singing the most holy song of the God of glory and majesty.”
St. John
Chrysostom

“During the most awe-inspiring mysteries the priest prays for the people, and the people pray for
the priest; for the words “With your spirit” are nothing else but that. The offering of the
Eucharist, again, is in common; for it is not the priest alone who gives thanks, but the whole
people. He first speaks in their voice, then they add that it is fitting and just to do this.”
St. John Chrysostom

“The priest then cries: ‘Lift up your hearts.’ Yes, truly at this moment, filled with holy fear we
must hold our hearts raised on high to God and turned no longer toward the earth and earthly
things. The priest invites us all implicitly to leave at this moment all the cares of life and our
domestic preoccupations, and to have our hearts turned to heaven, to God the Friend of men.
Then answer: ‘We lift them up to the Lord’, giving by your answer your assent to the priest’s
words. Let there be no one who says with his lips: ‘We lift them up to the Lord’ and who keeps
his spirit among the cares of this life. We ought always to be mindful of God. If this is
impossible because of human weakness, at least at this moment we must try to be mindful of
Him.” St. Cyril of Jerusalem

“We speak of the Seraphim that Isaias saw in the Holy Spirit surrounding the throne of God and
saying: ‘Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord, the God of hosts.’ This is why we recite this theology that
is transmitted to us by Seraphim, so that we may take part in the hymn of praise with the hosts
above the cosmos.” St. Cyril of Jerusalem

“As soon as the consecration has taken place, the bread becomes the Body of Christ. How can
this be done? By the consecration. The consecration takes place by means of what words? By
those of the Lord Jesus. Indeed what was said up to now was said by the priest. But here he uses
the words of Christ. What is the word of Christ? It is that by which all things were made.”
St. Ambrose

“Then having sanctified ourselves by these spiritual Hymns, we call upon the merciful God to
send forth His Holy Spirit upon the gifts lying before Him; that He may make the Bread the
Body of Christ, and the Wine the Blood of Christ; for whatsoever the Holy Spirit has touched, is
sanctified and transformed.” St. Cyril of Jerusalem

“It is not only men who raise this cry filled with holy awe, but the angels prostrate themselves
before the Lord, the archangels pray to Him. Just as men cut palm branches and wave them
before their kings to move them to think of love and mercy, so at this moment the angels present

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the very Body of their Lord as if it were a palm branch and they pray to Him for all humanity.”
St. John Chrysostom
“Behold the royal table. The angels serve at it. The Lord Himself is present.”
St. John Chrysostom

“But do we not daily offer the sacrifice? We offer it, but in making the anamnesis of His death.
And this is unique, not multiple. It was offered once, as He entered once into the Holy of Holies.
The anamnesis is the figure of His death. It is the same sacrifice that we offer, not one today and
another tomorrow. One only Christ everywhere, entire, everywhere there is one sacrifice. This
is the sacrifice that we now still offer. This is the meaning of the anamnesis: we carry out the
anamnesis of the sacrifice.” St. John Chrysostom

“The Eucharist is the unbloody sacrifice by which we communicate in the sufferings and in the
divinity of Christ.” St. Gregory of Nazianzen

The Rite of Peace

“It is after that of which I may not speak that peace should be proclaimed according to rule. For
it is clear that the people thereby give their consent to everything…that has gone before, since
the peace puts its seal on the conclusion [of the Eucharistic Prayer].” Innocent I (d. 417)

“The kiss of peace, which is a seal set upon the prayer.” Tertullian

The Fraction of the Bread

“Now that the liturgy is accomplished, the Pontiff breaks the bread, as Our Lord first shared
Himself in His manifestations, appearing now to this man and now to that.”
Theodore of Mopsuestia (d. 428)

Communion
“Not without reason do you say ‘Amen,’ for you acknowledge in your heart that you are
receiving the body of Christ. When you present yourself, the priest says to you, ‘The body of
Christ,’ and you reply ‘Amen,’ that is, ‘It is so.’ Let the heart persevere in what the tongue
confesses.” St. Ambrose

“If you are the body and members of Christ, then what is laid on the Lord’s table is the
sacrament (mysterium) of what you yourselves are, and it is the sacrament of what you are that
you receive. It is to what you yourselves are that you answer ‘Amen,’ and this answer is your
affidavit. Be a member of Christ’s body, so that your ‘Amen’ may be authentic.” St. Augustine
(d. 430)
“I do not have a greater share in the Lord’s table and you a lesser; we participate equally. I come
first; what difference does that make? Among children, the eldest is the first to reach for the
food, but he does not get a larger share….I do not receive from one Lamb, you from another; we
all share together in the one Lamb.”
“If you show the evil one your tongue moistened with the precious Blood, he will not be able
to resist it; if you show him your mouth tinged with red, he will shun you like a frightened beast.

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Do you want to know the power of this Blood? Then just see where it came from and where its
source was—the cross and the Lord’s side.”
“This blood, if rightly taken, drives away devils, and keeps them afar off from us, while it
calls to us Angels and the Lord of Angels. For wherever they see the Lord's blood, devils flee,
and Angels run together.”
“Let us then return from that table like lions breathing fire, having become terrible to the
devil; thinking on our Head, and on the love which He has shown for us.” St. John Chrysostom

“When you approach, do not extend your hands with palms upward and fingers apart, but make
your left hand a throne for your right hand, since the latter is to receive the King; then, while
answering ‘Amen,’ receive the body of Christ in the hollow of your hand. Next, carefully
sanctify your eyes through contact with the sacred body; then take it in your mouth, being
watchful that nothing of it is lost. If you were to lose part of it, it would be like losing one of
your own members. If someone were to give you some flakes of gold, would you not guard
them very carefully and see to it that you did not lose any and suffer a loss? Should you not
therefore watch far more carefully over an object more valuable than gold or precious stones, lest
you lose a crumb of it?” St. Cyril of Jerusalem

“You hear the cantor inviting you, by means of a divine melody, to communion in the holy
mysteries: ‘Taste and see how good the Lord is.’” Cyril of Jerusalem

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