Why Daily Mass?

    It is a rather idiosyncratic element of Catholicism that many Catholics attend daily Mass.  According to Canon Law it is not an obligation in any way, not even for priests. In fact, the obligation “legally” for Catholics is attendance at Sunday Mass, and a few select Holy Days of Obligation.  Happily, a recent article [for which I do not have a link] showed that many non-Catholics are striving to attend Sunday services while on vacation, though generally if a non-Catholic is away from his or her local church service they do not try to find a comparable service should they be away from home on a Sunday. Catholics are so used to attending Mass on Sunday that they will strive to find a local Catholic parish while at the beach, skiing, or even traveling in foreign countries.  This is a testament to the universality of the Catholic Church, since the same Mass is offered in every Catholic Church, regardless of language, culture or country.
    But let us return to Catholics and daily Mass. Usually, a given local parish will have at least one daily Mass. Attendance numbers vary by locality, but one can usually find a group of lay Catholics willing to show up and worship the Lord in the Mass for no other reason than a love for the Mass and the opportunity to receive Holy Communion.  Daily Mass is on average about 25 to 30 minutes long, at most, and may or may not have a homily/sermon.  What IS present at every Mass is the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, made present again for our benefit, and, more importantly, for the adoration of God.  Even in the prison camps of the gulag or the re-education camps of communist countries, priests would seek to obtain bread and wine for a simple offering of that Sacrifice in the midst of horrible conditions. Blessed Pope John Paul II wrote about some places where priests were outlawed in which the faithful would gather in their ruined churches and spend time in prayer together without a priest, laying an abandoned stole on the altar as a reminder of the Mass, and a painful symbol of what they were missing by not having the Mass. How spoiled we are in this country.  Heck, I have two Catholic parishes within 5 minutes of my house where I can go to 5 or 6 different daily Masses should I choose, depending on when I wake up in the morning; and there are a few others not more than 10 to 20 minutes away for even more opportunities.
    What is it about daily Mass that is so attractive to some Catholics?
    I’d like to ask this question in another way: what is it about most Catholics that they do NOT attend daily Mass, when it is so accessible and freely offered for a mere 30 minutes out of their day?  I’m more perplexed by that than the availability of the Mass for me.  I admit I need to be more grateful for what’s available, than confused by the lesser numbers of attendees.  But still. . .
    So, a simple daily Mass, with no singing, fewer readings, perhaps no homily, and a small number of people: What’s taking place?  The same sacrifice, the same glory to God, the same effectiveness for our salvation as the highest liturgy offered by the Pope in the splendor of Saint Peter’s Basilica. Jesus willingly and lovingly makes Himself present in the humble and simple elements of bread and wine. Good gracious, that’s amazing.
    But why go every day?
    At every Mass, on a daily basis, the readings are different, the prayers are different, the vestments, antiphons, Eucharistic prayer, the priest are different.  Even the hosts and wine brought to the altar are different.  And this is the key.
    The belief of the Church is that once a host is consecrated, Jesus Christ is really, truly and completely present. That host no longer is bread.  It IS the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ.  His presence remains even after the Mass is ended, and thus the need of the tabernacle, which holds the Divine Presence of Our Eucharistic Lord.
    During the Protestant reformation, the idea was put forward that Jesus is only present while the celebration was going on; afterwards, Jesus was not present, and so the hosts could be disposed of. This thinking was sadly reintroduced during the upheaval after Vatican II (but not because of Vatican II, let the reader take note), and so Eucharistic Adoration was frowned upon, if not positively prohibited.
    Yet, Jesus’ Presence continues after Mass, and so we bend our knees in adoration and love before the tabernacle, God’s abiding presence among us.
    But let us take note of something else.  And this is crucial, so to speak.
    Those hosts brought to the altar for the consecration by the priest are new every time.  One does not re-consecrate hosts. Take it another step forward. When we attend daily Mass, or even Sunday Mass, we bring our needs, prayers, sufferings, intentions, desires, and every other part of our lives to the Lord.  On any given day, these things in our minds and hearts are different, at least in their percentages. Some days are joyful and full of gratitude; other days are fraught with struggles and needs; most days are a mix of all of these things.  They are united to the bread and wine at the offertory, and made a part of the Sacrifice of the Lord.
    What we should take away from this truth is that when we bring these things in our lives to the Mass, they become God’s property, His possession, united to the Perfect Offering of Jesus to the Father. They are no longer “ours”. God takes them into Himself; they become His needs, desires, sufferings and thanksgiving. We and our petitions are transformed into God’s “treasury”, His concern. In a similar way to the truth that the hosts are no longer, and never will be, mere bread, so our intentions at Mass are no longer ours, but God’s. And He has a long memory for the offerings of His children.
    Every day is a new opportunity to adore and serve the Lord. Every day has its own trials, struggles and gifts. In daily Mass we unite unique sacrifices of our own to the One Unique Sacrifice of Jesus.  To quote Mother Teresa again, “The moment we give something to God it becomes infinite.”  This is true no other place more than in the daily celebration of the Mass of Jesus Christ.