Pretty Darn Epic

Kate Taliaferro shares how her three-year-old provided insights beyond his years into the beauty and reality of the Mass. 

There was a TV show, I don’t know if it’s still airing or not, called Kids Say the Darnedest Things. Usually, the things caught on video were funny, mildly inappropriate, or accidentally inappropriate due to the child’s innocence and pronunciation. Kids really do come up with some pretty funny things. But sometimes, the Holy Spirit speaks through them also, and they can share the most profound truths with the simplest words. 

From the mouths of babes  

This is what happened at Mass with my 3-year-old. He had had a pretty good Mass, nothing wildly out of the ordinary and I’m pretty sure most people around us were undisturbed by his presence. I am always on high alert during the Consecration as this is one of the most crucial moments of the Mass. He was sitting in my lap and again, did pretty well. No major wiggles or outbursts.  

We got to the Great Amen and he sang with me. I love when he sings; it warms my heart and elevates my praise in a whole new way to hear his little voice sing his own praises. As the song concluded, he turned to me and said:  

“Well, that was epic!”  

I was stunned. He’s absolutely right. It is epic. Jesus, in the Eucharist, held up for all to see. The community proclaiming with one voice, “Amen!” “We believe!” “This is the Truth!” It’s epic! 

Epic  

The Mass is epic. Really, it’s indescribable but epic has a certain ring to it. When is the last time you thought about the Mass as awesome or spectacular, two synonyms for epic? At Mass, we are participating in heavenly realities. We are gathered with the angels and saints, with all those who have gone before us and with those who will come after us. We receive, personally and communally, Jesus Himself in His precious Body and Blood.  

The Great Amen  

In one of his talks at the Eucharistic Congress this summer, Father Mike Schmitz spoke about this moment, the moment of the Great Amen. He shared the incredibly epic reality that when the priest elevates the Body and Blood and says the words, “Through him, and with him, and in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours Almighty Father for ever and ever,” in this moment, Jesus is being offered to God the Father, as He offered Himself on Calvary. In those final moments on the Cross, when Jesus cried out, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit,” and He breathed His last, He offered Himself Body, Blood, soul, and divinity, for the salvation of the world.   

When we look at Jesus in the Eucharist, we aren’t just gazing at Him in the bread and wine, we are participating in the sacrifice of Calvary and the restoration of the world. Remember, we are in the midst of heavenly realities. In this moment, when as a community we are together offering Jesus to the Father, we are, in Father Mike’s words, “part of the redemption of humanity.”  

I’d say that’s pretty epic indeed. 

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Copyright 2024 Kate Taliaferro
Images: copyright 2024 Holy Cross Family Ministries, all rights reserved.