How Christ Comes to Heal Us
- SERVANT OF GOD CATHERINE DE HUECK DOHERTY
The Mass is the very breath of our spiritual life.
There we are, face to face with the Lord of Hosts. There we become one with him. Then, refreshed and strengthened beyond our understanding, we once more can face whatever the day may bring.
In the Mass we find bread and wine for the soul. We find Love bending down to us, Love lifting us, ever higher, to himself, until all things are right and well with us. For we have our being in him already on this earth. The Mass is the sum total of all our prayer life! Vocal: "With my voice I praise you." Mental: "My mind is slowly absorbed in his, and I begin to see, to understand." Contemplative: When we are unable to speak or think, we just "rest" in him.
All things come together in the Mass, for humanity comes together with God, and in God all things have their being. The Mass is a mighty bridge which brings the entire Church — living on earth now and those gone on the eternal life — together in an unbreakable unity.
In doing so, it brings us peace, strength, and joy. For in the Mass we realize as through a glass darkly, that there is no loss of our Beloved, that we are not alone, that we walk in a goodly company of saints and martyrs. Life changes utterly and begins to make true sense to us when we participate in Mass daily.
Our horizons become wider than all the universe, for they span time and eternity. Love grows within our soul until finally its eyes see Christ in all. Slowly, but oh, how surely, our whole person turns to God! Then the spirit of the evangelical counsels — of poverty, chastity, and obedience — of the Beatitudes and the Ten Commandments becomes simple and clear. We become free. How free cannot be told; it has to be experienced.
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Acknowledgement
Catherine Doherty, CM. "How Christ Comes to Heal Us." excerpt from the writings of Catherine Doherty (Madonna House Publications).
Reprinted with permission of Madonna House Publications. This excerpt appeared in Magnificat.
The Author
Catherine de Hueck Doherty († 1985), born in Russia, established the Friendship House in Harlem, New York, in 1938, and later the Madonna House in Combermere, Canada. She is author of Grace in Every Season, Soul of My Soul Coming to the Heart of Prayer, Dear Father, Living The Gospel Without Compromise, An Experience of God Identification with Christ — a Road to the Mystical Life, and Catherine de Hueck Doherty: Essential Writing.