Don't be Too Quick to Answer

Read the following, which I found on the website of St. Luke's (Episcopal) Parish, Bladensburg, MD, soon to be departing for Rome.

Our Liturgy

"The Eucharist is above all else a sacrifice' (Dominicae Cenae, 9). It is one and the same sacrifice as that of Calvary; each day the priest stands on Golgotha as he offers the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (cf. John Paul II, Holy Thursday Letter to Priests, 1988, passim). This sacrifice of Calvary, which is permanent and definitive, the eternal source of man's Redemption, is perennially re-presented through the ministry of priests in a sacramental unbloody manner at the Mass. Thus Christ's definitive act of self-donation as Victim for our sins is made present to the faithful that they may offer themselves ever more perfectly in union with Christ the Mediator between God and man." -Rev. Augustine Mary Hedderman M.V.A.

Therefore, we can truly say with St. Thomas Aquinas, "The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the cross."

I wish every Catholic pastor would read that declaration then ask himself the following:

1) Do I agree with it?

2) If the answer is yes, do the Masses celebrated in my parish live up to it?