The Mass

"The Mass is the summit towards which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the fountain from which all her power flows." The Mass is the source and summit of Catholic life. (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy - Article 10)

The liturgy is the privileged means
through which the baptized are continually immersed into the reality of the living God
through Christ’s paschal mystery in the power of the Holy Spirit
in the midst of the communion of the church and in our world
in a unique and yet provisional way
through the use of human faculties of mind, heart, will and imagination
as experienced through human speech, gesture, movement and silence
by means of the things creation and of human manufacture
in order to be shaped and formed by what we experience
to enable us to live lives more fully converted to the gospel and what the liturgy enacts in our world,
until liturgy and sacraments cease
and what we experience here is made full, real and complete in the kingdom of heaven.

Msgr. Kevin Irwin
Catholic University of America, Washington DC