Blessing and Adoration

The first and most important end of the Mass is adoration. To adore is to worship, praise, and glorify God. Sometimes the Mass is actually called the “sacrifice of praise” primarily because through the Mass we join in Jesus’ own praise of his Father. This is the most important end because to adore God is the greatest action we can ever do – it is what we shall do for all eternity in heaven.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes the Mass as “the source and summit of the Christian life” (CCC1324), meaning that everything we do in our lives as Christians is directed to the Mass (summit), and everything receives its impetus (source) from the Mass. And of course we also worship the Eucharist itself in the Mass (and also after the Mass before Jesus in the Tabernacle) “by, among other ways, genuflecting or bowing deeply as a sign of adoration of the Lord” (CCC1378).