The Two Chalices
By Debby Kellner
My first real memories of Mass are from Catholic grade school, where we would attend Mass once a week as a class. On occasion, I would be asked to read or take up the gifts. A few students would even play the music. All of us prepared at home and then practiced the readings in church a few days before our class Mass. It got me thinking about my participation at Mass now.
Although I don't participate as a reader, greeter or extraordinary Eucharistic minister, it is still very important that my heart and mind are focused and trying to engage fully in the Mass. As a child, my focus was on the song or paying attention to the homily if Father asked us questions. I really didn't understand the prayer and sacrifice that the Mass is. Mass is for us to worship God, to give of ourselves back to the One who gave everything. Mass is the ultimate prayer, because God shows His all-consuming love for each of us through Christ's Sacrifice to the Father. The depths of God's love for each one of us is unmeasurable, unfathomable! His heart burns for love of us despite the thorns that surround it as depicted in the image of the Sacred Heart.
As spouses or parents, we know that love comes with sacrifice. Sometimes it comes doing an errand for your husband or attending an event in which you have no interest. It might be staying up late at night with a sick child or helping your kids learn to drive. We expect that there will be sacrifices in life. And yet I realized recently that I don't really have the same expectation of love and sacrifice in my relationship with God. Yes, I truly believe He loves me with all my flaws, my loudness, my desire to be in control, but throughout the week, I complain about inconveniences or put off prayer time until bedtime and so few prayers actually get prayed. Gift of self is what true love is. We give of ourselves in small and large ways in our daily lives. Cooking a meal to feed our family, taking an aging parent to a doctor's appointment, preparing a presentation for work, and offering a few prayers. In these activities, there is sacrifice and love.
If I want to get more out of the Mass, my focus is on me, not what I can give God. If I want to get more out of Mass, my focus is on how I can love Him better, and how I can pray better. In reading Edward Sri's book, A Biblical Walk Through the Mass, he states “In the Mass, we can join all our joys and sufferings with Jesus' offering of Himself to the Father, and in so doing, we offer ever more of our own lives as a gift to the Father.” ( p. 137) I am reminded to bring these daily tasks of the week to the Lord. To give it all...the good, the bad and even the ugly. At Mass, the small prayers in the Worship Aid help to keep me better focused and the songs are beautiful prayers offered to God. I cannot go to Mass often during the week, but I can offer my day with a simple “Lord, I give You this day and I unite it to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.” I am trying to remember to offer at least a spiritual communion daily. St. Teresa of Avila wrote, “When you do not receive Communion and you do not attend Mass, you can make a spiritual Communion, which is a most beneficial practice; by it the love of God will be greatly impressed on you.” A spiritual Communion is a prayer that expresses your belief in Jesus’ true presence in the Eucharist and asks for you to be united with Him. A short version might be “Jesus, please come into my heart.” There are other versions of this prayer. One can be found in the blue prayer book in the pews at St. Max. Even though a spiritual Communion is not the same as sacramentally receiving Jesus in the Eucharist, we gain graces by inviting our God to dwell in us spiritually. St. Catherine of Siena had a vision of two chalices. Our Lord explained that in the gold chalice were her sacramental Communions and in the silver chalice were her spiritual Communions.
Reflecting on the Mass helps remind me of the precious gift it is. In the Mass, Christ offers Himself to the Father and gives Himself to us in Holy Communion. He provides the graces so I can love Him better and join my sacrifices to His. We share in this prayer, the Mass, together. It is truly a family meal, us, God's children, sharing in His banquet. God gives us the most important food we will ever eat, the gift of Himself in the Body and Blood under the appearance of Bread and Wine. Spiritual food to sustain us on our journey throughout this life to our home that awaits us in Heaven.