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The Story of the Mass

By Gerald Ellard, S.J. and Aloysius Heeg, S.J.

BO YOU like to get out of a cozy bed when every-where else it is very cold? Do you like to walk far
away from home when it is raining very hard? Of

course, you don’t. But on Sunday mornings what happens?

No matter what the weather is, all good Catholics get up
and go to church. Do you know why?

It is a beautiful story and just as true as it can be. It

is the story of the Mass, the sweetest story ever told. Do
you want to hear it? All right, we shall tell it to you.

But where shall we begin? Let’s see - - . The story

of the Mass is a love story. It seems that we can never

start it without first thinking of the way children love

their fathers and mothers. .

You know, every good child loves his father and
mother, and every good child tries to show his love for

them. He tries to show his love for them even before

he can talk. Just watch a little child and his mother.

See how he puts his arms around his mother’s neck. See
how he presses his little face against her cheek. That is
the way he shows that he loves his mother when he is

just a tiny baby.

As soon as a little child is able to talk, he tells his

father and mother he loves them. Sometimes he says,

“Look, mother, see how much I love you.’’ When
mother looks, he stretches out his arms as wide as he can.



AaA

A Present Is a Sign of Love
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HEN a child gets a little older he gives his mother a
|ill present. He tries to give her the best present he can.

He knows that a present is a sign of his love. When
a child gives his mother a beautiful bouquet of flowers, he

does not have to tell her he loves her. The bouquet is a

sign that shows that he loves her. He gathers that bouquet

and gives it to her just because he loves her.

But what do you think is the best present that a child

can give his mother to show that he loves her? Maybe

you would never guess. It is the child himself. Can the

child let himself be a present? And can he give himself to
his mother? Yes, he can, and many a child does. How?

By acting as if he really belonged to her. That means by

doing everything he can for her and just the way she wants

it. A child who gives himself to his mother in this way is
really giving her the best present he can. It shows best

how much he loves her.
Did your mother ever show you the ring your father

gave her before they were married? It is very pretty; isn't

it? But do you know why your father gave her that ring?

It was because he loved her, and he wanted to give her a

sign of his love. He loved her so much that he wanted to

give himself to her and to belong to her always. So he

gave her that beautiful ring to wear on her finger. That

ring is a sign of his love. When your mother looks at that

ring she remembers that your father loves her.

Copyright 1943 by Rev. Daniel A. Lord,

Devotional Publishing Company, 'New York,

Nihil Obstat Arthur J. Scanlan S.T.D

Imprimatur Francis J. Spellman, D.D.,

S. J., St. Louis, Mo.

N. Y. Litho in U. S. A.

. ; Censor Librorum

Archbishop, New York



What Shall We Give Our Father in Heaven

?

I
T IS easy to remember our father on earth, but some-
times we forget our Father in heaven. You see, be-
sides the different fathers for the different families on

earth, there is one Father for all in heaven. No matter how
young or how old we are, no matter when or where we

live, God is the Father of us all. He was the Father of the

first man on earth. He will be _the Father of every boy

and girl, and man and woman, until the end of the world.

God is a very good Father. He loves us more and takes

better care of us than the best father on earth. So we

should all love pur Father in heaven more than anyone else.

From the very beginning good people have tried to show

their love for God. They gave Him many gifts. They
knew that no gift could be too good for God. So they

tried and tried to find the best present there was to give to

God. They wanted a present that would be the very best

sign to show that they really loved Him. Would you like

to know what some of these presents were that people gave

to God long, long ago? All right, there’s just time enough

to tell you three fine stories.



The Gift That a King Gave

T
HE FIRST story is about the present that was given
to God by a king. This king had a long, hard name.

He was called Melchisedech. Melchisedech was a

good king. He really loved his people, and he really loved

God. He was so good that he loved God more than any-

thing else. Because he loved God more than anything else,

he wanted to give God the best present he could. He

wanted to give God a present that would be the very best

sign of his love.

What do you think his present was? You will be sur-

prised when you hear. It was just bread and wine! That

seems a strange present for the king to give; doesn’t it?

But the king was very smart. You see he lived in a land
where people did not have many things to eat and drink.

They lived on bread and wine. So maybe what the king

thought was this: “It is bread and wine that keep me alive.

If I give God my bread and wine, it will show that I love
God more than my life. It will be a sign that I love God
so much that I would even give Him my life.” So the
king did choose a very good gift; didn’t he? You see it

was such a fine sign of his love for God.





The Gift That a Shepherd Gave

igr
7^ UT LONG before Melchisedech, there lived a man

Irfcm named Abel. You heard of him before; didn’t you?
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He had a bad brother named Cain. Well, Abel was

a shepherd and had many sheep. He was very good. He

really liked his sheep and took very good care of them, but

he loved God more than his sheep or anything else. He

also wanted to show God how much he loved Him. So
what did he do? He tried to think of the very best present

he could give to God. And then what do you think he

chose? His very best lamb!

Abel loved that little lamb. It was so white, so clean

and spotless. “If I give this little lamb to God,’’ thought

Abel, “it will show that I love Him more than anything.

It will also show that I wish God to make my soul clean
and spotless like the little lamb. I will put the little lamb

on the altar and kill it there. That will show that I really

give it to God and will never take it back. It will be a

sign that just as I take the life of my little lamb, so God
may take my life if He wants it. I give myself entirely to
God.’’ So you see Abel’s lamb did make a fine present for

God; didn’t it? After that many people gave lambs as

presents to God.





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A Gift That God Asked For

T
HE THIRD story is about the present that was given
to God by a man named Abraham. This man was
very rich, and he had all that money could buy. But

Abraham had only one little child, a fine boy named Isaac.

Of course, he loved Isaac more than his money, or his flocks,

or anything he had. He loved Isaac so much that he

wouldn’t take the whole world for him. But how much

did Abraham love God? Did he love God as much as he

loved Isaac?

Well, to let Abraham show how much he loved God,

God asked him for a certain present. What do you think

that present was? It surprised Abraham very much, and

made him very sad. God asked Abraham to give Him his

only son Isaac. He told Abraham to place Isaac on an

altar and to kill him like a little lamb.

What did Abraham do? Did he tell God that he loved

Isaac more than anything in this world? Did he beg God

to take everything else instead? No. Abraham loved God

even more than he did Isaac. It would be awfully hard to

give up his only son Isaac, but because God asked him to

he surely would. So Abraham tied his dear boy and put

him on the altar. He would do just what God told him

to. But then, at the very last minute, God sent an angel

to tell Abraham to stop and not to hurt the good boy.





You see God did not really want Abraham to kill Isaac.

He just wanted to let Abraham show how much he loved

Him. When. Abraham showed that he was willing to

give up his son Isaac, that was surely a fine sign that

Abraham loved God more than anything else. God was

so pleased with this sign of Abraham’s love that He let him

keep Isaac. After this God blessed Abraham and Isaac

even more than before.

Now what do you think of these three presents? Which
one do you think pleased God most? Abraham’s? Yes,

Abraham’s present to God was a better one than the bread

and wine given by King Melchisedech. It was even better

than the lamb given by Abel. Abraham’s present was the

best. It showed best how much he loved God.



Why No Gift Was Perfect

^y’URELY God was pleased to see all these men try to
give Him the best gift they could. But, do you
know, not one of them gave a gift that was good

enough for God. You see, God is so good and so wonder-

ful that He should be given a perfect gift. Do you know
what a perfect gift is? A perfect gift is one that has nothing’
the matter with it, and is given in just the right way.

God was glad to see Melchisedech, Abel, Abraham, and

other men try to give Him a perfect gift, but He knew they

never could. Do you know why? It was because after
the first man disobeyed God no man could be perfectly

pleasing to God. You see, Adam was the father of all men,
and what he did he did for all of us. When he sinned he
spoiled things, not only for himself but for all of us. By

his sin he separated all of us from God. When he dis-
obeyed God, it was like putting up a big wall between God

and man. As long as that wall was there, no one could

do anything that was perfectly pleasing to God.

Before men could please God perfectly, someone had to

break down that wall. But that was something that no

one who was just a man could do. No one but God could
break down that wall. Would He do it for us? Yes, He

would and He really did. Do you know how He did it?
It is another beautiful story.



How God

Came to Help Us

I
T IS easy to remember when this story happened. Just
look at the calendar and see what year it is. If it says
“1943” means it is j us t 1 943 years ago that this

story happened. So what did the good God do about 1943

years ago? Because no one who was just a man could

break down that wall, God sent his only Son into the

world to break it down for us.
God’s Son is really God. He always was God, and He

always will be God. But when God the Father sent Him

into this world to break down that wall for us, His Son

became also a man. He was born of the Blessed Virgin

Mary on Christmas Day in the cave of Bethlehem. His

name is very holy. His name is Jesus Christ. He is really

God. He is really man.





Jesus Will Be

Our Perfect Gift

jrS SOON as Jesus came into the world, we had a
/ *1 present that was really good enough for God. He
7 ^ could be Our Perfect Gift to God. He could break
down the wall, and we could go to God and be with Him
forever.

Jesus Christ will be a very wonderful Perfect Gift. In

It will be all the nice things we saw in the gifts of Mel-

chisedech, Abel, and Abraham. Melchisedech’s gift, you

remember, was bread and wine, the food that kept him

alive. That gift had in it that fine sign of love. God

liked that si^n in Melchisedech’s gift, and so you will find

it in Our Perfect Gift. You will see how Jesus Christ is

given back to God under the signs of bread and wine.

Do you remember what was so nice about Abel’s gift?

It was that he gave God a little lamb that was so white,

so clean, so spotless. God liked that spotless lamb in Abel’s

gift. It showed how Abel wanted his sins taken away.

Will there be a lamb in Our Perfect Gift? Yes, when Jesus

Christ will be given back to God, He will be given back

as the true Lamb that takes away the sins of the world.

Abraham was willing to give God his only son Isaac.

This pleased God very, very much. Will there be an only

son in Our Perfect Gift? Yes, Jesus Christ is the only

Son of God the Father. His Father loves Him ever so

much more dearly than Abraham loved Isaac. Yet He will

let Him be cruelly put to death on the cross. By dying

for us Jesus will take away all sin, break down the wall

between God and man. and become Our Perfect Gift to God.





What Jesus Did at the Last Supper

iOU SEE now how God planned to have His only
\/ Son, Jesus Christ, become Our Perfect Gift. But

when was this Perfect Gift really offered to God for

the first time? It was when Jesus was about thirty-three

years old. It began when Jesus took that Last Supper

with His Apostles the night before He died. On the table
were some bread and wine, the very things which Mel-

chisedech gave as his gift to God. Jesus took some of that

bread into His hands, and as He did so the Apostles watched

Him. They saw Him bless that bread and say, “This is

My Body.” Then He took a cup of wine and said, “This
is My Blood.” When Jesus spoke these words, He changed
the bread and wine into His Body and Blood. After that

He said to the Apostles, “Do this.”

Do you know what Jesus meant when He said to the

Apostles, 'Do this”? Jesus meant that He gave the

Apostles the power to do what He just did. He wants

them to take bread and wine and say, “This is My Body
. . . This is My Blood.” And as soon as they say that,
the bread and wine will be changed into the Body and

Blood of Jesus, just as they were at the Last Supper.

The Apostles were the first priests. The power which

Jesus gave to them He will give to every priest even to the

end of the world. When Jesus said, “This is My Body
. . . This is My Blood,” He was saying the first Mass.
In that Mass He offered Himself as the Perfect Gift to God.

When He said to the Apostles, “Do this,” He gave us the

Mass to be Our Perfect Gift to God to the end of the world.





M
What Jesus Did On the Cross

T THE Last Supper when Jesus said the first Mass,
He offered up for us His death on the cross. He

died that very cruel death the next day. We now
call that day Good Friday. It was the day when Jesus

was so very, very good to us that He even died for us.

Surely there was nothing dearer to God than the life of

His only Son, Jesus. When Jesus gave His life for us, He

gave to Our Heavenly Father the best gift there could ever

be. It was the real Perfect Gift. Our Heavenly Father

was so pleased with It that that wall, which the sin of

Adam put between God and us, was broken down right

away. It did in a second what the gifts of Melchisedech,

Abel, and Abraham could not have done in a million years.

f i 1

What Jesus Does in the Mass

T
HE GIFT which Jesus gave to His Heavenly Father
when He died on the cross is so wonderful that there

is nothing like It in the whole world. Yet this same

wonderful Gift is offered to God in every Mass. Jesus

died only once, but His death was so precious a gift that

we can keep on offering It to God to the end of the world.

Ever since the Last Supper priests have the power to offer

this Perfect Gift every time they say Mass. And every

time this Perfect Gift is offered in the Mass, God in heaven

is just as pleased as when Jesus gave it while dying on the

cross.





Our Perfect Gift On the Altar

T
HIS, then, is what happens during Mass. The priest
uses the power that Jesus gave at the Last Supper.

By changing bread and wine into the Body and
Blood of Jesus, the priest really brings Jesus down upon

the altar. There on the altar, Jesus is the true Lamb of
God who died on the cross to take away our sins. He is
Our Perfect Gift. God in heaven loves Jesus ever so much

more than anyone can say. During Mass Jesus offers Him-

self to God, the priest offers Jesus to God, and we offer

Jesus to God. Nothing could be more pleasing to God.

It is the Perfect Gift. It is a perfect sign of perfect love

of God.

But God loves us more than we love Him. He will not

keep Jesus all to Himself. In every Mass God also makes

Jesus His Gift to us. The priest receives Jesus in every

Mass he says. We receive Jesus as often as we go to Holy
Communion. In Holy Communion we see how much God

really loves us. In Holy Communion we are more closely

united to God than even Adam was before he sinned. God

loves us so much that He comes right into our heart.

During Mass we can offer many gifts to God and God

gives many gifts to us. But the best gift that we give to

God is Jesus dying for us on the cross, and the best gift

God gives to us is Jesus in Holy Communion.





We Give Our Perfect Gift to God

T
HEN we have the Perfect Gift all ready to be given.
God looks down lovingly from heaven. All the
people pay strict attention. They see the priest,

who acts for them all, take up the Perfect Gift and give It

to God. Then all the people join in their hearts in singing

their song of love for God. With the priest they all to-

gether give God the Perfect Gift of His only Son.

God Gives His Perfect Gift to Us

BURING Mass God is pleased to see how we love Him.He is glad to see how we give Him the Perfect Gift.And now God wishes to show His great love for us.
He also wants to give us something very fine. So what does

the good God do? He lets us receive in Holy Communion

the Perfect Gift that we have just given to Him.

We go to the Communion rail. The priest lifts high
the Perfect Gift and says, “Behold the Lamb of God: behold

Him who takes away the sins of the world.’’ Then the

priest brings the Perfect Gift to the people at the Com-

munion rail. The Perfect Gift still looks and tastes like

bread. But It is not bread; It is Jesus.

Jesus is the only Son of God. Jesus is the true Lamb of

God who takes away the sins of the world. Jesus comes

under the form of bread. He comes as the food of our

soul. He comes as the guest of our heart. He comes as

our all-good God. He comes to unite Himself with us

His children.

When we leave the church, we are like little churches

ourselves. Our hearts are tabernacles into which has come

the good God Himself. He comes that we might live united

with Him. -

O, how good God is! That is the story of the Mass.