Focus on the Mass For Lent - “...And With Your Spirit!”

Over these past few weeks we've been taking some time to look at what we do and say at the Mass. Our hope is that, this Lent, we can become more conscious of what is happening every time we go to Mass so that it not only becomes a richer, more rewarding experience for us, but that we will be able to grow as Christians and be brighter lights of Christ's love for the world.

Last week we looked at the words “The Lord be with you!” and how God uses this greeting as an invitation to allow Him to do something great in our lives. This week we want to look at our response to this invitation. 

As Father says to us, “The Lord be with you” we respond to him with one voice, “And with your Spirit”. Why might we say this to Father Antony?

In the Mass everyone has different roles. As baptized priests, we have a role and Father Antony, our ordained priest, has a role. As the Mass begins Father reminds us that God has a great plan for us and we respond by reminding him that he, our ordained priest, also has a great role – God is about to ask him to take bread and wine and, through the Spirit, turn them into the Precious Body and Precious Blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.

This amazing action is something that no one else can do for us. It is something that no amount of seminary schooling, priestly formation or theological reading could possibly prepare Father Antony for. It is only in and through the Holy Spirit, and the unique gifts of the Spirit he received at his ordination, that ordinary bread and wine, in an extraordinary way, can become Christ for us.

As the Mass begins and we enter into this great exchange of “The Lord be with you/And with your Spirit” we are invited to remember that God has something great planned for us, and we must also remind Father that God has something great planned for him; making Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Savior, our eternally loving God, real and present in the Mass and in our lives so that we can transform the world.

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Countdown to Lent: Focus On the Mass - The Lord Be With You!

Gideon and the Angel - He Qi

As the Mass begins we make the sign of the Cross and then right away Father Antony says to us “the Lord be with you!” How often to we say this without giving much thought to where this comes from or why our Mass might begin with an exchange like this? Do we realize, for example, how much of our Mass - such as this phrase - comes to us from the Bible itself?

There are a number of stories in the Bible where this phrase is used. In most of those situations a messenger of God is speaking to someone who is about to be invited to take part in God's plan in some amazing way. People like Gideon in the book of Judges who didn't think he had anything special to offer to God. When he was visited by an angel of God and told he, as humble as he was, would save his people from their enemies the angel began by saying “The Lord be with you!”

God has a plan for all of us and He has a plan for you in your life. When you come to Mass God has big plans for you in your family, in your marriage, where you work, with your neighbours and he wants you to be an active part of those plans.

When we hear those words God wants us to take heart and know that He is with us in His Word, He is with us in our struggles, He is with us in our joys and, most importantly He is with us in the Mass.

As Mass begins Father Antony, a messenger of God, says to us “The Lord be with you” and as we receive the Eucharist, the Precious Body and Precious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, he is with us. Like he was with Gideon, like he was with Abraham, and with Moses, and like he was with Mary, our Blessed Mother.

When we hear those words “the Lord be with you” we should recall all of those who have gone before us and know with certainty that, yes, the Lord is with me and there is nothing I cannot do with him at my side.

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