Chapter Talk - 2 September 2015 Br. Philip

Nunraw Abbey sign - roadside Last Supper 

Chapter Talk - 2 September 2015

Br. Philip

The Mass and Monastic Life

At every liturgical function Jesus, Head of the Church, is present with His whole mystical Body, offering praise to the Father and sanctifying the souls of men.

Therefore it is clear that in the Liturgy we find Jesus as our Redeemer and Sanctifier. But it is above all in the mass, which is the very heart of the Liturgy, that we discover Christ Himself and ourselves in Him

The mass, particularly the Conventual m. ass, is the very heart of the monastic life, because in it the monastic community and all the persons who go to make it up, unite with Christ the High Priest in the very Mystery of His great Redemptive act which is made present upon the altar. At every mass, Christ Is present to us as immolated and risen from the dead and the Church is immolated and rises with Him. At every mass, the new life of the Spirit, the life of the sons of God, is renewed in us as we participate in the sacrifice of the Divine High Priest, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

The Mass is the very heart of our monastic sacrifice of ourselves to God. At every mass and Communion we have the very essence of our monastic immolation of ourselves with Christ. At the Consecration we bow down and renew our total surrender to the will of God in and with Jesus Crucified. At mass we enter into the holy of holies, the sanctuary of Heaven with him. At mass, the whole Body of Christ stands before the face of the Heavenly Father and adores His infinite holiness, makes perfect reparation for all sin, thanks Him for all His gifts and above all thanks Him for His great glory. In so doing, the Church also petitions Him for mercy and for grace and for all the temporal blessings that we need in order to live as the children of God. Above all, in Communion we are sacramentally united to the risen and glorified Saviour, the principle of our life "in the Spirit". We are also united to each and other more closely in the "Spirit of Christ" because by our Communion we grow in charity.

It is in the Mass and Liturgy that we are most truly and perfectly monks, because it is there that we most fully live our life in Christ, finding Him whom we have come to seek, submitting in and with Him to the Father's will.

Cf. Thomas Merton, ocso.