CV NEWS FEED // Fr. Mike Schmitz reminded hundreds of attendees at the SEEK24 conference this week that faithful Catholics aren’t just called to watch Mass—they’re supposed to actively worship as “kingdom priests.”
Fr. Schmitz, best known for his videos with Ascension Presents and his chart-topping Bible in a Year podcast, said that too many Catholics view attending Mass as an event to watch or even an experience to get something out of. According to Fr. Schmitz, the purpose of Mass is something else entirely.
“You were not created by the Lord, or consecrated by the Lord, or invited by the Lord to come to Mass every Sunday to watch the priest pray,” Fr. Schmitz said. “You have been consecrated to worship.”
“The heart of religion for all of humanity is worship, and the heart of worship is sacrifice,” he added. “If we miss that, we miss everything. We miss the entire point of the Mass.”
The difference between watching and worshiping, according to Fr. Schmitz, lies in embracing sacrifice and priesthood. Fr. Schmitz said that each baptized Catholic receives a share in the priesthood of Jesus as a “kingdom priest,” which differs from the ministerial capacity of a cleric.
Though the types of priesthood differ, Fr. Schmitz added that the “kingdom priest” role comes with important gifts and responsibilities that are thrown away by only watching the Mass.
“The problem is that most of us end up wasting our priesthood because even if we’re faithful Catholics, we show up to Mass and just watch the priest pray,” he said:
From the moment you are baptized God has given you a role in the Church and job at every single Mass. And that job —with the ministerial priest—is to lift up the sacrifice of the Son to the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit so the Father is glorified and the world is saved.
Fr. Schmitz also emphasized that the role of the kingdom priest in offering the sacrifice of Christ at Mass is different from the role of the ministerial priest. While the kingdom priests aren’t called to literally say the words of the concluding doxology—”through him and with him and in him”—they are called to echo everything the ministerial priest offers with the “Great Amen.”
Fr. Schmitz reminded the audience that “If you’re going to embrace your priesthood you also have to embrace the fact that you’re called to be a sacrifice.”
“You’re on the altar too,” he said. “All of your hopes, all of your dreams, your sufferings, your broken heart, is placed on that altar too and that gets lifted up to the Father. The point of Mass is not to hear the homily, or feel like you prayed—it’s to offer a sacrifice,” Fr. Schmitz continued:
I want none of us to never show up again and just watch the Mass, never just watch the priest pray, never show up and say “what am I going to get,” but from now until the Eternal Mass say “how can I give” and “how can I worship.”
“Go to Mass, and never again waste your priesthood,” he concluded.
