If you could see what I hear.

In 1982 a movie came out that starred Marc Singer portraying the life of a blind musician named Tom Sullivan. It was a light-hearted romantic comedy called “If You Could See What I Hear”. There are many places where I envy the blind. They can’t judge a person by the color of their skin. When they fall in love they don’t do so solely based on physical appearance. The sighted sometimes miss experiencing the full beauty of something because we are limited to only what we can see.

When we attend Mass we offer God worship and sacrifice together with our fellow parishioners, visitors, and the celebrants. It is our family gathering, our little corner of heaven. For God it is so much more. God is eternal, meaning he exists outside of time. A more correct statement is that God is existence and time dwells within him. There is no yesterday, today, or tomorrow with God. There is only the “now”. There are no 8:30am, 10:00am, 11:30am, 1:00pm, or 4:30pm Masses for God. There is only Mass (note – singular).

The Catholic Mass is unique. It is not a new sacrifice. It is not an additional sacrifice. It is commonly said that it is the bloodless representation of the one and only sacrifice Jesus made once for all. The Mass is a time machine joining all Masses, every Mass that ever was and every Mass that will ever be, to the original Mass, the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus on the cross at Calvary. If we could see with our eyes the invisible reality that is actually taking place we would see all of the angels and saints and every person who ever celebrated a Mass gathered at Calvary surrounding our Lord. We are joined with our loved ones who preceded us in this life as well as those who have yet to be born. When I attend Mass I am supernaturally joined with not only my grandparents and their grandparents but I am also joined with my grandchildren and their grandchildren. If eyes could only see the majesty of the reality that surrounds us.

God does not hear a billion individual Masses. God hears Mass offered by billions at one time. Close your eyes and listen with the ears of your heart. When you hear billions of people say, “Amen” all at the same time it will shake you to your core. To hear all of God’s creation proclaim “I believe…” in one voice will give you a new understanding of what the Universal Church really is. If you could see what I hear you would begin to understand just how truly powerful the Mass really is.