Father Nicholas Nelson: What is Christian worship?

Handing on the Faith 

First, what worship is not. There are three common misunderstandings. 

First, Christian worship is not activism. Activism is the error that says I need to actively be doing something, that in order to be engaged in worship, everyone needs to be doing something actively at the Mass. This error believes that everyone needs to be either an usher or lector or in the choir or an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion or an altar server, etc. 

Second, it is not an expression of emotion. This is a more Protestant concept of worship. It’s the idea that I need to express my feelings and emotions for God. The higher I raise my hands, the louder I sing, that means my worship is better and more perfect. It’s the idea that I need to feel something in order to be worshiping. 

Third, it’s not about “getting something out of it.” This may be the most common view for Catholics. I go to Mass to get something out of it. I go to hear a good message and get my Communion. God wants me to go so that I get something good out of my going. 

But Christian worship isn’t any of these. Rather, Christian worship is the offering of a sacrifice to God. The best name for what we do at church is offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. On the cross on the Mount Calvary, Jesus offered himself in sacrifice on our behalf to God the Father. The infinite and perfect God offers himself for the salvation and redemption of the world. 

And he gave us a way of perpetually offering that same sacrifice. He instituted a ritual, a rite, a sacrifice, to continuously make present that once and for all sacrifice. At the Last Supper, he said, “Take and eat, this is my body given up for you.” “Take and drink, this is my blood shed for you. Do this in memory of me.” 

So Christian worship is primarily about offering this sacrifice. And as people in the pews, it’s about participating with the priest in an action. You are baptized into Christ’s priestly ministry. So for you, your role is to intentionally offer this sacrifice along with the priest. It’s about making an act of the will to unite yourself with the priest. 

Jesus gave us the Mass for two reasons. First, we have a need to offer sacrifice. It’s what we owe God. The virtue of justice is about giving to another what is their due. And the virtue of religion is specifically about what we owe God. And as our Creator, we as creatures owe God sacrifice, offering God something of value. There is something deficient in us if we don’t offer God sacrifice. 

Secondly, by offering this holy sacrifice of the Mass, we are sanctified and made holy. Jesus won all these graces by his own passion, death, and resurrection. But they need to be applied to us. So, he gave us the Mass as the instrument to merit all the graces and blessings we need to grow in holiness. 

The Mass is the same sacrifice that took place on Calvary, except for two differences. First of all, it is unbloody. The Mass is a making present of Christ’s sacrifice in a nonviolent and not physical way. We aren’t killing Jesus again. But the double consecration of the bread and wine symbolizes the death of Christ — the separation of blood from flesh. 

Secondly, as I mentioned above, Jesus unites us with himself. It was Christ alone who offered himself on Calvary. At the Mass, he unites us, his mystical body (we are made part of his body at our baptism). At the Mass, He unites us to himself as both priest and victim. 

So, the next time someone says to you that she doesn’t go to Mass because she doesn’t get anything out of it, tell her, “Well that’s OK. Because it’s not about you. It’s about God. The purpose of the Mass isn’t to get anything out of it.” 

And that is actually a very freeing disposition to live with. When we are focused on God and rendering him right worship, then we aren’t concerned about ourselves and it doesn’t matter what’s in it for us. 

This is why I believe offering the Mass ad orientem is so important. Ad orientem is when both the priest and all the people face the same direction when the priest is addressing God. Ad orientem best signifies or best expresses the fact that the Mass is an offering to God. When he is facing with the people in the same direction, it’s easier to grasp that everyone is offering a sacrifice to God. 

Most of our experiences at Mass have been the priest always facing the people. When he does that, it’s difficult to grasp that the Mass is a sacrifice offered to God. 

“Know, O Christian, that the Mass is the holiest act of religion. You cannot do anything to glorify God more, nor profit your soul more, than by devoutly assisting at it, and assisting as often as possible.” – St. Peter Julian Eymard. 

A rediscovery and appreciation of the Mass as a sacrifice will bear great fruit in your life and in the life of the church. 

Father Nick Nelson is pastor of Queen of Peace and Holy Family parishes in Cloquet and vocations director for the Diocese of Duluth. He studied at The Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Rome. Reach him at [email protected].