The Mass: A Perfect Prayer

God relates to us and saves us not as isolated individuals, but as members of His people. For this reason, praying with other Christians and with the Church in communal prayer is as necessary for spiritual health and growth as having personal prayer time. Personal prayer is a Christian's lifeline to God, but it is also a preparation for prayer with the community of God's people - the Church.

In communal prayer, we come together as God's people to fulfill our most exalted task - to worship and praise our Creator as a united body. Jesus gave the great example of communal prayer when He gave us the Lord's Prayer, in which Jesus taught us to address God as "Our Father". The "Our Father" has been described by Tertullian as 'the summary of the whole gospel', and St Augustine claimed that no biblical prayer was missing from the Lord's Prayer. It is no wonder therefore that this example of communal worship is an essential part of the liturgy and prayed in Mass.

The liturgy is the official communal prayer of the whole Church. The central liturgical celebration of the Church is the Mass itself.

The "once and for all" sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary and his bodily resurrection from the dead and glorious ascension into heaven are not only commemorated in the Mass, but are actually made present in sacramental form (the Holy Eucharist), as well as in the person of the priest who acts in Jesus' name and by His authority. Christ is also present in the Word "since it is he himself who speaks when the holy Scriptures are read", and in the song and prayer of the people of God, for He promised "where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them". Thus it is the whole community of the church, united with its head that celebrates the liturgy - "an action of the whole Christ" (CCC1136).

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