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THE CHILD AT MASS

By

REV. GEORGE M. DENNERLE

THE PAULIST PRESS
401 West 59th Street

New York 19, N. Y.



f

Nihil Obstat

:

Imprimatur

:

Arthur j. Scanlan, S.T.D.,

Censor Librorum

-P Patrick Cardinal Hayes,

Archbishop of New York

Mew York, June 14, 1938.

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED IN THE U. S. A.

BY THE PAUL1ST PRESS, NEW YORK 19
,
N. Y.

Deaddlaef



THE CHILD AT MASS

Offering Gifts to God

BEL and Cain were brothers. They lived

long ago before cities were built. Abel

was a shepherd and had many sheep. Cain

was a farmer and grew many products on his

land. Abel was good, but Cain was not.

One day the two boys went out into the

field and each built an altar. They wanted

to offer gifts to God on their altars. Abel

offered the best of his lambs, while Cain of-

fered things he grew on his farm. They

burned their gifts on the altar as a sign that

they were offering them to God.

God was pleased with the gift of Abel, but

not with that of Cain. Do you know why?

God saw into their hearts. Cain was not giv-

ing his love with his gift, he was not anxious

to please God. Abel was most anxious to

please his Maker. He knew that all things

belong to God and he wished to show this by

offering his gifts. He also wanted to show

God that he was sorry for his sins.

This way of offering gifts to God is called

sacrifice.

Pag* Thraa



For a sacrifice you need an altar, a gift,

and a person to offer the gift. The person

who offers the sacrifice is called a priest. At

first the father or oldest boy was the priest

of the family. Later the priests were men

chosen by God to take the place of all the

people in offering sacrifice.

But you can see from the example of Cain

that our gift to God must come from a good

heart. For God wants our love more than

our gift, though He wants the gift too.

Many years after Abel and Cain had died,

there lived a holy man, who loved God, though

the people everywhere round him were very

bad. The man’s name was Noe. The people

of Noe’s time were so wicked that God said

He would destroy them all except Noe and

his family with a mighty flood. God saved

Noe in the ark.

After the flood waters had gone, Noe came

out of the ark. The first thing he did was to

build an altar. He offered to God some of

the animals he had taken into the ark by

burning them on the altar. He wanted to

show God how thankful he was that he had

been spared. That was the way he said

“Thank You” to God. And that was the way

he asked God for further gifts.

God was very pleased with Noe’s sacrifice.

Page Four



A king who offered gifts of bread and wine

He promised never again to destroy all the

people with a flood. The rainbow was to be a

sign of God’s promise.

After Noe’s time good people always of-

fered gifts to God to show that they loved

Him. They also offered their gifts to ask God

for favors, to thank Him, and to tell Him they

were sorry for their sins.

The gifts they offered were usually ani-

mals and other things that people eat. Natu-

rally these gifts were not good enough for

God. But they were the best that people had.

At last, God gave them a gift that was per-

Page Five



feet. It was His only Son Whom He sent into
the world.

Jesus Offers Himself to God

Jesus offered Himself to His Father all

during His life, but in a special way on the

cross of Calvary. Look at Jesus crucified!

His body is covered with wounds. See the

wounds of the scourging and those on His

shoulder from carrying the heavy cross. See

those in His hands and feet made by the nails

which fastened Him to the cross, and those of

His sacred head caused by the crown of

thorns.

Jesus hangs on the cross, fastened with

nails, and suffers the greatest of pains for

three long hours. Then He dies. Does Jesus

have to suffer and die? No, He offers Him-

self of His own free will.

He offers His body. His head is bowed,

His eyes are closed, His mouth is open—He is
dead.

He offers His blood. Drop by drop it falls

to the ground. The last drop comes from the

side that was pierced by the soldier’s lance.

He offers His power. He could have

helped Himself. He helped others, the sick,

the dead. But now He does not want to use

Page Six



this power for Himself. He allows His ene-

mies to make fun of Him. He offers all to

His Father.

The Sacrifice of the Cross

He offers His liberty. He is fastened to
«/

the cross as a prisoner. He moves neither

hand nor foot, though He could have come

down from the cross if He had wished.

Jesus offers Himself entirely on Calvary.

This is called the sacrifice of the cross. There

Page Seven



we see the three things needed for the sacrifice

—the altar (the cross), the gift (Jesus), the
priest (Jesus).

Jesus Offers Himself at the

Last Supper

The Jews had a great feast called the

Passover. At this feast they used to offer a

lamb to God. Jesus also celebrated this

feast with His Apostles. He celebrated it

with them for the last time the day before His

death. This is called the Last Supper.

At the Last Supper Jesus did something

very wonderful. He took bread into His

hands, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to His

Apostles with the words:

TAKE AND EAT; THIS IS MY BODY

Then He took the cup of wine, blessed

it and gave it to His Apostles, saying:

DRINK OF THIS; THIS IS MY BLOOD

And He added these words:

DO THIS FOR A COMMEMORATION OF ME

By the words “This is My body” Jesus

changed the bread into His own body. Jesus

was present there under the form of bread.

Page Eight



By the words “This is My blood” He
changed the wine in the cup into His own

blood. Jesus was present there under the

form of wine.

By the words “Do this for a commemora-

tion of Me” Jesus commanded His Apostles

to do what He had done. He told them to

change bread and wine into His body and

blood. He wanted them to do this so they

would remember Him.

Page Nine



At the Last Supper, Jesus

1. blessed bread and wine

and offered them to His

heavenly Father

—OFFERTORY

2. changed bread and wine

into His own body and blood

and offered Himself to His

heavenly Father

—CONSECRATION

3. gave His body and blood

to His Apostles

to be united with them

—COMMUNION

Page Ten



Jesus Offers Himself at Mass

Jesus said the first Mass at the Last Sup-

per. He told His Apostles to say Mass just

as He had done. The Apostles did as Jesus

told them to do, and before they died they

gave this same power of saying Mass to

others. Bishops and priests have this same

power today. They say Mass just as Jesus

did at the Last Supper. They

1. bless bread and wine

and offer them to God

—OFFERTORY

2. change bread and wine

into Jesus’ body and blood

and offer Jesus to God

—CONSECRATION

3. receive Jesus in Holy

Communion and give Him

to others

—COMMUNION
Page Eleven



When we are at Mass, it is the same as

if we were at the Last Supper and the same

as if we were beneath the cross of Jesus on

Calvary. It is the same Jesus Who offers

Himself. The priest we see at the altar is

taking Jesus’ place. He is offering Jesus’

body and blood to God.

The priest at the altar is also taking our

place. He is offering bread and wine to God

for us; he is offering Jesus’ body and blood

to God for us. We join our minds and hearts
with the priest at the altar and offer our gifts

to God.

We can say: “Dear God, I offer bread and
wine to You!” And later when the bread

and wine have been changed into Jesus’ body

and blood we can say: “Dear God, I offer

Jesus to You !” How wonderful to think that

we may offer Jesus to God the Father! This

is the best possible gift we could offer to God.

How pleased God must be!

And here are some little gifts of our own

that we may offer too:

Come on time to Mass

Keep our eyes on the altar

Keep our thoughts on prayer

Make our hearts ready to receive Holy

Communion as often as possible.

Page Twelve



What We See at Mass

Every sacrifice needs an altar. Abel and

Noe offered their gifts to God on altars which

they had made of large stones out in the open.

When Jesus offered Himself to His Father at

the Last Supper, He had an altar—a table.
Page Thirteen



When He offered Himself on Calvary the next

day, He had an altar—the cross.
So the priest today offers the Mass to God

on an altar. When you are present at Mass,

always keep your eyes on the altar. You will

notice that the altar usually has steps leading

up to it. It is raised up to remind us of Cal-

vary where Jesus offered His body and blood.

There is always a crucifix in the center to tell

us that the Mass continues Jesus’ sacrifice on

the cross. To the right and left you will see

candles. At least two must be lit whenever

Mass is said. Did you ever notice how the

candles burn? Shorter and shorter they be-

come. They burn for Jesus. If they could

talk, they would say: We are offering our-

selves to God. Sometimes you see flowers on

the altar. Their beautiful colors, their sweet

perfume are their gifts to God.

Do we act like the candles and the flowers

at Mass? We have gifts to make to God.

What are they? Just little things, like being

well-behaved in church, obeying our parents

and teachers at home and in school, being

kind to our brothers and sisters, getting along

with other children at play and at work. Per-

haps you can think of many more things.

Mass is to begin. Perhaps you heard the

bell announcing the priest’s entry into the

Page Fourteen



sanctuary. Maybe you saw the people stand-

ing up as the priest appeared.

The priest does not look the same as when

you see him on the street or in school. He is

dressed differently. He wears special gar-

ments which we call the Mass vestments.

They are worn only at Mass and they are quite

costly, because at Mass the priest does some-

thing very special, something very holy.

Page Rfteen



The priest is carrying something in his

hands. It is the chalice or golden cup, covered

with the veil. If you were close to the altar

you would see that the priest unfolds a square

linen cloth called the corporal, and places the

chalice on this cloth. He moves to the right

and opens the Mass book. The Mass book is

written in Latin, because Latin is the lan-

guage of the Church. All over the world most

priests say Mass in Latin.

The Mass book contains the prayers that

the priest says at Mass. It also tells him

what to do—the bows to make, the genuflec-
tions, the signs of the cross. The things to

do are printed in red ink. The prayers and

readings are in black ink. Many of the prayers

and readings are taken from the Bible. The

Bible is the word of God. So the Mass book

is a holy book. Notice that the priest kisses

the book at the end of the Gospel.

Though the Mass book which the priest

uses at the altar is in Latin, you can get one

that has the same prayers in English.

Wouldn’t you like to read the same prayers

the priest does when you are at Mass? When

you learn more about the Mass you can do

so. Ask your parents or your teacher about

the English Mass book or missal as it is called.

Page Sixteen



What We Do at Mass

We go to Mass not merely to pray. We
go to offer God our gifts. First we offer God

bread and wine and with them ourselves, our

mind, our heart, our will. But our gifts of

bread and wine are made perfect at the Conse-

cration. They become Jesus’ body and blood.

Page Seventeen



Then we can offer Jesus Himself to our Fa-

ther in heaven.

Perhaps you wonder how you do that when

you are kneeling so far away from the altar.

Remember the priest you see at the altar is

the one who holds our gifts of bread and wine.

He is the one who speaks the words of conse-

cration and brings Jesus to the altar. He

Page Eighteen



holds Jesus in his hands. He offers Jesus to

God for us.

At Mass we should watch the priest

closely. We should pray with him. We
should offer our gifts with him.

On the next pages you will see what the

priest says and does and what you should do

at Mass.

Page Nineteen



THE PRIEST OUR PART

Recites

Prayers at the foot

of the altar

Lord have mercy

Glory to God

Prayers of asking

We Pray

telling God we are sorr\

for our sins

telling Him we love Him

asking for the graces Jesu.'

earned for us

THE PRIEST

Reads

The Epistle

The Gospel

I believe

P«9* Twenty

OUR PART

We Learn

what Jesus has done for us

and what we are to do for

Him



THE PRIEST

Offers and prays

Offertory (Bread and wine)

The priest washes his hands

Secret prayers

OUR PART

We Offer

ourselves entirely to God

Bread and wine are our

gifts to show this

THE PRIEST OUR PART

Prays and offers

Holy, Holy, Holy

Prayer for the Living

Consecration (Jesus’

Body and Blood)

Prayer for the dead

We Offer

the best possible gift, Jesus

Himself

Who changed bread and

wine

into His own body and

blood

Pag© Twenty-one



THE PRIEST OUR PART

Prays and receives

The Our Father

Lamb of God

Communion

After-Communion prayers

We Receive

the best gift God could

give us

Jesus in Holy Communion

We are in God and God is

in us

THE PRIEST

The blessing

The last Gospel

OUR PART

We leave Mass as children

of God.

Jesus is with us, we should

be like Him.

Pag* Twenty-two



Why We Should Go to Sunday Mass

We honor God by going to Mass. The Mass

gives God the best, the highest honor.

We should be glad to honor God because
He is so powerful.

He made all things.

Page Twenty-three



We should be glad to honor God because
He is so good. He gives us everything

we have. He wants to make us happy

forever in heaven.

The sacrifice of the Mass is the best gift we

can offer to God.

It is infinitely better than the lamb Abel

offered to God.

It is infinitely better than the gift Noe of-

fered to God after the flood. It is the

best possible gift, because at Mass we

offer Jesus Himself to God the Father.
I

'

We receive great graces and blessings by go-

ing to Mass. Some of these graces are:

grace to make us sorry for our sins, to keep

us good, to make us better, to help us reach

heaven. Some of the blessings are : health,

kind parents, good brothers and sisters,

teachers who tell us about God.

We do a great amount of harm to our souls by

not going to Sunday Mass.

To miss Mass on Sundays or holydays through

our own fault is a mortal sin.

SI 'i

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