{"id":7721,"date":"2026-09-01T08:00:05","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T00:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=7721"},"modified":"2026-07-27T09:00:50","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T01:00:50","slug":"362-we-go-to-mass-for-the-dismissal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=7721","title":{"rendered":"363. We Go to Mass for the Dismissal"},"content":{"rendered":"

23\u00a0<\/sup>For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread,\u00a024\u00a0<\/sup>and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, \u201cThis is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.\u201d\u00a025\u00a0<\/sup>In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, \u201cThis cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.\u201d\u00a026\u00a0<\/sup>For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord\u2019s death until he comes.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

27\u00a0<\/sup>Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord.\u00a028\u00a0<\/sup>Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup.\u00a029\u00a0<\/sup>For all who eat and drink without discerning the body eat and drink judgment against themselves<\/span>. [1 Cor 11:23-29<\/span>, NRSV<\/em>]<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Every Christian is called to help build the kingdom of God on earth as in heaven. Every Christian is called to mission. The Church is missionary in nature.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Sunday congregation knew that the preacher was not being absurd when he said in his homily: \u201cThe Eucharist is not meant for devotion\u2026<\/em><\/strong>\u201d On his recent annual visit to Kuching for mission appeal, this seasoned missionary priest of Malaysian origin serving in Kenya called Fr Francis chose to say \u201cnot\u201d; he did not say \u201cnot just\u201d. But the congregation knew better than to accuse him of diluting the power, the attraction and the beauty of the Blessed Sacrament. They knew he aimed to challenge them to think and, if so challenged, to act in accord with the kingdom-building mission of the Lord Jesus Christ instead of resting content adoring Jesus in the Eucharist and doing nothing else, imagining themselves holy. For otherwise, their \u201cdevotion to the Eucharist\u201d risks being quite empty. Every Christian is called to help build the kingdom of God on earth as in heaven. Every Christian is called to mission. The Church is missionary in nature. After celebrating every Christmas, believers must know that the work of Christmas begins.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>The Lord came to serve, so are disciples expected to serve<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The celebration of the Eucharist is the best corporate prayer of the Church. The Eucharist is \u201cthe source and summit of the Christian life\u201d (Lumen Gentium<\/em>, 11; CCC, 1324). The faithful, however, may be a little less conscious at Sunday Services about the Eucharist being Christian life itself. They are perhaps even less conscious that we have the opportunity to attend Mass, precisely because Christ Jesus had died for us on the cross to offer his life \u2013 his body and blood<\/em> – to nourish and inspire his disciples as pilgrims of hope.<\/span><\/p>\n

In all this, we would be people suffering from serious amnesia if we forgot that the Lord Jesus \u201ccame not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many<\/em><\/strong>\u201d (Mark 10:45). Towards the end of his public ministry, as the Lord gathered his close disciples for a farewell dinner (\u201cthe Last Supper\u201d), he sacramentally symbolized his sacrifice through the offering of bread (his \u201cbody\u201d broken to be shared<\/em>) and wine (shed for the new covenant<\/em> in his \u201cblood\u201d). Enshrined in Mark 14:22-25, Luke 22:18-20, Matthew 26:26-29, and 1 Cor 11:23-25, what the Church later describes as the Institution of the Eucharist is a powerful call to all disciples to learn to live a life of service and sacrifice in memory of the Crucified Lord. In imitation of the Master, we are to do<\/em> what he had done, that is, to dedicate ourselves to the life-mission of kingdom advancement.\u00a0 A Eucharistic faith<\/em><\/strong> requires acknowledging not only the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist but, even more, living according to his teachings.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Church fails wherever Christians suffer from an amnesia, neglecting the very command of the Lord to \u201cdo<\/em>\u201d this and giving scant attention to the Lord\u2019s \u201cnew covenant\u201d. All beautiful talks on the priority of \u201cbeing\u201d over \u201cdoing\u201d seem quite out of place in this context, and risk being branded as clever cover-ups for failure to put hands and feet to prayers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two Gospel stories of what the Lord did<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Christian life modelled by the Lord Jesus is always pressing forward on his kingdom-work. Take, for example, the story of Jesus choosing the Twelve Apostles in Luke 6:12-19. Jesus, as always before executing an important decision, first went up to the mountain to pray; it was an \u201cimportant\u201d prayer, we might say. But he did not linger in prayer; he did not remain on the mountain, content on \u201cdevotion\u201d to the Father. Rather, he came down from the mountain and engaged the people and, in this case, to choose the Twelve to assist in his mission. In this context, Pope Benedict XVI adds a crucial insight about the mission of the Church and the mission of Christ being inseparable. We must do what the Lord did, in memory of hi<\/em>m<\/strong>. The scholar-Pope puts it this way:<\/span><\/p>\n