The Four Ends of the Mass

1. Adoration – The first reason one should go to prayer is to give God the honor which is due to Him as the Supreme and Perfect Being for everything outside of God was created for this end. The giving of this honor belongs to adoration.

2. Thanksgiving – Next, one should express thanksgiving for all things which God has granted. God has created and maintains in existence, from moment to moment, each individual and all of the goods which each possesses. This gives rise to a seemingly infinite debt which each creature owes to God – a debt which is repaid by acts of thanksgiving.

3. Propitiation (Atonement) – Sin is an offense against God, which the sinner appeases by acts of penance (expiation) which flow from internal sorrow (contrition).

4. Supplication (Petition) – In the last place, one can petition God for necessities and desires, both spiritual and material.

When one goes to prayer, this hierarchy of the ends of prayer should be kept in mind and the time given to each should be proportional to where that type of prayer falls in the hierarchy. It would be improper, therefore, for one to spend the majority of one’s time asking God for things (petition) while only spending a small amount of time, if any, adoring God for His perfections.

As the Mass is a prayer – indeed the greatest of prayers – these four ends can be applied to the Mass as well, as Pius XII indicated in his encyclical on the liturgy, Mediator Dei. It is recommended, then, that before the start of Mass, one prepare by going over the four ends of prayer and indicating the various reasons one is praying and participating in this particular Mass.