"Lord may I celebrate this Holy Mass as if it were my first, my last, my only Mass."
The above words keep on returning to the priest in prayer. He remembers seeing the words in a sacristy where he was invited to say Mass not long after ordination. The words left a lasting impression on him.
However, at this time in life, he thinks it is not only the Mass that needs this kind of attention but everything that is given to us to do as members of the mystical body of Christ. Each day that we are given in life should be lived with this attitude.
Therefore how does one accept the mission that the Lord gives us as the first, the last, and the only mission in everything we do. Jesus tells us in the sending of the apostles in Matt. 10:9-10. "Provide yourself with neither gold nor silver no copper in your belts, no traveling bag, no change of shirts, no sandals no walking staff." When we are concerned with too many things what is important is often missed. "You are anxious and upset about many things one thing only is required" (Luke 10: 41-42).
There is something else that is important besides money, a traveling bag, or a change of clothes for they are necessary for the places you will be going not in the here and now of the present mission. Where I am present should be as if the first place, the last place, and the only place— the here and now of the present is where I am to give my all, and doing this you prepare for the next 'here and now'.
We as Christians are living in God's kingdom now. We honor the call that the Lord has entrusted to us as if it were the first, last, and only time, and realized by living with sincerity, considering the ‘here and now’ as the place of salvation, not 'in the past' or 'somewhere next'. Salvation takes place 'here and now'.
At the beginning of his public ministry, Jesus opens the book of Isaiah in the Nazareth synagogue and reads: "The spirit of the Lord is upon me; therefore he has anointed me. He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and release to prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the Lord" (Luke 4: 18-19).
After saying this he turns to the congregation and says: "Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing." Jesus is inviting us now in the here and now of the present to carry this out in the ways possible to us.
Each moment of our lives we are being saved, renewed, and given graces. Jesus is being raised again in our lives daily.
