In her exquisite children’s book, The Weight of a Mass, Josephine Nobisso retells, with some artistic adjustments, a true story recounted about 100 years ago by a priest from Luxembourg: One day, the captain of the guard in a small town was conversing with the town butcher, when an elderly woman entered the shop to beg for some meat.
“I have no money,” she said, “but I’ll hear Mass for you.”
“Fine,” replied the butcher, winking at the captain. “You come back, and I’ll give you what the Mass is worth.”
The woman left and returned a short while later. The butcher wrote on a slip of paper, “I heard Mass for you,” and dropped the paper onto his scale, placing a tiny bone on the other side. The scale did not budge. Removing the bone, he replaced it with a piece of meat. Still no movement. Both men were beginning to regret their earlier mockery.
The butcher examined his scales and, finding them true, tried a larger piece of meat, but still the piece of paper weighed more. “What must I give you? A leg of mutton?” he asked, half irritated, half incredulous. When the leg of mutton failed to outweigh the slip of paper, he bowed to the miraculous and, a converted man, promised the woman a daily ration of meat.
In the captain’s heart, meanwhile, was kindled a new fire of love for the Mass. His two sons grew up to become priests. “I,” concluded the priest telling the story, “am one of those boys.”
What exactly is the weight of the Mass? Indeed, it is of infinite weight, because it is the re-presentation of the God-man’s sacrifice on Calvary. The late Fr. John Neuhaus was fond of saying, “The altar is the axis of the world.” I modified this striking phrase for my students: “The altar is the axis of time,” I told them. “Altar” stands metaphorically for Christ’s sacrifice that is made present again, in an unbloody manner, on the altar. All of time revolves around this sacrifice, because all of time is touched by the grace won by Christ in His passion, death, and resurrection. It is Christ’s self-gift, promised in John 6, given at the Last Supper, and consummated on Good Friday, that enables us to choose virtuously and move toward God at each moment of our lives.
“How is the altar being the axis of time for you right now?” I asked one class. After some vague, theoretical answers had been voiced, one student volunteered hesitantly, “By giving me the strength to pay attention in class?” “Bravo!” I replied. She was shocked that the answer was so easy, but it is, at the same time, a most weighty truth. Each moment we respond to grace, that moment is drawn into the orbit of time around Calvary. When we are attentive students, or conscientious workers, or patient parents, we are drawing on the love poured out from the Cross and renewing the presence of that love.
Sr. Maria Veritas Marks is a member of the Ann Arbor-based Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.
