Bishop Alan McGuckian, SJ, Bishop of Down and Connor, Northern Ireland, gave the keynote talk at Adoremus this Saturday (14 September).
In his talk, Bishop McGuckian detailed the crucial role the laity play in the celebration of the Mass, particularly in offering a sacrifice.
He said: “I want to contend strongly that everyone offers sacrifice, priest, deacon and lay person, each in his or her own way.
“The sacrifice we make is then taken up into the Great Sacrifice of Jesus. Our faltering efforts to offer ourselves are raised up into his great Offering.”
Bishop Alan explained that sacrifice is an act of giving, rather than of giving up.
The notion that a sacrifice is something like giving up food for the sake of our figure “is the very opposite of what sacrifice meant in all the ancient religions”.
According to Bishop McGuckian, a sacrifice has to be made to somebody.
He continued: “Sacrifice never connoted reluctance or deprivation or inevitability grimly accepted. They were occasions of the greatest joy, festivity and thanksgiving.”
He went onto show how the Mass can rightly be understood as a sacrifice more in line with ancient understandings, and it is an opportunity to give ourselves to Jesus.
He said: “Each time we attend Mass, we are called to bring our own lives – our joys, sorrows, successes and failure – and lay them on the altar under the symbols of bread and wine.
“We are not passive observers; we are active participants in an act of Sacrifice. Our sacrifice, which we celebrate weekly, daily, is taken up into the One Eternal Sacrifice of Jesus.”
Keynote talk at Adoremus at Oscott given by Bishop Alan McGuckian
