New book helps Catholics to truly ‘partake in the Mass’

A Benedictine monk based in Glenstal Abbey, Co. Limerick, has recently published a new book, The people’s celebration of the Eucharist.

Fr Fintan Lyons explained to The Irish Catholic that the idea to write this book came from a series of questions that some lay people have asked him on the Eucharist. “I was trying to explain to people what the Eucharist is about. And it seems to have gone down well because it’s in its second printing.”

“My feeling is that people are still going to Mass. But they’re doing so based on some older understanding of the Mass. To put it in very simple terms, they think of the Mass just as Calvary,” said Fr Fintan. “There’s no point in people’s minds of the Mass being about not only the death of Christ, but the resurrection, the glorification, the ascension of Christ.”

The book, as Fr Fintan explained, is also meant to help the Synodal process of the people taking charge of churches. “People must partake in the Mass in a deeper way…  Vatican II tried to get people to participate, to do the readings, to bring up the gifts, that kind of thing. But that stayed on a surface level. Compared to what was really needed.”