If the Catholic Church is the true church of Jesus Christ it must have the same source of authority, the same sets of beliefs, it must have the same organization and hierarchy, and the same rites and worship as the church of the early Christians It must have continuity no matter what the situation of the world because it is suppose to last until the end of age.
In this article we will learn that the Holy Mass is
integral to our salvation and to the unity of the church. It defines the church
that Jesus founded and built through the Apostles and makes it different from all the rest of churches and religions made by ordinary man. If one will take away the
Holy Mass, the church edifice will be reduced to nothing more than an empty
auditorium or a meeting place that lacks the holiness and presence of the Lord
our God.
WHAT WAS THE EARLY CHURCH LIKE IN THE FIRST 100 YEARS?
Before the ascension of Jesus, he told the Apostles and the rest of his close disciples some 120 of them to wait in Jerusalem until the helper, the advocate or the Holy Spirit has come down to baptize them in spirit. Thus we can read in 2:1-4
After this thing happened, Peter begun to preach in Acts 2:14
In Acts 2:42-47 we read:
In the Act we see a practice and a tradition that begun from the early days of the church and handed down from generation to generation of he church to the present, What is amazing is the one tradition that separates the true church from the false ones is the one that sustain the church, its rites and worship that is centered on the Eucharist or Thanksgiving, the sacrifice offering of bread and wine to God.
It is clear that from the very beginning, the Apostles and the believers begun to meet as a church from house to house with fellowship and the breaking of the bread. What is this fellowship and breaking of the bread mean? This breaking of the bread is the tradition handed down by the Apostles as explicitly explained by St. Paul in his 1 Corinthians letter.
According to Acts 18:1–17 Paul established the church in Corinth, then he went to Ephesus and spent approximately three years there Acts 19:8, 19:10, 20:31. His 1 Corinthian letter was written during his time in Ephesus, which is usually dated as being in the range of AD 53–57. So then if our reckoning of the dates is correct the letter was just about within 20 years from the time of the birth of the church on a Pentecost day which falls on a Sunday the same day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ that is why it is called The Lord's Day which is different than the Sabbath.
We will learn from Paul that within that 20 years, the tradition of the breaking of bread is already institutionalized in the church and the center of its rites and worship just as Jesus told them to do so.
Such breaking of bread is a sign of the Lord presence as what he did the very first time he joined unsuspecting followers that it was him who joined them in their travel until he broke bread with them and they realized that it was the Lord who broke bread with them. The believers clearly understood that the breaking of bread is the commemoration of the Last Supper with Christ shared by the Lord with the Apostles as recorded in all the 4 gospels in the New Testament as a sacrifice or thanksgiving we call the Eucharist on which the bread is offered as a body of Christ and the wine as the blood of Christ. The Lord first celebrated it with the Apostles and he commanded them exactly to the same thing as he did in memory of him. Since the rites of the Eucharist can only be exercised by priestly office Jesus has effectively instituted and conferred Priestly office to the church starting with the Apostles.
In the sacrificial offering of bread and wine, Jesus is prefigured by the High Priest and King of Salem, Melchizedek who is portrayed in the OT as offering bread and wine to God. That is among the many titles of Jesus Christ, he is called a "Priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. A clear prophecy of what the Lord will institute in his church which is his kingdom like Salem is to Melchizedek. Thus in 1 Corinthians 11:17-35 we read:
In summary the Apostles have transmitted to the church the Sacraments directly from the Lord:
1. Sacrament of priestly ordination because only the Priest can celebrate religious ceremony such as the Holy Mass with the Eucharist as the center of the celebration or meeting. Without the priestly ordination there will be no priest to celebrate the Eucharist of the Mass.
2. Sacrament of the Eucharist, the sacrifice of the Holy Mass in thanksgiving to God. This is the spiritual food of Christians which is the true Body and Blood of the Lord. One cant have life and be save without partaking of this spiritual food as John 6:53 taught. "Truly, truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."
3. Sacrament of baptism. Only those who are baptized can partake of the Eucharist.
4. Sacrament of Penance. No one who is in sin can partake of the Eucharist.
5. Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick
Now all these sacraments have the tradition of the rites and worship that only the true church of Jesus Christ is authorized to perform and do and tied up to the Holy Mass. No other church ever since the church came out in public led by St. Peter has ever celebrated the Sacrifice of the Mass in its true and purest form and intention except the Catholic Church of Christians that is headquartered in the Church of Rome or the Roman Catholic Church.
The Holy Mass therefore is the fulfillment of Malachi 1:11 "For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, Mya name will be great among nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure, for My name will be great among the nations." says the Lord of Host. This has been fulfilled for today, that grain offering that is pure (bread) is offered in the name of Jesus Christ from the rising of the sun to its setting in every place in the world where the Holy Mass is celebrated daily leading to Sunday of obligation for all Catholics. No bible believing church today can lay claim to such because the priestly ordination can not be done outside the authority of the Catholic Church which is the only church with unbroken laying of hands from the Apostles to the bishops from generation to generation.
TESTIMONY OF A PAGAN ON THE CATHOLIC CHURCH RITES AND WORSHIP
In the early years of the Church, members were persecuted to the point of death wherever and whenever they were found to be holding on to the Christian faith. But even in the face of persecution, the church continue to flourish and were established, organized, and built in many places within the territories under the Roman Empire and even in such other places outside the empire. In the time of Emperor Trajan, he wanted him to be worshiped by the people in the entire Roman Empire like those of their gods and he determined that Christians were the ones blocking the pagan religion of the Empire so he ordered them prosecuted unless they reject the Christian faith and go back to their pagan worship.
Pliny the Younger was the Roman governor of Pontus/Bithynia which is today the modern Northern Turkey when he received the order of Emperor Trajan. He then sought out the Christians in his territory and organized an operation to get the Christians using network of spies who were members of the Christians church themselves. Those identified by his spies were executed unless they renounced their religion and proved it by cursing Jesus Christ and make sacrificial offering in the Temple of the Roman gods for Trajan the Emperor. In the course of his successful campaign against the Christian church, he wrote a letter to his master Emperor Trajan sometime between 111-113 CE which has been part of the recorded history. He wrote to ask how he was to treat Christians in the continuing operation against them.
In that letter of Trajan we have a glimpse of what the Christian churches practice during the early years of the church as it describes what Pliny has learned from apostate Christian spies he had recruited under pain of torture to snitch on their fellow Christians and the church. As governor, Pliny has a whole set of exchanges of letters with the emperor Trajan on a variety of administrative political matters but what is important to us is the letter of his encounter with Christianity and the church of Christians which is the Catholic church.
Limited
as it may, the extant letter of Pliny the Younger to Emperor Trajan is
material and important piece of evidence and information to any
discussion on the early church
practice, meetings, and worship . This
testimony coming from a non-Christian and a pagan gives credence to the
Catholic
Church as the one founded by Jesus Christ and continuously built through
the Apostles because the worship and practices from the time Pliny
reported it in their letter have not changed as it is continuously
practice by the Catholic Church.
Given the great commission, authority, and full mandate to organize, rule and administer the church as can be seen in the Acts 2, the Apostles have organized churches in every province, towns, and cities that they were able to travel and reach. They then appointed a presbyter or a bishop in each of the churches they have established.
The letter of Pliny the Younger shows an organized meeting and worship of the church. There was already formal rites and worship held in the meetings of the members in the first century or within the first years of the church founding, organization, and operation after the Pentecost Sunday and during those years, the Apostles were still alive. Meaning a tradition has already been handed down to the churches by the Apostles on how the church operates. The letter of Pliny serves as a testimony to the church existence and its practice as followed by the Christians at that time.
Pliny wrote with satisfaction: "All have worshiped your image and the statues of the gods and have cursed Christ." Then he recounted what the apostates, the Christian informers that he recruited to spy for him revealed about Christian worship:
1. The early Christians were to meet on a Sunday as community of believers. They met at a specific time designated for the meeting that was before daybreak.
In other writings from other sources such meeting was initially held in a "church house" which is house donated to the church by the owner who is a Christian converted to the church to be the meeting place for worship and house of prayers. Thus as we have learned in the Acts 2 above the Apostles had regular fellowship meeting and "breaking of bread",, which means as already explained the rites of the Eucharist as part of the Mass from house to house and their numbers grew. The meetings therefore was actually no ordinary meetings because it included celebration of the Holy Mass.
In the acts, the breaking of bread is not done by any ordinary member of the church meeting among themselves but by the Apostles and later by the presbyters or bishops appointed by the Apostles. The breaking of bread is no ordinary breaking of bread but the Eucharist as St. Paul said in his letter to the church in Corinth. As in the time of the Apostle, we can surely be certain that the meeting is presided over by a presbyter or a bishop validly ordained by the laying of hands of the Bishops that gave them authority to celebrate the Eucharist because only Priest can perfomr it.
2. They sing hymns alternately to Christ as a God and they bound themselves by an oath not to do any crime and to do good.
Today in the modern mass, this is the same first part we call the Liturgy of the Word where the members of the church and even non members are free to participate to hear the word of God from the scriptures.
3. They break up after the first part and depart. They then meet again to "eat" food which to Pliny is just ordinary and harmless food.
Why do they break up after the first part? Because in the first part all people even unbaptized who want to hear the word of God are welcome to join the meeting. They are also called Catechumen. In ecclesiology, a catechumen (/ˌkætɪˈkjuːmən, -mɛn/; via Latin catechumenus from Greek κατηχούμενος katēkhoumenos, "one being instructed", from κατά kata, "down" and ἦχος ēkhos, "sound") is a person receiving instruction from a catechist in the principles of the Christian religion with a view to baptism.
For pagan like Pliny the food the members eat which is actually bread is no ordinary food at all because only the baptized are allowed to partake of it that is why after the first part, those still under instruction must leave and only the baptized members will meet again for the "food" that is the Eucharist. If the Eucharist is just an ordinary wafer as the Protestants would like to believe how is it that even early Christians would make it a point in their meetings that in the 2nd part of the meetings only the baptized are allowed to eat the Eucharist? In St. Paul letter the baptized is the equivalent of what he called those approved to partake of the Eucharist.
Apparently Pliny did not inquire much about such food that the Christians would eat in every meeting. If he did inquire more he would have learned the the ordinary food to him is the Eucharist believed by the Catholic Church of Christians to be the body and blood of Jesus Christ in the physical form of the bread and wine. The food which is the bread and wine therefore have undergone rites of consecration by offering it to God in the form of sacrifice as thanksgiving or Eucharist.
According to Pliny many Christians have already stopped attending or doing such meeting as commanded by the Emperor Trajan. Those who will not turn apostate to the faith was to be executed. Under torture and duress over the impending death, many Christians chose to do what was demanded of them to reject Jesus Christ.
While
the letter did not add much to the knowledge of the early Liturgy of
the early form of the Holy Mass it nevertheless allows us to see even
just a portion of what the Christians were doing when they meet on
Sunday which is known as the Lord's Day to the church members, how they
worship Jesus Christ as God which validates the doctrine of the Catholic
Church that Jesus is True God and True Man, and how they follow the
tradition of "breaking bread" which is the Eucharist. As we now know this bread is no ordinary
because any excess is brought by deacons (not just any member, but by a
deacon) to members who did not make it to the meetings so they can also
partake of the Eucharist.
According to Acts of the Apostles,
Before the ascension of Jesus, he told the Apostles and the rest of his close disciples some 120 of them to wait in Jerusalem until the helper, the advocate or the Holy Spirit has come down to baptize them in spirit. Thus we can read in 2:1-4
"When the day of Pentecost (Sunday) came, the believers were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like a mighty rushing wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw tongues like flames of a fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them."
After this thing happened, Peter begun to preach in Acts 2:14
Then Peter stood up with the
eleven, lifted up his voice, and addressed the crowd: “Men of Judea and
all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen
carefully to my words"
After Peter was finished preaching he brought new converts to the church Acts 2:40-41
With many other words he testified, and he urged them, “Be saved from this corrupt generation.” Those who embraced his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to the believers that day.
In Acts 2:42-47 we read:
"They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. A sense of awe came over everyone, and the apostles performed many wonders and signs. All
the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their
possessions and goods, they shared with anyone who was in need."
"With one accord
they continued to meet daily in the temple courts and to break bread
from house to house, sharing their meals with gladness and sincerity of
heart, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."
In the Act we see a practice and a tradition that begun from the early days of the church and handed down from generation to generation of he church to the present, What is amazing is the one tradition that separates the true church from the false ones is the one that sustain the church, its rites and worship that is centered on the Eucharist or Thanksgiving, the sacrifice offering of bread and wine to God.
It is clear that from the very beginning, the Apostles and the believers begun to meet as a church from house to house with fellowship and the breaking of the bread. What is this fellowship and breaking of the bread mean? This breaking of the bread is the tradition handed down by the Apostles as explicitly explained by St. Paul in his 1 Corinthians letter.
According to Acts 18:1–17 Paul established the church in Corinth, then he went to Ephesus and spent approximately three years there Acts 19:8, 19:10, 20:31. His 1 Corinthian letter was written during his time in Ephesus, which is usually dated as being in the range of AD 53–57. So then if our reckoning of the dates is correct the letter was just about within 20 years from the time of the birth of the church on a Pentecost day which falls on a Sunday the same day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ that is why it is called The Lord's Day which is different than the Sabbath.
We will learn from Paul that within that 20 years, the tradition of the breaking of bread is already institutionalized in the church and the center of its rites and worship just as Jesus told them to do so.
Such breaking of bread is a sign of the Lord presence as what he did the very first time he joined unsuspecting followers that it was him who joined them in their travel until he broke bread with them and they realized that it was the Lord who broke bread with them. The believers clearly understood that the breaking of bread is the commemoration of the Last Supper with Christ shared by the Lord with the Apostles as recorded in all the 4 gospels in the New Testament as a sacrifice or thanksgiving we call the Eucharist on which the bread is offered as a body of Christ and the wine as the blood of Christ. The Lord first celebrated it with the Apostles and he commanded them exactly to the same thing as he did in memory of him. Since the rites of the Eucharist can only be exercised by priestly office Jesus has effectively instituted and conferred Priestly office to the church starting with the Apostles.
In the sacrificial offering of bread and wine, Jesus is prefigured by the High Priest and King of Salem, Melchizedek who is portrayed in the OT as offering bread and wine to God. That is among the many titles of Jesus Christ, he is called a "Priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. A clear prophecy of what the Lord will institute in his church which is his kingdom like Salem is to Melchizedek. Thus in 1 Corinthians 11:17-35 we read:
In the following instructions I have no praise to offer, because your gatherings do more harm than good. First of all, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. And indeed, there must be differences among you to show which of you are approved.
Now then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat. For
as you eat, many of you proceed with your own meal to the exclusion of
others. While one remains hungry, another gets drunk. Don’t you have your own homes in
which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and
humiliate those who have nothing? What can I say to you? Shall I praise
you for this? Of course not!
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: that the Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
Therefore,
whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy
manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Each one must examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.
Now if we judged ourselves properly, we would not come under judgment. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
So, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If anyone is hungry, he should eat
at home, so that when you come together it will not result in judgment.
And when I come, I will give instructions about the remaining matters.
In summary the Apostles have transmitted to the church the Sacraments directly from the Lord:
1. Sacrament of priestly ordination because only the Priest can celebrate religious ceremony such as the Holy Mass with the Eucharist as the center of the celebration or meeting. Without the priestly ordination there will be no priest to celebrate the Eucharist of the Mass.
2. Sacrament of the Eucharist, the sacrifice of the Holy Mass in thanksgiving to God. This is the spiritual food of Christians which is the true Body and Blood of the Lord. One cant have life and be save without partaking of this spiritual food as John 6:53 taught. "Truly, truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."
3. Sacrament of baptism. Only those who are baptized can partake of the Eucharist.
4. Sacrament of Penance. No one who is in sin can partake of the Eucharist.
5. Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick
Now all these sacraments have the tradition of the rites and worship that only the true church of Jesus Christ is authorized to perform and do and tied up to the Holy Mass. No other church ever since the church came out in public led by St. Peter has ever celebrated the Sacrifice of the Mass in its true and purest form and intention except the Catholic Church of Christians that is headquartered in the Church of Rome or the Roman Catholic Church.
The Holy Mass therefore is the fulfillment of Malachi 1:11 "For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, Mya name will be great among nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure, for My name will be great among the nations." says the Lord of Host. This has been fulfilled for today, that grain offering that is pure (bread) is offered in the name of Jesus Christ from the rising of the sun to its setting in every place in the world where the Holy Mass is celebrated daily leading to Sunday of obligation for all Catholics. No bible believing church today can lay claim to such because the priestly ordination can not be done outside the authority of the Catholic Church which is the only church with unbroken laying of hands from the Apostles to the bishops from generation to generation.
TESTIMONY OF A PAGAN ON THE CATHOLIC CHURCH RITES AND WORSHIP
In the early years of the Church, members were persecuted to the point of death wherever and whenever they were found to be holding on to the Christian faith. But even in the face of persecution, the church continue to flourish and were established, organized, and built in many places within the territories under the Roman Empire and even in such other places outside the empire. In the time of Emperor Trajan, he wanted him to be worshiped by the people in the entire Roman Empire like those of their gods and he determined that Christians were the ones blocking the pagan religion of the Empire so he ordered them prosecuted unless they reject the Christian faith and go back to their pagan worship.
Pliny the Younger was the Roman governor of Pontus/Bithynia which is today the modern Northern Turkey when he received the order of Emperor Trajan. He then sought out the Christians in his territory and organized an operation to get the Christians using network of spies who were members of the Christians church themselves. Those identified by his spies were executed unless they renounced their religion and proved it by cursing Jesus Christ and make sacrificial offering in the Temple of the Roman gods for Trajan the Emperor. In the course of his successful campaign against the Christian church, he wrote a letter to his master Emperor Trajan sometime between 111-113 CE which has been part of the recorded history. He wrote to ask how he was to treat Christians in the continuing operation against them.
In that letter of Trajan we have a glimpse of what the Christian churches practice during the early years of the church as it describes what Pliny has learned from apostate Christian spies he had recruited under pain of torture to snitch on their fellow Christians and the church. As governor, Pliny has a whole set of exchanges of letters with the emperor Trajan on a variety of administrative political matters but what is important to us is the letter of his encounter with Christianity and the church of Christians which is the Catholic church.
PLINY TO THE EMPEROR TRAJAN
Given the great commission, authority, and full mandate to organize, rule and administer the church as can be seen in the Acts 2, the Apostles have organized churches in every province, towns, and cities that they were able to travel and reach. They then appointed a presbyter or a bishop in each of the churches they have established.
The letter of Pliny the Younger shows an organized meeting and worship of the church. There was already formal rites and worship held in the meetings of the members in the first century or within the first years of the church founding, organization, and operation after the Pentecost Sunday and during those years, the Apostles were still alive. Meaning a tradition has already been handed down to the churches by the Apostles on how the church operates. The letter of Pliny serves as a testimony to the church existence and its practice as followed by the Christians at that time.
Pliny wrote with satisfaction: "All have worshiped your image and the statues of the gods and have cursed Christ." Then he recounted what the apostates, the Christian informers that he recruited to spy for him revealed about Christian worship:
1. The early Christians were to meet on a Sunday as community of believers. They met at a specific time designated for the meeting that was before daybreak.
In other writings from other sources such meeting was initially held in a "church house" which is house donated to the church by the owner who is a Christian converted to the church to be the meeting place for worship and house of prayers. Thus as we have learned in the Acts 2 above the Apostles had regular fellowship meeting and "breaking of bread",, which means as already explained the rites of the Eucharist as part of the Mass from house to house and their numbers grew. The meetings therefore was actually no ordinary meetings because it included celebration of the Holy Mass.
In the acts, the breaking of bread is not done by any ordinary member of the church meeting among themselves but by the Apostles and later by the presbyters or bishops appointed by the Apostles. The breaking of bread is no ordinary breaking of bread but the Eucharist as St. Paul said in his letter to the church in Corinth. As in the time of the Apostle, we can surely be certain that the meeting is presided over by a presbyter or a bishop validly ordained by the laying of hands of the Bishops that gave them authority to celebrate the Eucharist because only Priest can perfomr it.
2. They sing hymns alternately to Christ as a God and they bound themselves by an oath not to do any crime and to do good.
Today in the modern mass, this is the same first part we call the Liturgy of the Word where the members of the church and even non members are free to participate to hear the word of God from the scriptures.
3. They break up after the first part and depart. They then meet again to "eat" food which to Pliny is just ordinary and harmless food.
Why do they break up after the first part? Because in the first part all people even unbaptized who want to hear the word of God are welcome to join the meeting. They are also called Catechumen. In ecclesiology, a catechumen (/ˌkætɪˈkjuːmən, -mɛn/; via Latin catechumenus from Greek κατηχούμενος katēkhoumenos, "one being instructed", from κατά kata, "down" and ἦχος ēkhos, "sound") is a person receiving instruction from a catechist in the principles of the Christian religion with a view to baptism.
For pagan like Pliny the food the members eat which is actually bread is no ordinary food at all because only the baptized are allowed to partake of it that is why after the first part, those still under instruction must leave and only the baptized members will meet again for the "food" that is the Eucharist. If the Eucharist is just an ordinary wafer as the Protestants would like to believe how is it that even early Christians would make it a point in their meetings that in the 2nd part of the meetings only the baptized are allowed to eat the Eucharist? In St. Paul letter the baptized is the equivalent of what he called those approved to partake of the Eucharist.
Apparently Pliny did not inquire much about such food that the Christians would eat in every meeting. If he did inquire more he would have learned the the ordinary food to him is the Eucharist believed by the Catholic Church of Christians to be the body and blood of Jesus Christ in the physical form of the bread and wine. The food which is the bread and wine therefore have undergone rites of consecration by offering it to God in the form of sacrifice as thanksgiving or Eucharist.
According to Pliny many Christians have already stopped attending or doing such meeting as commanded by the Emperor Trajan. Those who will not turn apostate to the faith was to be executed. Under torture and duress over the impending death, many Christians chose to do what was demanded of them to reject Jesus Christ.
According to Acts of the Apostles,
The church is the kingdom of God set up by the God of heaven who came down in obedience to the will of the Father and became man for that purpose of the kingdom which revealed at the end of his journey on earth to be his church, the Pillar and Foundation of Truth for our salvation. The church is the tabernacle of David that was rebuilt to house the new tabernacle that contain the word of God. Just as the tabernacle of David which housed the Ark of the Covenant which contain the stone tablets on which the word of God and his commandments are written, today the tabernacles in every church all over the world contain the word of God in the form of bread. The church prefigured the rebuilding of the tabernacle of David under the new kingdom of God on earth.
The church is the spiritual house of God, his kingdom on earth and its citizens are the Christians who believed in Jesus Christ. It is sacerdotal and priestly and its laws of worship determines its laws of beliefs. Its king is the Son of the Living God who is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven and in his physical absence on earth he has chosen from among the Apostles a Shepherd in his place to head the flock of his church and guard them against the enemies, the wolves in sheep clothing. To that Apostle alone and to his successors the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven is given which is the final destination of those who will persevere in the faith of the church to the end. This is fully understood by the early Christians who gave up their old ways and lived as community in the House of God which is the church.
CHURCH RITES AND WORSHIP DEVELOPMENT 2ND CENTURY
In later years we learned from the Catholic Church early apologists and Fathers foremost of which is the 1st Apology of St. Justin Martyr sometime in 150 CE that the church has early form of Divine worship meetings that we now call as the Mass on a Sunday as it is recognized by the church as the Lord's Day for it is on a Sunday early morning that the Lord is risen and resurrected. At the same time it was also the day that the church was officially born by the baptism of the Holy Spirit of the church on Pentecost thereby marking the building up of the church by the Apostles and continued by their successors, the bishops.
The church is the spiritual house of God, his kingdom on earth and its citizens are the Christians who believed in Jesus Christ. It is sacerdotal and priestly and its laws of worship determines its laws of beliefs. Its king is the Son of the Living God who is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven and in his physical absence on earth he has chosen from among the Apostles a Shepherd in his place to head the flock of his church and guard them against the enemies, the wolves in sheep clothing. To that Apostle alone and to his successors the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven is given which is the final destination of those who will persevere in the faith of the church to the end. This is fully understood by the early Christians who gave up their old ways and lived as community in the House of God which is the church.
CHURCH RITES AND WORSHIP DEVELOPMENT 2ND CENTURY
In later years we learned from the Catholic Church early apologists and Fathers foremost of which is the 1st Apology of St. Justin Martyr sometime in 150 CE that the church has early form of Divine worship meetings that we now call as the Mass on a Sunday as it is recognized by the church as the Lord's Day for it is on a Sunday early morning that the Lord is risen and resurrected. At the same time it was also the day that the church was officially born by the baptism of the Holy Spirit of the church on Pentecost thereby marking the building up of the church by the Apostles and continued by their successors, the bishops.
The place of which the church of the early Christians assembled for
Divine worship was called the Church house and was said to be in one of
the house of a member. The house possessed a large dining room, a
coenaculum. The reason for house church was because the Christians were
in the early years persecuted minority and they could not build church
buildings yet open to the public. Yet later on, the church as a
corporate body under the leadership of Peter and his successors, Bishop
of the Roman Church which was later called Pope or Papa meaning Holy
Father they were able to build church houses known as Tituli on acquired
properties mostly from donation of converts and members. We learned
this from the writings of the Early Fathers of the Church.
We learned from them that the Mass celebrated today in all the Catholic churches worldwide is almost exactly the same in liturgical form as the one practiced and observed by the Apostles and early Christians. One of the Church Fathers who came after the Apostles was St. Justin Martyr who wrote his Apology in defense of the Catholic Church of Christians explaining what the church and the Christians are about and that they are not enemies of the Roman Empire.
In relation to our article on the Holy Mass, here are the most important Chapters the Apology or defense of St. Justin Martyr for the Catholic Church
CHAP. LXVII.—WEEKLY WORSHIP OF THE CHRISTIANS.
And we afterwards continually remind each other of these things. And the wealthy among us help the needy; and we always keep together; and for all things wherewith we are supplied, we bless the Maker of all through His Son Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Ghost. And on the day called Sunday:
(1) all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability,
(2) and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given,
(3) and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need.
(4) But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration.
We learned from them that the Mass celebrated today in all the Catholic churches worldwide is almost exactly the same in liturgical form as the one practiced and observed by the Apostles and early Christians. One of the Church Fathers who came after the Apostles was St. Justin Martyr who wrote his Apology in defense of the Catholic Church of Christians explaining what the church and the Christians are about and that they are not enemies of the Roman Empire.
In relation to our article on the Holy Mass, here are the most important Chapters the Apology or defense of St. Justin Martyr for the Catholic Church
CHAP. LXVII.—WEEKLY WORSHIP OF THE CHRISTIANS.
And we afterwards continually remind each other of these things. And the wealthy among us help the needy; and we always keep together; and for all things wherewith we are supplied, we bless the Maker of all through His Son Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Ghost. And on the day called Sunday:
(1) all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability,
(2) and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given,
(3) and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need.
(4) But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration.
CHAP. LXV.—ADMINISTRATION OF THE SACRAMENTS.
But we, after we have thus washed him who has been convinced and has assented to our teaching, bring him to the place where those who are called brethren are assembled, in order that we may offer hearty prayers in common for ourselves and for the baptized [illuminated] person, and for all others in every place, that we may be counted worthy, now that we have learned the truth, by our works also to be found good citizens and keepers of the commandments, so that we may be saved with an everlasting salvation.
Having ended the prayers, we salute one another with a kiss. There is then brought to the president of the brethren bread and a cup of wine mixed with water; and he taking them, gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and offers thanks at considerable length for our being counted worthy to receive these things at His hands. And when he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all the people present express their assent by saying Amen. This word Amen answers in the Hebrew language to genoito [so be it]. And when the president has given thanks, and all the people have expressed their assent, those who are called by us deacons give to each of those present to partake of the bread and wine mixed with water over which the thanksgiving was pronounced, and to those who are absent they carry away a portion.
(Note that if one will attend to the Holy Mass today, these things are still very much part of the celebration)
But we, after we have thus washed him who has been convinced and has assented to our teaching, bring him to the place where those who are called brethren are assembled, in order that we may offer hearty prayers in common for ourselves and for the baptized [illuminated] person, and for all others in every place, that we may be counted worthy, now that we have learned the truth, by our works also to be found good citizens and keepers of the commandments, so that we may be saved with an everlasting salvation.
Having ended the prayers, we salute one another with a kiss. There is then brought to the president of the brethren bread and a cup of wine mixed with water; and he taking them, gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and offers thanks at considerable length for our being counted worthy to receive these things at His hands. And when he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all the people present express their assent by saying Amen. This word Amen answers in the Hebrew language to genoito [so be it]. And when the president has given thanks, and all the people have expressed their assent, those who are called by us deacons give to each of those present to partake of the bread and wine mixed with water over which the thanksgiving was pronounced, and to those who are absent they carry away a portion.
(Note that if one will attend to the Holy Mass today, these things are still very much part of the celebration)
CHAP. LXVI.—OF THE EUCHARIST.
And this food is called among us Eukaristia (5) [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined (Baptized members).
For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh.(6) For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them; that Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, said, "This do ye in remembrance of Me,(7) this is My body;" and that, after the same manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, "This is My blood;" and gave it to them alone. Which the wicked devils have imitated in the mysteries of Mithras, commanding the same thing to be done. For, that bread and a cup of water are placed with certain incantations in the mystic rites of one who is being initiated, you either know or can learn.
The early Christians assembled for Divine worship in the house of one of their number which possessed a large dining room, a coenaculum, as the Vulgate puts it. This was because, as a persecuted minority, they could erect no public buildings. Our knowledge of the details of the liturgy increases from the earliest Fathers and with each succeeding century. There is a gradual and natural development. The prayers and formulas, and eventually the ceremonial actions, develop into set forms. There are varying arrangements of subsidiary parts and greater insistence on certain elements in different places will produce different liturgies, but all go back eventually to the biblical pattern.
And this food is called among us Eukaristia (5) [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined (Baptized members).
For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh.(6) For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them; that Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, said, "This do ye in remembrance of Me,(7) this is My body;" and that, after the same manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, "This is My blood;" and gave it to them alone. Which the wicked devils have imitated in the mysteries of Mithras, commanding the same thing to be done. For, that bread and a cup of water are placed with certain incantations in the mystic rites of one who is being initiated, you either know or can learn.
The early Christians assembled for Divine worship in the house of one of their number which possessed a large dining room, a coenaculum, as the Vulgate puts it. This was because, as a persecuted minority, they could erect no public buildings. Our knowledge of the details of the liturgy increases from the earliest Fathers and with each succeeding century. There is a gradual and natural development. The prayers and formulas, and eventually the ceremonial actions, develop into set forms. There are varying arrangements of subsidiary parts and greater insistence on certain elements in different places will produce different liturgies, but all go back eventually to the biblical pattern.
The Roman Mass practiced in the early Catholic Church from the 1st
century and handed down by the Apostles was a liturgical form that has been
carried observed by the same Catholic church to the present, Liturgy of the
Holy Mass today. The church service in the 2nd century (101-200 CE) based on those handed down by the Church Fathers like in the report of Pliny also composed of two part. The first is called the Service of the Word and was open to three groups.
1. Baptized believers;
2. Those receiving instruction in the Chstian faith called Catechumens
3. those who were merely curious about Christinaity.
The Second part of the Service is the "Prayers and the Eucharist". Only believers that are baptized are allowed to join. The rest had to leave. The early church understood congregational prayer as “participating by the Holy Spirit in the glorified Christ’s own heavenly ministry of prayer” It is something that unbelievers could not share in since they did not have the Spirit yet. The entire worship service last for about 3 hours in the 2nd century. Unlike today in those days, there were no musical instruments and the singing of hymns to Jesus Christ as God was done acapela.
In one of the writings on the Holy Mass which source could not be ascertained but we have found to be quite accurate from our readings and from the examples we have given above here are the Summary of the Two Parts of Worship Service by the early Catholic Church of Christians.
PART 1 LITURGY OF THE WORD
1. Starts with greetings by bishop and response by those in attendance, members of the church or the assembly. The bishop is the president of the meeting presiding the celebration. The bishop would say "The Lord be with you" and the assembly would answer "And with your spirit"
2. First Reading of the Liturgy comes from the Old Testament. This is not taken at random but is related to the theme of the Mass for the week. Usually read by a deacon.
3. Chanting of Psalms or hymn.
4. Second Reading normally comes from the Epistles and Letters of the Apostles.
5. Psalm or hymn II
6. New Testament Scripture reading from one of the four gospels. This is read by the bishop.
7. Sermon is delivered by the bishop.
8. Dismissal of all those in attendance who are not baptized believers, the so called Catechumens as practiced in the early years of the church.
PART 2 IS THE RITES OF THE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS, THE EUCHARIST
1. Baptized believers;
2. Those receiving instruction in the Chstian faith called Catechumens
3. those who were merely curious about Christinaity.
The Second part of the Service is the "Prayers and the Eucharist". Only believers that are baptized are allowed to join. The rest had to leave. The early church understood congregational prayer as “participating by the Holy Spirit in the glorified Christ’s own heavenly ministry of prayer” It is something that unbelievers could not share in since they did not have the Spirit yet. The entire worship service last for about 3 hours in the 2nd century. Unlike today in those days, there were no musical instruments and the singing of hymns to Jesus Christ as God was done acapela.
In one of the writings on the Holy Mass which source could not be ascertained but we have found to be quite accurate from our readings and from the examples we have given above here are the Summary of the Two Parts of Worship Service by the early Catholic Church of Christians.
PART 1 LITURGY OF THE WORD
1. Starts with greetings by bishop and response by those in attendance, members of the church or the assembly. The bishop is the president of the meeting presiding the celebration. The bishop would say "The Lord be with you" and the assembly would answer "And with your spirit"
2. First Reading of the Liturgy comes from the Old Testament. This is not taken at random but is related to the theme of the Mass for the week. Usually read by a deacon.
3. Chanting of Psalms or hymn.
4. Second Reading normally comes from the Epistles and Letters of the Apostles.
5. Psalm or hymn II
6. New Testament Scripture reading from one of the four gospels. This is read by the bishop.
7. Sermon is delivered by the bishop.
8. Dismissal of all those in attendance who are not baptized believers, the so called Catechumens as practiced in the early years of the church.
PART 2 IS THE RITES OF THE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS, THE EUCHARIST
1. Start with the prayers of the members in attendance. The bishop or deacon would lead the prayers and petitions and the members would answer "hear our prayer". Early Christians typical posture of praying was standing, looking heavenward, with arms outstretched and palms up.
- The bishop offers a greeting
- The members respond
- A kiss of peace. Members offer each other a sign of peace which is a kiss. In the early church its men to men, women to women.
- In the early church, church members brought out their own small loaf of bread and flask of wine. The deacons take them and spread them our on the Lord's table, emptying the flasks of wine into one large silver cup
- The bishop and the members engaged in a liturgical dialogue.
- The bishop led the congregation in prayer
- The bishop and deacon broke the bread and distributed the cup to the members.
- The bread of heaven in Christ Jesus and the member would say "Amen: and eat.
- Unconsumed bread and wine would be taken by the deacon for members who did not make it to the Mass and the communion.
Part 3 is called the Benediction of the bishop saying Depart in Peace.
Non-Catholics don't know that the Catholic Church has liturgical services everyday not just on a Sunday. Holy Mass is said in all the churches everyday from the rising of the sun to the setting so that Malachi 1:11 is fulfilled. The Catholic Church has liturgical calendar which determines which readings from Holy Scripture are to be proclaimed everyday. The Sunday reading are divided into 3 yearly cycles with each cycle concentrates on one of the Synoptic Gospels and all other years contain some readings from the Gospel of John. The readings in the Old Testament and Psalms are selected based on their relations to the Gospel readings. The New Testament epistles are proclaimed from beginning to end. During the period of the celebration of Easte the readings are concentrated in the Book of Acts replacing the Old Testament readings. The liturgical calendar and cycle readings have been copied and adopted by the early protestant churches, the Lutheran and the Episcopal.
For weekday Masses, the readings are divided into 2 yearly cycles such that any day of the year, a member can walk into a Catholic church all over the world where there is a Catholic church and hears the same readings proclaimed. So if a member attends a Mass everyday for 2 years, they would hear about 98% of the New Testament proclaimed and about 85% of the Old Testament proclaimed in the pulpit. No other church denomination and so called Christian religion by thousands of Protestant churches comes even close to the amount of time devoted by the Catholic Church in proclaiming not talking but proclaiming the Holy Scripture in the Holy Mass.
Starting from the greetings of the bishop or priest celebrating the Holy Mass "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all", 2 Corinthians 13:13 to the Dismissal "Thanks be to God" 2 Corinthians 9:15
Bro. Manny OTFS Apologist
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