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Legion HANDBOOK D10944_1 26/02/2014 15:53 Page 47

CHAPTER 8 THE LEGIONARY AND THE EUCHARIST 47
here present who died on the cross. The whole congregation unites
itself with his holy sacrificial will, and through Jesus present before it,
consecrates itself to the heavenly Father as a living oblation. So holy
Mass is a tremendously real experience, the experience of the reality
of Golgotha. And a stream of sorrow and repentance, of love and
devotion, of heroism and the spirit of sacrifice, flows out from the
altar and passes through the praying congregation.” (Karl Adam: The
Spirit of Catholicism)

2. THE LITURGY OF THE WORD
The Mass is above all a celebration of faith, of that faith
which is born in us and nourished through the hearing of the
Word of God. We recall here the words of the General
Instruction on the Missal (No. 9): “when the Scriptures are
read in church, God Himself is speaking to his people, and
Christ, present in his word, is pro claiming the Gospel. Hence
the readings from God’s word are among the most important
elements in the liturgy, and all who are present should listen
to them with reverence.” Of great importance also is the
homily. It is a necessary part of the Mass on Sundays and
Holy days, while on other days it is desirable that there be a
homily. By its means the homilist explains the sacred text in
the light of the Church’s teaching for the building up of the
faith of those present.
As we participate in the celebration of the word, Our Lady
is our model for she is “the attentive Virgin who receives the
word of God with faith, that faith which in her case was the
gateway and path to the divine motherhood”. (MCul 17)

3. THE LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST IN UNION
WITH MARY
Our Blessed Lord did not begin his work of redemption
without the consent of Mary, solemnly asked and freely given.
Likewise, he did not complete it on Calvary without her
presence and her consent. “From this union of sufferings and
of will between Mary and Christ, she merited to become most
worthily the restorer of the lost world and the dispenser of all
the graces Jesus purchased by his death and by his Blood.”
(AD 12) She stood by the cross of Jesus on Calvary,