"I declare, to me nothing is so consoling, so piercing, so thrilling , so overcoming, as the Mass, said as it is among us.
I could attend Masses forever and not be tired. It is not a mere form of words, it is a great ACTION - the greatest action that can be on earth.
I could attend Masses forever and not be tired. It is not a mere form of words, it is a great ACTION - the greatest action that can be on earth.
...So we, all around, ... each in
his place, with his own heart, with his own wants, with his own thoughts, with
his own intentions, with his own prayers, separate but concordant, watching what
is going on, watching its progress, uniting in its consummation; not painfully
and hopelessly following a hard form of prayer from beginning to end,
but like
a concert of musical instruments,
each differing but concurring in a sweet
harmony, we take our part with God's priest, supporting him,
yet guided by
him.
There are little children there,
and old men, and simple laborers, and students in seminaries, priests preparing
for Mass, priests making their thanksgiving; there are innocent maidens, and
there are penitent sinners; but out of
these many minds rises one Eucharistic hymn, and the
great Action is the measure and the scope of
it."
Excerpt
from Loss and Gain
- Bl John Henry Cardinal Newman's
first novel
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