Dear beloved sisters and brothers in Christ,
The past weekend, 37 children received their First Communion at Nativity. To help our guests and visitors understand why communion was so important, I made some comments during the Sunday Mass to explain that the Mass is like a wedding banquet.
As a banquet is the celebration of the wedding of a man and a woman, the Mass is a celebration. We celebrate the memorial of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He offers himself in sacrifice to the Father for the salvation of world. This is worth celebrating!
Like a wedding banquet, we dress-up for Mass. The boys wore white suits and white ties, and the girls wore white dresses and hair pieces. They looked stunning. (Every time they wear their First Communion clothes to Mass, they get another party, right?) On the other hand, if you can wear it to the beach, wear it to the beach. Every Sunday is special. Special clothes for a special day.
A wedding banquet has to have music, maybe a DJ or band, and everyone has to sing, “Sweet Caroline.” At Mass, we sing. When we sing once, we pray twice. We sing with the angels in heaven. You say you can’t sing? Louis Armstrong said, “If you can walk, you can dance. If you can talk, you can sing.” Give to God the voice he gave you and make a joyful noise!
The best man offers a toast at the wedding banquet and talks about the groom. The maid-of-honor does the same for the bride. During the Mass, we talk about the bridegroom, Jesus Christ, and his bride—us! The scripture readings are about the marriage between heaven and earth.
After the homily, we set the table with bread and wine. Then we say grace. Instead of the table grace, “Bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts which we are about to receive, through Christ our Lord,” the priest leads the assembly in giving thanks how God created us in love and redeemed us in Christ.
We remember in the eucharistic prayer how Jesus took bread and said, “This is my body.” He did not say, “This is like my body,” or, “This symbolizes my body.” God is love. He feeds us with what we really hunger for—love! He gives us himself through communion so that we live in love.
In a wedding, a man and woman make three promises. They promise to be faithful to each other, all the days of their life, and open to children. They celebrate their three promises at the wedding banquet. They consummate their promises when the two become one flesh.
Communion makes us one. The word “communion” literally means, “union with.” Communion consummates our life in Christ so that we live in communion with God and his people.
The father of the bride pays for the banquet. The guests pay nothing. In the same way, the Lord provides the Mass. He gives us himself, body and blood, soul and divinity, as pure gift.
After eating at a wedding banquet, we don’t run out the door with a handwave, “Thanks for the chicken, have a nice honeymoon.” That’s rude. At Mass, there’s a proper goodbye after communion. The priest gives a final blessing and dismissal.
A wedding is a beautiful day. The bride looks like a princess in her white dress, the guys are cleaned up and handsome in their tuxes. As beautiful as a wedding is, the real beauty is when the bride and groom live out their promises as husband and wife, to love and honor each other all the days of their lives.
As beautiful as the Mass may be, the real grace is when we live what we have celebrated and go in peace to glorify the Lord with our life. For this we can say, “Thanks be to God!”
Blessed Easter,
Father David