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.
