The Mass: The Most Perfect Worship

     The Mass is the most perfect act of worship that man individually or the Church collectively can offer to God the Father. The Mass is the liturgical setting for the offering of the sacrament of the Eucharist, the “source and summit” of the Christian life (CCC 1324), and thus has a unique place in the Catholic Church. Nothing can take its place, nothing is comparable to it, and spiritual progress is impossible without it. This is due to the fact that in the Mass the very Person of Christ Himself is offered to the Father in the unbloody Sacrifice of the Altar. All theology surrounding the Mass, all liturgical practice regarding how it is to be carried out and all disciplines with regards to how we come to and participate in the Mass are derived from the reality of Christ’s divine offering of Himself through the Mass.