Did The Catholic Church Exist In Heaven Before Humans Were Created ?

[Guest]

Did the angels attend mass and take communion ?

[pan!c139]

No, the angels did not have Mass or Communion - they already had the Beatific Vision, and were and are in total union with God anyways. The saints and angels in Heaven don't have Mass there now, although they are present at our Masses.

I think the Catholic Church itself was established for our salvation, so I don't think it existed when there was only Heaven.

Good question.

[Guest]

[quote name='pan!c139' post='1652620' date='Sep 10 2008, 07:38 PM']No, the angels did not have Mass or Communion - they already had the Beatific Vision, and were and are in total union with God anyways. The saints and angels in Heaven don't have Mass there now, although they are present at our Masses.

I think the Catholic Church itself was established for our salvation, so I don't think it existed when there was only Heaven.

Good question. [/quote]

O ok, cool.
So what is the beatific vision ? I have heard of it but not sure exactly what it means ?

[pan!c139]

Beatific Vision is basically seeing God face to face - you're perfectly happy.

[Guest]

sign me up

[pan!c139]

Srsly. Haha.

[abercius24]

I would say that in the beginning there were 3 members of the Church, Father, Son and Holy Spirit -- the Blessed Trinity. Where there is legitimate worship, there is the Church. And we know that the Son has always offered worship to the Father. In fact, by definition the Son worships the Father. And though I have never heard anyone in the Western tradition discuss it, I believe that all 3 members of the Blessed Trinity offer worship to each other by their very nature.

And there has always been liturgy in heaven -- especially on the part of the angels. The "Holy, Holy, Holy" is an angelic liturgy in itself (Revelation 15:7).

As far as the Mass in heaven goes, I don't think it became a part of the heavenly liturgy until Christ's ascension into heaven, where He first offered Himself in bodily form as a sufficient victim upon the heavenly altar within the heavenly Holy of Holies (Hebrew 9:24-26).

But our mass on earth IS in fact a participation in the heavenly liturgy -- both the angelic aspect and the sacrificial aspect offered by Christ Himself.

Edited September 11, 2008 by abercius24

[Guest]

[quote name='abercius24' post='1652678' date='Sep 10 2008, 09:35 PM']But our mass on earth IS in fact a participation in the heavenly liturgy -- both the angelic aspect and the sacrificial aspect offered by Christ Himself.[/quote]

Thats pretty cool and amazeing.

[pan!c139]

Fa sho.

[Guest]

do work

[pan!c139]