Catholic Mass Quotes

“The Mass is very long and tiresome unless one loves God.”
― G.K. Chesterton

“Every day He humbles Himself just as He did when from from His heavenly throne into the Virgin's womb; every day He comes to us and lets us see Him in lowliness, when He descends from the bosom of the Father into the hands of the priest at the altar.”
― St. Francis of Assisi

“Beauty, then, is not mere decoration, but rather an essential element of the liturgical action, since it is an attribute of God himself and his revelation. These considerations should make us realize the care which is needed, if the liturgical action is to reflect its innate splendour.”
― Pope Benedict XVI

“All love craves unity. As the highest peak of love in the human order is the unity of husband and wife in the flesh, so the highest unity in the Divine order is the unity of the soul and Christ in communion.”
― Fulton J. Sheen, Life of Christ

“Why did Our Blessed Lord use bread and wine as the elements of this Memorial? First of all, because no two substances in nature better symbolize unity than bread and wine. As bread is made from a multiplicity of grains of wheat, and wine is made from a multiplicity of grapes, so the many who believe are one in Christ. Second, no two substances in nature have to suffer more to become what they are than bread and wine. Wheat has to pass through the rigors of winter, be ground beneath the Calvary of a mill, and then subjected to purging fire before it can become bread. Grapes in their turn must be subjected to the Gethsemane of a wine press and have their life crushed from them to become wine. Thus, do they symbolize the Passion and Sufferings of Christ, and the condition of Salvation, for Our Lord said unless we die to ourselves we cannot live in Him. A third reason is that there are no two substances in nature which have more traditionally nourished man than bread and wine. In bringing these elements to the altar, men are equivalently bringing themselves. When bread and wine are taken or consumed, they are changed into man's body and blood. But when He took bread and wine, He changed them into Himself.”
― Fulton J. Sheen, Life of Christ

“J.R.R. Tolkien was also opposed to the Novus Ordo Mass. Simon Tolkien recalls his grandfather’s protest to the Novus Ordo:
"I vividly remember going to church with him in Bour-nemouth. He was a devout Roman Catholic and it was soon after the Church had changed the liturgy from Latin to English. My grandfather obviously didn’t agree with this and made all the responses very loudly in Latin while the rest of the congregation answered in English. I found the whole experience quite excruciating, but my grandfather was oblivious. He simply had to do what he believed to be right.”
― Dr. Taylor Reed Marshall

“It was intended that Catholics and Protestants draw closer together, but it is evident that Catholics have become Protestants, rather than the reverse.

The New Mass itself was a Protestant conception and leads to Protestantism, and it is for that reason that we cannot conceive the possibility of using it in our seminaries.

The definition of the Mass as given in the Introduction of the Novus Ordo Missae is clearly a Protestant one, and this, in itself, is inadmissible and inconceivable! Henceforth, the emphasis will be on the Supper, the Meal, and no longer on the Sacrifice.

This shift of emphasis must of necessity lead - and is already leading - to the destruction of Catholic Doctrine which rests upon the Sacrifice of the Cross continued on the altar. It will lead to loss of faith in the Real Presence, and to the ruin of the Catholic priesthood. This alone would suffice to justify our emphatic rejection of the Reform. This means that no compromise whatever can be consented to in this regard. It means also that those who have taken the Mass along that road bear a heavy burden of responsibility.”
― Marcel Lefebvre, Luther's Reform and the Modern Mass

“The priest instantly replied without any sign of fear: “I will answer in the words of the holy Apostles, who said, when it was inquired of them before the Jewish Council whether they had violated the law by preaching in the name of Christ, ‘We ought to obey God rather than men.’ (Acts 5:29). For this reason, therefore, in spite of your unjust prohibition, I said Mass to the honor of God and of His blessed Mother.” The judges, greatly infuriated by this bold reply, condemned the pious priest to have his tongue torn out in the presence of all the people. The priest suffered this cruel sentence with the utmost patience; he went straight to the church, his mouth yet bleeding, and kneeling humbly before the altar at which he had said Mass, poured out his complaint to the Mother of God. Being unable any longer to speak with his tongue, he raised his heart to her with all the more fervor, entreating her that his tongue might be restored to him. So urgent was his supplication that the Blessed Mother of God appeared to him and with her own hand replaced his tongue in his mouth, saying that it was given back to him for the sake of the honor he had paid to God the Lord and to her by saying Mass, and exhorting him diligently to make use of it in that manner for the future. After returning heartfelt thanks to his benefactress, the priest returned to the assembled people and showed them that his tongue had been given back to him, thus putting to confusion the obstinate heretics and all who had displayed hostility to the Holy Mass.”
― Martin Von Cochem, The Incredible Catholic Mass: An Explanation of the Catholic Mass

“We can never show enough reverence, nor ever worship the Eucharist with adequately heartfelt veneration. That is why throughout the ages it has been the custom in the Church to receive the Holy Eucharist kneeling. We should receive the Holy Eucharist prostrate and not standing. Are we the equals of Our Lord Jesus Christ? Is it not He who will come upon the clouds of heaven to be our Judge? When we see Our Lord Jesus Christ, shall we not do as did the Apostles on Thabor when they prostrated themselves on the ground in terror and wonder at the greatness and splendor of Our Lord Jesus Christ? Let us keep in our hearts and souls that spirit of worship, that spirit of profound reverence for Him who created us, for Him who redeemed us, for Him who died on the Cross for our sins.”
― Marcel Lefebvre, The Mass of All Time

“Much water has flown under Tiber's bridges, carrying away splendour and mystery from Rome, since the pontificate of Pius XII. The essentials, I know, remain firmly entrenched and I find the post-Conciliar Mass simpler and generally better than the Tridentine; but the banality and vulgarity of the translations which have ousted the sonorous Latin and little Greek are of a super-market quality which is quite unacceptable. Hand-shaking and embarrassed smiles or smirks have replaced the older courtesies; kneeling is out, queueing is in, and the general tone is rather like a BBC radio broadcast for tiny tots (so however will they learn to put away childish things?) The clouds of incense have dispersed, together with many hidebound, blinkered and repressive attitudes, and we are left with social messages of an almost over-whelming progressiveness. The Church has proved she is not moribund. ‘All shall be well,’ I feel, ‘and all manner of things shall be well,’ so long as the God who is worshipped is the God of all ages, past and to come, and not the idol of Modernity, so venerated by some of our bishops, priests and mini-skirted nuns.”
― Alec Guinness, Blessings in Disguise

“Our Lord Jesus Christ, who might consummate and lead to what is perfect as many as were to be sanctified. He, therefore, our God and Lord, though He was about to offer Himself once on the altar of the Cross unto God the Father by means of His death, there to operate an eternal redemption, nevertheless, because that His priesthood was not to be extinguished by His death, in the Last Supper on the night in which He was betrayed—that He might leave to His own beloved spouse, the Church, a visible sacrifice, such as the nature of man requires, whereby that Bloody Sacrifice, once to be accomplished on the Cross, might be represented and the memory thereof remain even unto the End of the World and its salutary virtue be applied to the remission of those sins which we daily commit”
― Martin Von Cochem, The Incredible Catholic Mass: An Explanation of the Catholic Mass

“Our Lord Jesus Christ, who might consummate and lead to what is perfect as many as were to be sanctified. He, therefore, our God and Lord, though He was about to offer Himself once on the altar of the Cross unto God the Father by means of His death, there to operate an eternal redemption, nevertheless, because that His priesthood was not to be extinguished by His death, in the Last Supper on the night in which He was betrayed—that He might leave to His own beloved spouse, the Church, a visible sacrifice, such as the nature of man requires, whereby that Bloody Sacrifice, once to be accomplished on the Cross, might be represented and the memory thereof remain even unto the End of the World and its salutary virtue be applied to the remission of those sins which we daily commit—declaring Himself constituted a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedech, He offered up to God the Father His own Body and Blood under the species of bread and wine; and under the symbols of those same things He delivered His own Body and Blood to be received by His Apostles, whom He then constituted priests of the New Testament, and by those words, ‘Do this for a commemoration of Me’ (Luke 22:19), He commanded them and their successors in the priesthood to offer them, even as the Catholic Church has always understood and taught.” (Session xxii, Ch. 1).”
― Martin Von Cochem, The Incredible Catholic Mass: An Explanation of the Catholic Mass

“In the preface to an old missal bearing the date 1634, we find an exhortation addressed to priests, bidding them entertain a very high opinion of the excellence of the Holy Sacrifice and never doubt that, every time they celebrate it, they render God more acceptable service than by the exercise of the loftiest virtue or by suffering all conceivable tortures for His sake. Do you ask how this can be? It is because Christ exercises every virtue in the Mass and at the same time offers to God His Passion and Death. All the praise, the love, the veneration, the worship, the thanksgiving which Christ presents to the ever-blessed Trinity in every Mass far transcends all the praise of the Angels, the adoration of the Saints, so far, indeed, that were all the penances, the prayers, the good works of Apostles, martyrs, confessors, virgins, and all Saints offered to the Holy Trinity, they would be less pleasing to the Divine Majesty than one single Mass.”
― Martin Von Cochem, The Incredible Catholic Mass: An Explanation of the Catholic Mass

“This story teaches us the potency of Holy Mass and the guilt of despising it. It ought to inspire us with the firmest confidence so that we may follow the injunction of St. Paul: "Let us go, therefore, with confidence to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, and find grace in seasonable aid." (Heb. 4:16) What is the throne of grace which the Apostle exhorts us to approach? It is the sacred altar whereon the Lamb of God is immolated, whereon He gives His Life for us that we may find grace and mercy. We ought to go daily to this throne of grace to implore help in our necessity. We ought to go with devotion, reverence and confidence, for it is a throne of grace, not of vengeance; a throne of mercy, not of justice; a throne where we shall find aid and shall meet with no rebuff.”
― Martin Von Cochem, The Incredible Catholic Mass: An Explanation of the Catholic Mass

“And if it be asked why the priest says Mass in Latin, an unknown tongue, instead of in the vernacular, we reply: The Holy Mass is not a sermon, it is not intended for the instruction of the people; it is the offering for them of the sacrifice of the New Testament. There are good reasons why this should be done in a language which never can change. Some languages are called dead, others living; the former are no longer in common use and are consequently unchanged; the latter are the modes of speech of the various peoples and are subject to constant variation. If the Mass were said in one of the living languages, there would be great risk that, as the meaning of words changed, the original significance of the formulas would change also, and against this danger the Church must guard. As the integral part of religion cannot be altered, so the language of religion must ever remain the same. The unity of doctrine in the Catholic Church throughout the world is beautifully illustrated by the identity of the languages she employs. In whatever part of the globe the Catholic finds himself, there the great mystery of the faith he professes is celebrated in the same manner, in the same language. And lest the ordinary Christian should reman in ignorance of the meaning of the Latin prayers of the Mass, holy Church in her maternal care for her children, provides that in the prayer-books (i.e. the hand-held missals used by the laity to follow the Mass) they should be translated into the vulgar tongue of each country.”
― Martin Von Cochem, The Incredible Catholic Mass: An Explanation of the Catholic Mass

“You will recall from the Catechism that the Sacrifice of the alter is truly a Sacrifice, and that it differs from that of the cross only insofar as the Sacrifice of the Cross is a bloody Sacrifice, while the Sacrifice of the alter is an unbloody one. That is the only difference between the Sacrifice of the Cross and the Sacrifice of the Altar, and it is for this reason that as Catholics we venerate the Sacrifice of the alter. It is the essence, the heart of our Faith. Because there is a Sacrifice, the presence of a victim is necessary. There is no sacrifice without a victim. Thus our Lord is present, since He offers Himself as a Sacrifice. To deny this sacrificial presence and to claim the Sacrifice of the Mass is simply a memorial meal, a mere recalling of what our Lord accomplished at the Last Supper is nothing less than a blasphemy against the doctrine of the Church, against all that Our Lord Jesus Christ performed and wished to be continued.”
― Marcel Lefebvre, I. The Catholic Mass II. Luther's Mass III. The Essentials of our Faith

“This instance has been given in order that we may know and believe that in Holy Mass Christ is not present to the imagination alone or in a purely spiritual manner, but really and truly, and in bodily form - the self-same Infant Christ to whom the Mother of God gave birth at Bethlehem, and whom the Three Kings came to adore. Here, as there, His countenance is concealed by "swaddling clothes", that is, by the external shape of the Consecrated Host which we see with our eyes. But the Tender Child who lies hidden beneath those outward forms can only be perceived by the interior sight of faith, the faith that believes undoubtedly that Our Lord is in truth concealed beneath this lowly form. the reasons why He thus conceals Himself from our view are many - the principle one is this, to give opportunity for the exercise of faith in so momentous a matter and to enable us to acquire merit every time we hear Mass.”
― Martin Von Cochem, The Incredible Catholic Mass: An Explanation of the Catholic Mass

“The Holy Mass is a prayer itself, even the highest prayer that exists. It is the sacrifice, dedicated by our Redeemer at the Cross, and repeated every day on the alter. If you wish to hear Mass as it should be heard, you must follow with eye, heart, and mouth all that happens at the altar. Further, you must pray with the Priest the holy words said by him in the Name of Christ and which Christ says by him. You have to associate your heart with the holy feelings which are contained in these words and in this manner you ought to follow all that happens at the altar. When acting in this way you have prayed Holy Mass.”
― Pope Pius X

“Now the priest does not content himself with saying: "This is the chalice of My Blood"; he continues: "which shall be shed for you and for many for the remission of sins." As the first part of the sentence is certainly fulfilled, with no less certainty will the later part be fulfilled. Consequently, the Sacred Body of Christ is verily and indeed shed in the Mass "for you and for many"; that is, for you who are present and for the many who are absent, for those who hear Mass and for those who would gladly do so if they could and therefore desire a memento in it. These are the "many" for whom Christ's Blood is shed in Holy Mass for the remission of sins.”
― Martin Von Cochem, The Incredible Catholic Mass: An Explanation of the Catholic Mass

“The greeting "Merry Christmas!" must have originated in that period of English history when England really was merry.

Christmas itself meant to the English Catholic of that happy era the Mass of Christ, as Michaelmas meant the Mass of the glorious Saint Michael, and Candlemas meant the Mass of that day when the candles were blessed and lighted on English altars and in English homes.

English men and women in those Catholic days would have been horrified at the thought of wishing a Merry Christmas to anyone who wasn't on his way either to or from the lovely Mass which is the Eucharistic rebirth of the Savior among His beloved.

To the believing world of that day Christmas was a time when with fullest reason any Christian man or woman could be deeply merry.”
― Daniel A. Lord, May Your Christmas Be Merry

“I owe it to truth to say and affirm without fear of error that the Mass codified by St. Pius V - and not invented by him, as some often say - expresses clearly these three realities: sacrifice, Real Presence, and the priesthood of the clergy . . . The established customs have not been made at random, they cannot be overthrown abruptly abolished with impunity.”
― Marcel Lefebvre

“Let us pray also for the pagans, that almighty God will dispel the blindness of their hearts, so that they may renounce their false gods, and be converted to the living and true God, and His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our God and Lord.

V. Let us pray. Let us kneel.

R. Arise.

Almighty and eternal God, you desire not the death of sinners but that they should live. Mercifully hear our prayers and lead those who are in darkness from the worship of false gods to union with your holy Church for the glory of your holy name. Through our Lord.

(solemn collects of Good Friday)”
― The Maryknoll Fathers, DAILY MISSAL OF THE MYSTICAL BODY

“The Sacrifice of the Mass, like that of the Cross, is of infinite worth and infinite efficacy. It increases Sanctifying Grace in the just, expiates venial sins and temporal punishment of sin and gives strength to do what is good. For sinners, the Sacrifice of the Mass effects the grace of contrition and conversion, so that in the Sacrament of Penance (Confession), they may again become reconciled with God. Through the Sacrifice of the Mass we also obtain the protection of God in temporal dangers and aid in afflictions.”
― Lukas Etlin, Devotion to the Sacred Heart

“When you come to Mass, you must remember what Jesus is doing for you. You must offer Jesus and yourself to God. Jesus, too, will offer you to God with Himself. Because God loves Jesus very much, He will be pleased with your gift. He will bless you and make you more and more like Jesus. We should ask this of our Lord when we go to Mass.”
― Sister Servants of the Immaculate Heart, My Mass Book

“Dearest Jesus, I come with Thee to the alter to offer to God this Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. I shall offer with Thee and with the priest the bread and wine as gifts to God, my Father. And I shall offer Him my body and my soul with them.

God, our Father, loves Thee, dear Jesus. He will accept these poor gifts and change them into Thy Body and Blood. He will give them back to me in Holy Communion.

I come to Holy Mass to beg pardon for my sins. I come to ask to ask help for myself and for those I love. How wonderful it is to be able to adore God. How wonderful it is to thank the Father with Thee, my Jesus.”
― Sister Servants of the Immaculate Heart, My Mass Book

“This morning, I, and every priest who offered the Holy Sacrifice, took an almost weightless wafer of wheat, a drop of water, and a very insignificant amount of wine - three very ordinary, and truly insignificant things, no matter how we view them - and we offer them to God. Certainly in a world such as ours, these three things, plus the few words my fellow priests and I spoke, amount to nothing. Yet, when touched by God, when taken by Christ, when transubstantiated, what in the wide world can compare with them? Of the three things offered, neither you nor I, by ordinary vision, could see anything of the water; and of the wheat and the wine, the appearances remained just as insignificant after Consecration as before. But how deceiving are those appearances! The dynamism and power said to be latent in certain atoms is as nothing compared to the Power in what looks like a tiny wafer of wheat and a half ounce of wine. Omnipotence is there. And so with our insignificant lives and the truly insignificant acts that fill them. Once they are placed in Christ Jesus, touched by God, taken into His Christ, they can save the world.”
― M. Raymond, God, A Woman, And The Way: Mediator And Mediatrix

“The Sacrifice of Cavalry cannot be transformed, the Sacrifice of the Last Supper cannot be transformed - for there was a Sacrifice at the Last Supper - we cannot transform this Sacrifice into a simple, commemorative meal, a simple repast, at which a memory is recalled, this is not possible. To do such a thing would be to destroy the whole of our Religion, to destroy the most precious thing which Our Lord has given us here on earth, the immaculate and divine treasure which He put into the hands of His Church, which He made a priestly Church . . . (sermon of May 25, 1975)”
― Marcel Lefebvre

“In the spring of 1969, the sword struck from Rome. Pope Paul VI decreed a new Mass would be instituted. The letter carrying the news pierced the bishop's heart. This was not just a scandal; the preface to the description of the novus ordo missae gave a new definition of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that bordered on an unthinkable lapse into heresy. The Great Sacrifice of the Mass became a simple supper. The change in the nature of the sacrament can be understood quickly by simply counting the number of references to "sacrifice" in the Tridentine rite and comparing that number with the number of references in the new Mass. This was not only new; this was the smashing of the ancient ritual of sacrifice and the replacement with a new version.”
― David Allen White, The Mouth of the Lion: Bishop Antonio De Castro Mayer & the Last Catholic Diocese

“Now it was during the Council that the enemies of the Church infiltrated her, and their first objective was to demolish and destroy the Mass insofar as they could. you can read the books of Michael Davies, an English Catholic, who has written magnificent works which demonstrate how the liturgical reform of Vatican II closely resemble that produced under Cranmer at the birth of English Protestantism. If one reads the history of that liturgical transformation, made also by Luther, one sees that now it is exactly the same procedure which is being slowly followed and to all appearances, still apparently good and Catholic. But is just that character of the Mass which is sacrificial and redemptive of sim, through the Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which they have removed. They have made of the Mass a simple assembly, one among others, merely presided over by the priest. That is not the Mass! (Jubilee Sermon of September 1979)”
― Marcel Lefebvre, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre Collected Works Volume 1

“My dear children, my dear brethren, today is the Feast of the Holy Pope, St. Pius V. We must thank God because he has given this Holy Pope for the Church. You know that it is by this Holy Pope that we now have the Sacrifice of the Mass as the Church, given in the name of Jesus Christ, has given us. And it is very important for the Church to maintain this Rite of the Sacrifice of the Mass as the Holy Pope, Pius V, has given us; to maintain this canonized, true Mass. The Mass is the heart of the Church; it is the heart of your school; it is the heart of the seminary. We thank God today to have this true Rite of the true Catholic Mass, because by this Mass we receive many, many blessings from God and many graces. (Sermon at St. Mary's College, Kansas, May 5, 1982)”
― Marcel Lefebvre, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre Collected Works Volume 3