Office of Catholic Schools

28 nity. As John Paul II noted in his first encyclical, Re- demptor Hominis, "The essential commitment and, above all, the visible grace and source of supernat- ural strength for the Church as the People of God is to persevere and advance constantly in Eucharistic life and Eucharistic piety and to develop spiritually in the climate of the Eucharist" (20). The regular cel- ebration of Mass provides the central and primary way of encountering Christ—body, blood, soul, and divinity—and constitutes the central point of each school week. The Eucharist is "the source and sum- mit of the Catholic life" and therefore the source and summit of the life of discipleship in our Catho- lic schools (Lumen Gentium, 11). For students to receive the benefit of the regular celebration of Mass and the sacraments, a regu- lar life of prayer must support their celebration. It is too easy, as we know, for students to remain passive and uninterested during Mass. The solution is not to change the Mass to make it more inter- esting, but to teach students the spiritual realities that occur during the Mass and how to pray during each part of the celebration. The most important part of praying at Mass entails joining with Christ's sacrifice and offering of himself to the Father that is made present during the consecration. It is also important to teach students how to pray silently during Communion. Prayer forms the most im- portant way for students to actively participate in the liturgy. In a practical way, teachers can help students to process what is happening at Mass by giving the students time after Mass to articulate or write what resonated with them during the read- ings or homily and what they experienced. Because of its centrality for the school, Mass should be celebrated as an entire community at least once a week. Upper grades, beginning in middle school,

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