Hebrews 13:15-17, 20-21 / Mark 6:30-34
The Mass is indeed truly the praise and worship of the Catholic Church.
It is in the liturgy that we offer to God an unending sacrifice of praise, a verbal sacrifice that is offered every time we acknowledge His name, as the 1st reading puts it.
Hence our prayers and responses at Mass should be truly from the heart and offered with reverence to God.
Yet this unending sacrifice of praise is not just a verbal praise. The 1st reading continues by saying "keep doing good works and sharing your resources, for these are sacrifices that please God."
The 1st reading also has a reminder for the clergy in that "they must give an account of the way they look after your souls."
Hence the priest who offers the sacrifice of the Mass to God on behalf of the people, must also work for the salvation of their souls.
In the gospel, we see how Jesus the High Priest cared for the souls of the people. He had intended to bring His apostles to a quiet place to rest.
But when He stepped out of the boat, He saw the large crowd and He took pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and He set Himself to teach them at some length.
Let us pray that priests will always have the loving heart of the Good Shepherd and care for the souls of God's people.
And let us pray that we will also offer to the world the loving heart of God. That will be the sacrifice that we will offer at Mass.