Mass with Mary

How to Offer Holy Mass with, in, and through Mary

5 min read • by Fr. Emile Neubert & Edited by T.J.S.
Adapted from ‘Life of Union with Mary’

Statue of the Mother of the Eucharist and Grace

HOLY MASS

Our Blessed Mother has long been called the Co-Redemptrix because, at Calvary, she offered to God the sacrifice of her only Son, renouncing her own maternal rights over Him. The Church also understands Our Lady to be the Mediatrix of All Graces. She has been given charge over the graces of God, distributing them to her beloved children. St. Alphonsus Liguori said that Mary, our Mother, is the neck through which graces flow to us from the Head, which is Christ. With these beautiful truths in mind, we can gain a new appreciation for Holy Mass and seek full union with Mary, the virtue we pray for while meditating on the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin.

Holy Mass is one and the same Sacrifice as Calvary. At Calvary, Christ merited the redemption of all humanity, and at Holy Mass, those same merits are applied to men. Properly speaking, Mass begins with the Offertory. The prayers we say before the Offertory prepare us for this sublime Sacrifice. These prayers refer us to our Creator, to the Blessed Trinity, and to the saint or feast of the day. The Confiteor, or confession at the foot of the altar, is intended to purify us before the Sacrifice. In the Kyrie, we seek the mercy of the Blessed Trinity. In the Gloria, we give glory to the Holy Trinity. And in the Credo, we declare our belief in the three Persons and the principal truths of the faith.

MARY IN THE MASS

Uniting ourselves to the Blessed Mother, we acknowledge that it is through the Most Pure Virgin Mary that we are purified; through the Virgin Mediatrix, we petition for graces; with the chantress of the Magnificat, we glorify God; and with the Mother proclaimed blessed for having believed, we profess our faith. With her, we also recite the Epistle, the Gospel, and the Collects, which refer to the saint—one of her children—whom the Church honors that day.

THE OFFERTORY AND THE SACRIFICE

Then comes the oblation of the Sacrifice. We address the Father, just as the Mother of Sorrows addressed the Father in offering her Son. The Offertory is the presentation of the future Victim, who is made present at the consecration. It recalls the presentation of Jesus in the Temple by the hands of Mary. There is no doubt that Mary offered herself along with her Son at that hour of sorrow. “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done unto me according to Thy word.” Let us enter into her intentions by begging her to offer us to the heavenly Father also, as little hosts alongside the larger Host, so as to constitute, as she did, the one Victim with Christ.

We humbly beg God to receive the offering we make. While presenting our offering to the Holy Trinity, we do so by the explicit command of Holy Mother Church, “to honor the Blessed Mary ever Virgin” and other saints, seeking their intercession as well.

Before beginning the divine Sacrifice, it is necessary to thank the Father through Jesus Christ for all the graces and gifts He has given us through Him. The priest then intones the Preface, and she who improvised the most marvelous song of gratitude ever chanted unites her beautiful voice with the priest’s to offer the Father a hymn of thanksgiving, “truly worthy and just.”

Then we formulate our general intentions for the Church, the Pope, our bishop, and for all the living and dead—that is to say, the entire family of Mary.

We also add our special intention, which we ask Mary to present to the heavenly Father according to her views and not ours, and to join to them her own personal intentions.

Again, the Church recalls that in this divine Sacrifice we are in communion with the saints, “and in the first place with the glorious and blessed Mary, ever Virgin, Mother of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ,” and that we must here venerate her memory along with that of the Apostles and all the saints, imploring their assistance before God.

THE CONSECRATION

The most solemn of all moments arrives. Surrounded by a mysterious silence, the priest says slowly: “This is my Body.” The Word made flesh dwells among us; the Son of God appears on the altar as the Son of Mary. The priest continues: “This is the chalice of my Blood, of the new and eternal covenant—a mystery of faith—which shall be shed for you and for a great number.”

The Blood of Christ is present, mysteriously separated from His Body, in order to continue His death as Savior. Because she was on Calvary, Mary is present too, though in a different manner. And we are present with Him and with her.

The oblation of the divine Victim continues more urgently, more solemnly. Jesus remains before us in His crucified state until the moment of Communion, just as He hung on the Cross for three hours before His Mother, offering Himself to the Father in union with her.

In union with her, we continue to offer Him to the Father for the living and the dead and, particularly, for the sublime intentions of the Savior Himself in the prayer which He taught us. Because we know that Mary is close by, we have the firm confidence that the name of the Father will be more perfectly “hallowed,” that His kingdom shall more surely come, and that His will shall be accomplished more generously on earth as it is in Heaven.

For the third time since the Offertory, the sacred liturgy has us implore the intercession of “the Blessed Mary ever Virgin, Mother of God,” together with that of the Apostles and the saints, in order to obtain deliverance more completely from all evil and the fullness of the peace of Christ.

SUMMARY OF THE PARTS OF MASS

• Confiteor - We purify ourselves through the Virgin Most Pure.

• Kyrie - We petition for mercy through the Mediatrix of All Graces.

• Gloria - We glorify God with the chantress of the Magnificat.

• Credo - With the Holy Virgin, blessed for her faith, we profess ours.

• Readings, Collects - We recite Sacred Scripture with her and honor one of her children.

• Oblation - We address the Father just as the Mother of Sorrows addressed Him at Calvary.

• Offertory - We present the future Victim with Mary just as she did at the Presentation; and we offer ourselves as little hosts with and in Christ just as Mary offered herself at the crucifixion with and in Christ.

• Presentation to the Holy Trinity - We beg the Holy Trinity to accept our gifts by the command of the Church “to honor Blessed Mary ever-Virgin” and the other Saints.

• Preface - We intone the preface and Our Mother unites her beautiful voice to it.

• General Intentions - We pray for all of Mary’s family.

• Particular Intentions - We ask Mary to present our intentions to the Father according to her views, and to join her own intentions to them.

• Communion with the Saints - We venerate the memory of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints seeking their intercession.

• The Consecration - in the sacred silence the Son of Mary is made present on the Altar; and the adorable Blood of Christ is made present separated from His body, continuing His mystical death as Savior. Jesus and Mary are both made present in different manners.

• The Sacrifice - Christ, the Son of Mary is present in His crucified state, just as He hung on the Cross for three hours before His mother. In union with her, we continue to offer Him to the Father for the living and the dead and, particularly, for the sublime intentions of the Savior Himself in the Our Father. God is more perfectly hallowed because Mary is present and close by. Finally the sacred liturgy has us implore the intercession of “the Blessed Mary ever Virgin, Mother of God,” once again together with the saints, to obtain deliverance more completely from all evil and the fullness of the peace of Christ.