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At the Mass, we are present as Christ prays for us to be forgiven. When He is made Really Present at the Consecration, it is as though we have a pathway, in Him, through time and space, to be present to all He has done for us in His earthly life, supremely to the once-for-all Sacrifice of the Cross, on which He suffered to win forgiveness for sinners, including ourselves. By His Precious Blood, He sealed a new Covenant between Heaven and earth. By His Resurrection He conquered sin and death.

The new Covenant which Christ made between Heaven and earth was sealed by His own Precious Blood: poured out on Calvary, on the Cross. That very same Covenant is renewed as that same Sacrifice is re-presented before us at every Mass.

Christ invites each priest to renew his trust in Him. Even when a priest approaches the altar with heavy footsteps and a leaden heart, and feels so lacking in love or fervour that it's as if he is offering the Holy Sacrifice in a frozen waste, surrounded by snow drifts and icy winds, Christ never fails to come to the altar at the Consecration, as if leaning down from the Cross to say to the priest: Yes, I am here! I love you. You are doing My work, offering My Sacrifice. Persevere, and you will become joyful.

We pray, in the Mass, "Save us from final damnation". It is Jesus Christ who calls out from our altar, across the Abyss which separates earth from Heaven, and asks the Father to save those who are present, or who are associated with the Mass, for example sick members. The Faithful Departed are the other people helped by His sacrificial prayer. Catholics who refuse to attend regularly or at all, are refusing to be present as Christ prays for them. They condemn themselves, by their attitude.

In Christ's sight, a person shows lack of love and respect for Christ when he is unwilling to prepare for an intimate encounter with his Saviour and God in Holy Communion. That preparation, for all who have gravely sinned, should consist of seeking forgiveness in Confession, called the Sacrament of Penance. In a state of grace, a person approaches Christ as if clothed in a pure garment of holiness, not the filthy rags of unrepented sin.

A Mass is valid, even if a man in valid Orders is in a state of mortal sin; yet any priest who believes that he is not worthy, because of sin, to offer the Holy Sacrifice, should seek another priest and make his confession, and be washed clean of his sins, by the Precious Blood of Christ Who chose and called him.

We give glory to the Father, and fulfil His plan for us, through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Jesus Christ is made Really Present to us under the appearance of bread and wine, we are made present to His one Sacrifice, once offered on Calvary. It is re-presented here, so that we in our generation can benefit from its saving power and receive the "Sacrament of salvation".

During the Mass, the whole Church is united in praising God the Father, through, with and in Christ, in the Holy Spirit. All the Saints of Heaven are adoring the one true God Who has brought them to His heart, for all Eternity. We too can hope to enter Heaven if we receive the Sacrament of salvation, and remain faithful.

In times when even Bishops and priests become despondent about declining Church attendance, and opposition from outside, some desperately seek strategies for renewal. Though sensible plans can be made, the best way forward is to encourage everyone to be holy and faithful, in every circumstance. Simple members of the laity often practice this whilst leaders forget that the Church has always grown in one place, and declined in another, but cannot be destroyed.

The Living Word, Who is Christ, is as if waiting to meet us through our reading of Sacred Scripture. We can meet Him there, as well as in our prayer, our spiritual Communions, our visits to Him at the tabernacle, our gathering-together with fellow Catholics - and our supremely powerful and intimate union with Him during the Mass, in Holy Communion.

A Mass can be offered anywhere appropriate, even in a private house, with due respect and reverence. But a domestic setting should not be an excuse for informality, or disregard for the rubrics. Jesus Christ is no longer a carpenter, but King of Heaven, and glorious in His Majesty. It is better if there is room to kneel, as we adore Him, and offer His praise and His sacrificial prayer to the Father in Heaven.

Most Catholics have heard the phrase, "The Real Presence"; but few have thought it through. Those who do so are aware the Almighty God, the Son of God, chooses to be Really Present in a special, sacramental way, in each of our Catholic churches! Those who know this kneel, bow, and adore Christ. Those who don't know, or don't care, chat and laugh as if in a pub or a cafe.

Though we cannot see them, the other members of the Church, of Heaven and Purgatory, are united with us in praise of the Father, through Jesus Christ, at every Mass. We can take comfort from the truth, that we are already doing, on earth, in our prayer, what we hope to do in Eternity, when we are perfectly joyful in God's Presence.

Every Mass is a triumph of grace, no matter how weak we are. When we unite our thanks and praises, our sorrow-for-sin, and our petitions and intercessions, with Christ's great sacrificial prayer in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we can be confident that our prayer is successful, for it is Christ Himself, from our altar, Who lifts up our prayer, with His, and presents them to our all-holy Father, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Christ wants us to see this image, from Him, about the irreverence and silliness often seen in Church at what is a memorial of His Passion and Death! Those Catholics who wanted complete change in the Church after the Second Vatican Council tried to build a new road for everyone to follow, with changed doctrines and distorted attitudes; yet the one true Church continued to practice reverent worship, around them, and to teach truth in faith and morals.

On the evening of Holy Thursday, when we have gathered to celebrate the Mass of the Last Supper, Christ becomes Present amongst us; and He is touched to the heart by our devotion. We were not forced to attend; but we are aware of what He once suffered in His Passion, for our sakes. He is pleased that we prove our love by coming to be with Him in this special way.

Christ looks upon the faithful people who have come to the 'Mass of the Lord's Supper' on Holy Thursday: people only there because they love Him, Who suffered to save us. We touch His heart by our devotion, right up to the stripping of the altar, when we prepare to accompany Christ to Gethsemane.

We please Christ whenever we act to help and encourage priests in their vocation. We also please Him when we encourage those priests who love to celebrate the Mass in the Extraordinary Form. It is Christ Who has always loved the Mass He instituted, and also developed through His Spirit; and it is Christ Who has inspired Pope Benedict to allow priests the freedom to offer Mass in the Traditional manner.

The two forms of the Rite of Mass which have been given to us in the Western Church have both been given by Christ our God, Who wishes none of us to be partisan, despising what others prefer. Yet Christ, like many of His flock, sees the regrettable mistranslations in the older translation of the Novus Ordo; and the style of language in it that represents a different attitude towards the Godhead and the life of grace: not as reverent as the Extraordinary form suggests.

As generation succeeds generation, so one group of priests succeeds another group - as surely as a Big Wheel turns across the sky. Christ wants the priests in each group to be really united in love for Christ at the Mass, even if some prefer the Novus Ordo and others the Extraordinary Form.