The Parish Church: a holy place where God meets His people.
Why Did Christ Establish the Mass? One way to answer this question is to think about the relationship between time and eternity. We live within time, but our salvation comes from the eternal life of God. The Mass is where these two realities meet. At the Last Supper, Jesus did more than leave His followers a way to remember Him. He established the Eucharist so that the saving power of His Death and Resurrection would remain present in the life of the Church throughout history. When He said, "Do this in remembrance of me," He instituted a sacred action through which believers of every age could participate in His saving work. The Mass does not repeat Christ's sacrifice on Calvary. Christ offered Himself once and for all upon the Cross. Yet because He lives forever as our High Priest, the Church is able to participate in that one eternal sacrifice through the Eucharist. In every Mass, we are drawn into Christ's offering of Himself to the Father. This is why the Mass is ...