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10 Focus
The Source and Summit of the Christian Faith
In a few weeks’ time the Catholic Church will experience a biannual phenomenon! As at Easter, the Christmas
Eve and Christmas Day Masses are likely to be full to capacity. There will be some non-Catholics and visitors
in the congregation, there will be those who go to Mass every week come rain or shine, but there will also
be many Catholics who only come to Mass on this great Feast and sadly will not be seen again until they
attend Mass on the even bigger Feast of Easter.
The Catholic Church describes the Mass as “THE SOURCE AND SUMMIT OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH” and
for the benefit of its members places a grave obligation on them to attend Mass every Sunday, unless they
have a grave reason why they cannot come, eg, frailty of age or sickness, impossible distance, treacherous
weather, an unavoidable and essential duty to care for someone. Making the effort to come to Sunday Mass, or a Saturday Vigil
Mass, begins our fulfilment of keeping the first and third of the Ten Commandments, ie, to love God with all our heart, mind,
body and soul, which is true worship, and then to keep the Sabbath Day holy. Attending weekly Mass continuously reminds us
that although we are sinners, for we do not always love God or our neighbour as much as we should or could, God never stops
loving us. The Mass is proof of God’s unconditional, enduring, perfect love because it makes present, again and again, that same,
definitive act of perfect love made by His Son, Jesus Christ, on the Cross of Calvary. There, He freely sacrificed His life for our
sakes, knowing full well we could never fully understand such extravagant love, never to love Him back in the same measure and
never be able to thank Him adequately.
In sacrificing a few minutes of our time by coming to weekly Mass, we enjoy the privilege of standing at the foot of the Cross to
hear, in our hearts, what Jesus Christ, in His dying breath, said to each one of us, “l LOVE YOU”. In the presence of Love Himself
we receive that necessary help to love others as He loves them, with patience, forgiveness and with all our heart. Coming to
weekly Mass measures and demonstrates the level of our maturity, of which one hallmark is the ability and willingness to
acknowledge what others have done for us and to recognise the need to say, “thank you”. Every Mass celebrates not just the
Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross but also His Resurrection. By coming to Mass, we are also privileged to be in the company of the
Risen Christ Who now comforts us with the sure hope that we and our loved ones, if we want it, will share in that same victory
over death one day.
It is good to see so many “twice-a-year” faces at the Christmas Masses, but do not miss out on what Mass, every Sunday, offers us.
Wishing you all a very holy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.
Canon Peter Connor OFS (Catholic Parish Priest of Danbury and South Woodham Ferrers).
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TRADITIONAL CAROL
SERVICE
Holy Trinity Church
Trinity Square, CM3 5JX
2pm
Tuesday 17 th December!
All welcome
Tea & biscuits after the service
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