Vatican City, Nov 22, 2017 / 03:40 am
On Wednesday Pope Francis said that when we attend Mass, it is as if we are approaching Jesus on the Cross at Calvary, and that at every Eucharist we not only experience Christ's redemption, but we participate in it.
"When we go to Mass, it is as if we go to Calvary, the same," Pope Francis said Nov. 22. "This is the Mass: to enter into this Passion, death, Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus."
When we enter the church for Mass, we should think to ourselves: "I enter Calvary, where Jesus gives his life for me," the Pope continued, saying he is sure we would respond to this "in silence, in weeping," and also with joy, because we have been saved from death and sin.
At the general audience, Pope Francis continued his new catechesis on the Mass and the Eucharist by reflecting on what he said is the essential element of every Mass – that it is a "memorial of the Paschal Mystery of Christ."