Pope: The Altar Brings Heaven to Earth

"The altar of sacrifice becomes in a certain way the point of encounter between heaven and earth; the center, we could say, of the one Church that is at the same time heavenly and in pilgrimage on earth."

ALBANO, Italy (Zenit.org) - For apologies that are hard to accept and people that are hard to forgive, the Mass is the key to opening our souls to reconciliation, says Benedict XVI.The Pope said this today when he celebrated a Mass and dedicated the altar at the Cathedral of Albano, near the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo.

"How can we present ourselves divided and far from each other at God's altar," the Holy Father asked. "May this altar upon which the sacrifice of the Lord will soon be renewed be for you, dear brothers and sisters, be a constant invitation to love; always draw near to it with a heart open to the love of Christ and to spreading it, to receiving and bestowing forgiveness."

"Every time that you come to the altar for the Eucharistic celebration your soul opens to forgiveness and fraternal reconciliation, ready to accept the apologies of those who have hurt you and ready, in turn, to forgive," the Pontiff affirmed.

He added: "In the Roman liturgy the priest, having offered the bread and wine, bows toward the altar and prays in a low voice: 'Lord, we ask you to receive us and be pleased with the sacrifice that we offer with humble and contrite hearts.' The priest thus prepares to enter, together with the whole assembly of the faithful, into the heart of the Eucharistic mystery, into the heart of that celestial liturgy to which the second reading, taken from the Book of Revelation, refers. [...]

"The altar of sacrifice becomes in a certain way the point of encounter between heaven and earth; the center, we could say, of the one Church that is at the same time heavenly and in pilgrimage on earth, where, in the midst of the persecutions of the world and God's consolations, the Lord's disciples proclaim his passion and death until he returns in glory."

The Eucharistic celebration thus mysteriously shows the splendor of the Church, Benedict XVI stated, "'immaculate bride of the immaculate Lamb, Bride that Christ loved and gave himself up for to make her holy.'"