Fr. Dave Pivonka, President of Franciscan University, stated in his Holy Spirit podcast on Hallow, that there are 350-thousand Masses celebrated around the world each day. I had to pause and let that sink in. That’s both staggering and amazing! My little grey cells started thinking about the numbers. That’s four Masses beginning every second. WOW!

To begin to grasp this enormous amount we can start by looking at some areas just in the U.S. Take for example the four-corner states of: Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, together there are over 800 places where Mass celebrated.

A quick search on Google reported, “As of June 21, 2024, the Catholic Church in its entirety comprises 3,172 ecclesiastical jurisdictions, including over 652 Archdioceses and 2,250 Dioceses.”

I can’t even wrap my head around what that equals in actual parishes and Masses.

Wikipedia credits the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, “With over five million professing members and weekly liturgies celebrated in 32 languages, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles is numerically the single largest and most ethnically diverse archdiocese in the United States.” This boils down to about 1,073 parishes, most offering daily Mass.

Still, this only represents a minuscule part of the whole world.

Saint Maximilian Kolbe wrote, “The Holy Mass is the greatest act of love we can offer to God.”

Three hundred and fifty thousand times a day, God is Present on altars around the world, so that we can receive Him in the Eucharist, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.

God is ever present to us, and closer than the air we breathe.

The Omnipotent Almighty God constantly makes Himself substantially available to us. Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity, became one of us through the Incarnation. Jesus understands what challenges we go through every day. We need Him to help us make sense of suffering.

There’s nothing we experience that He hasn’t already experienced.

Loss, hunger, loneliness, sadness, suffering, rebukes, betrayals, rejection. Joys, anguish, laughter, beauty, and even death. Go to Him and offer to Him all that challenges you in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

When I began working for the Catholic Church over twenty-five years ago, I was clueless about where to start.
But I knew who to start with.

I began attending daily Mass and fell totally in love with God and the beauty, mystery and intentionality of the Mass. I paid attention by opening my heart to Him who gave everything. The ministry was directed by God and bore endless fruit. He was there guiding me, attracting people who shared their gifts by filling the various voids where I was lacking. His generosity was evident and overwhelming. God is a generous provider.

Saint John Vianney said, “If we really understood the Mass, we would die of joy.

Though I am retired now, I still attend Mass every day. Christ feeds and sustains me.

Did you know each Mass includes over 125 Bible references, more than any other form of worship?

God desires to be worshipped through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. For over two thousand years, Catholics have done so in remembrance and obedience.

“Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.” And likewise, the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you.” (LK 22:1-20)

There is no need to make up our own form of worship. We weren’t left having to figure it out . He gave us the Mass. And only the Mass is the Mass.

“Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.”
John 6:53-56

He didn’t back down on this teaching. It is not a symbol, a mere reenactment with grape juice or a hypothetical statement. He didn’t mince words and made it perfectly clear by following it up with a demonstration at the Last Supper.

Jesus said, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13

He left us the Mass and then gave up His life as the Sacrificial Lamb of God. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has the power to transform and feed us.

Jesus couldn’t have been clearer. Never let distractions or petty excuses keep you away. Not the music, orientation, preaching, presider or location. Your presence and participation matter.

“It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass.

St. Pio of Pietrelcina

It’s that essential!