Would you believe it? In addition to the goods we ask for at Holy Mass, our good God grants us many others that we do not ask for. This is what St. Jerome tells us in the following words: "And what is even more admirable, he very often grants us even what we do not ask for, provided we do not hinder his generosity. "Absque dubio dat nobis Dominus quod in Missa petimus; et quod magis est saepe dat quod non petimus. (Div. Hieronym). Thus, it can be said that the Mass is the sun of the human race, which spreads its rays on good and bad, and that there is not a single soul in the world, however perverse it may be, who does not take advantage of attending the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and often without thinking about it or even making any supplication. (S. Hier., Cap. cum Mart. de celeb. Miss.).
Listen to the following event, which took place in very memorable circumstances, as referred to us by St. Antoninus, Archbishop of Florence Two young men, rather libertines, went out together one day for a hunting party. One of them had attended Holy Mass before, the other had not. While they were on their way, a violent storm suddenly arose, and in the midst of thunder and lightning, they heard a voice crying: "Wound, wounded! and then a lightning struck and killed the one who had not heard Mass that day. Terrified and beside himself, the companion was looking for a place to save his life, when he heard again the same voice that repeated: "Strike, strike!
who said, "I can't, because he heard the "Verbum caro factum est" today. The Mass he had attended that morning, therefore, saved him from such a terrible and frightening death.
Ah, how many times has our Lord preserved you from death or from very serious dangers by virtue of the Holy Mass you had heard! Saint Gregory the Great affirms it in his 4th Dialogue: Per auditionem Missae homo liberatur a multis malis et periculis. It is indisputable, says this wise Pontiff, that he who attends Mass will be freed from many evils and dangers, even unforeseen ones. Moreover, as St. Augustine teaches, he will be preserved from a sudden death, which is the most terrible blow that sinners must fear from divine Justice. Here, then, according to the doctrine of the Holy Bishop of Hippo, is an admirable prevention against the danger of sudden death: to hear the Holy Mass every day, and to hear it with the greatest possible attention. Whoever takes care to prevent himself with this very effective safeguard can be sure that such a frightful misfortune will not befall him.
There is a singular opinion, which some attribute to St. Augustine, namely, that as long as a person attends Mass he does not grow old, but during this time he retains the same degree of strength and vigor that he had at the beginning of Holy Mass. I will not be weary of knowing whether this is true or not; nevertheless, I affirm that if he who hears Mass grows old in terms of age, as St. Gregory says, he who attends Holy Mass with devotion is preserved in the good life, constantly grows in merit and grace, and acquires new virtues that make him more and more pleasing to his God.
To all this St. Bernard adds that one gains more by hearing a single Mass with devotion (understand this in terms of its intrinsic value) than by distributing all goods to the poor and by going on pilgrimage to all the most venerated shrines in the world. O immense riches of the Holy Mass! Meditate serenely on this truth: hearing or celebrating a single Mass with dignity, considering the act in itself and in relation to its intrinsic value, can be more deserving than if one were to dedicate all one's energies to helping the poor, more than if it were a pilgrimage until the end of the world, more than if he visited with the greatest devotion the shrines of Jerusalem, Rome, Santiago de Galicia, Loreto and others. This doctrine can be deduced from what the angelic doctor St. Thomas teaches, when he says: "That a Mass contains all the fruits, all the graces and all the treasures that the Son of God distributed in his Bride the Holy Church by means of the bloody sacrifice of the cross": In qualibet Missa.
Stop here for a moment, close the book and read no more, but gather in your mind all these precious utilities that the Holy Mass provides us with, meditate on them attentively, and then tell me: Will you still have any difficulty in conceding that a single Mass (an abstraction made of our dispositions, and only as regards its intrinsic value) has such efficacy that, as many Doctors affirm, it would be sufficient to save the whole human race? Imagine, for example, that Our Lord Jesus Christ would not have suffered death on Calvary, and instead of the bloody sacrifice of the cross she has instituted only the sacrifice of the Mass, and with the express precept of celebrating only one in the world. Well, this supposition being admitted, it is so understood that this one Mass, celebrated by the poorest priest in the world, would have been more than sufficient, considered in itself and as regards the merit of the external work, to attain the salvation of all creatures. Yes, yes, I do not tire of repeating it, a single Mass, in the above hypothesis, would be enough to merit the conversion of all the Mohammedans, of all the Hebrews, of all the Schismatics, in a word, of all the infidels and bad Christians: it would be enough to close the doors of hell to all sinners and to bring out of purgatory all the souls who are detained there.
Oh, how wretched we are! How much we restrict the sphere of action of the holy sacrifice of the Mass! How much it loses its useful efficacy by our lukewarmness, by our indevotion, and by the immodest candlepower we commit in attending it! How can I not stand on a high place to make my voice heard throughout the world, exclaiming: "Foolish peoples, lost peoples, what are you doing? How can you not run to the temples of the Lord and sensibly attend as many Masses as possible?
Do you not imitate the Holy Angels, who, according to the thought of the Chrysostom, on celebrating the Holy Mass come down to legions from their heavenly abodes, surround the altar covering their faces with their wings out of respect, and wait for the happy moment of the Sacrifice to intercede more effectively for us..." Because they know very well that that is the most opportune time, the most favorable juncture to obtain all the graces of heaven. And you? Ah! Shame on you for having done so little to appreciate the Holy Mass up to now. But what do I say? Fill yourself with confusion for having profaned so many times such a sacred act, especially if you were one of the number of those who dare to make this reckless proposal: A Mass more or less matters.
Saint Leonard of Porto-Maurice (1676-1751)
THE HIDDEN TREASURE OF THE HOLY MASS