March 7, 2015
Do you struggle with prayer? I do. Sometimes it is easy. Sometimes it is difficult. Sometimes I wonder what I'm doing. Sometimes I feel like such an amateur even though I have trying in one way or another since birth (I was spiritually precocious!) Sometimes I am in a routine. I do try many different types of prayer. Will talk about them in future blogs. But I want to start in Part One with the Mass.
I'm not going to fill this particular blog with lots of theological jargon, but rather hope to share what the Mass means to me and why I believe it is so important.
Even though you might not look at the Mass actually as a prayer, it is in fact the best possible prayer we have. It is certainly my favorite prayer. Obviously, during the course of a Mass, there are many kinds of prayers: readings, hymns, prayers to God, prayers with each other, prayers seeking help, prayers praising God, and the most intense communion with God in the Eucharist. My favorite description or possible definition of Mass is that the Mass is the Church at her best. For me, that says it all.
If there was no prayer than the Mass, I would be absolutely fine with that because I do not believe we can identify with God any better than with the Mass. In a parish, the Eucharist, the Mass, must be the most important experience that takes place. It is certainly the experience that touches the largest number of parishioners.
I will readily concede that my experience of Mass is going to be different than your experience at Mass. To lead the community at a liturgy is far different than being in the congregation (or worshipping community or whatever word makes the most sense to you). This May, I'll enter into my 42nd year of celebrating the liturgy. In the time, I have experienced so many different emotions and so many different perspectives.On those very few times when I have been in the pew, rather than at the altar, I get very fidgety. I find it distracting. And boy, am I critical of the priest, especially the homily. When I'm really surprised by the quality and wisdom of a homily, I'm delighted.
As a result of whatever is taking place in my life or the parish's life or friends' lives or the world or the institutional Church, I know that I have
been happy
been bored
been lifted up
been angry
been discouraged
been aware of God speaking through me
been connecting with the people in the Church
been changed
been embarrassed or upset that I was not doing a good job
been just peaceful
been happy
and, more often than not, been joyful.
I believe that the Scriptures can speak to us (while conceding that the readings may often go right past us when we're distracted). Often, but not always, they speak to me and I try to find ways to connect people's lives with the timeless truths and presence of God that comes through the Scriptures.
I believe that the music can connect us and help us both go inside ourselves and also connect with everyone else so that we all connect with God. We're so blessed here to have wonderful music. It is something that helps my joy - and hopefully everyone else's joy.
I believe that being part of the experience of changing the bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus at Mass - well, it does not get any better than this. Why? This sums up everything - why we're created; why it is safe to hope; why we must pray for each other; why we must change the world for the better, or at least, change ourselves; why God connects with our lives; why Jesus is real and makes an absolute difference.
In the Mass, I believe all of these things and more.
A special experience for me is the morning Mass during the week. Generally, the same people are there. Sometimes strangers, sometimes people who are there for a particular purpose or need. I look forward to being with them.
Then, the weekend liturgy. If, on an incredibly rare occasion, I am not at the parish for the weekend liturgies, I'm really bummed. It truly makes my week. It sums up what I want to be in the next week. I could not imagine being absent from the weekend liturgy. It is so great seeing everyone who has come to worship God - and to connect with each other. May I selfishly mention that it is also incredibly exhausting - because I do try to put every ounce of concentration and conviction into those liturgies. (Am I always successful? Nah. Do I want to be? Yeah, big-time.)
I do know that we have a huge problem in the entire Church with many people who have not been convinced that the Mass is so important and that they should participate at Mass on the weekends. At some point in these blogs, I'll develop some thoughts and share them with you.
I have my own thoughts on why many people do not come to Mass. We do have to deal with the situation where people, almost with pride, proclaim that they're not religious, but they are spiritual. Here's my short take on those types of statements: We go to Mass simply because Jesus asked us to do this in his memory. It's about our relationship with Jesus. (Let me lapse into theological jargon for a couple of sentences.) Jesus reveals to us the love of God. Jesus died for us. Jesus was raised from the dead. Jesus conquered sin and death - and so will we - because God never ever abandons the ones that God loves. Jesus has saved us. It is that simple. It is that profound. It is that primal.
(Although I'll write about why people don't go to church at greater length in the future, here are some things just bursting to come out now.) I know that people are turned off by awful preaching. I believe that people are turned off by liturgies and homilies that are much too long. People are turned off by homlies where they were several times that seemed like the ending and the priest just merrily moved on to other thoughts. I believe that people are turned off by theatrics from a priest. I believe that people want to be uplifted, encouraged, and (here's that word again) receive joy. I believe that people don't want to struggle in order to understand what the priest is saying or have to listen to theological jargon that does not connect with their lives.
Sound systems have to be good. Pews have to be comfortable. When you walk into a Church, if the spirit is not immediately welcoming, people will seldom return. There are so many things that can be easily addressed. A liturgy has to show that the priest and those who plan the liturgy understand that there are people in the congregation ranging from 0 years old to 100 years old, people who hear well or have difficulty hearing, people who see well or have difficulty seeing. Do liturgical planners realize that people have different attention spans, different abilities of concentration, different styles of learning, and so many things when they come into church that have happened in their lives that it takes a superhuman effort to reach them?
The Mass does not have to be complicated. It should flow - and not "stop and start" many times because of some type of liturgical gesture or additional homily or commentary that is not integral to the actual rite. Flow. Flow. Flow. The music should match the actions taking place in the liturgy and not vice versa. I have a personal theory that I call the "annoyance factor." People have a certain level of tolerance of annoyances in Sunday liturgy. You exceed that level and they won't come back.
It occurs to me that, rather than writing on prayer (Part One) in this blog, I seem to have ascended to a soapbox. So I will stop doing that for now. Sorry about that.
I want to end this blog by saying some summary things about the Mass: It is the very best thing about being Catholic. There is no better way to get closer to Jesus. People are so good and understanding of their priests' foibles. Despite us, they keep coming back. God, they're wonderful - and so full of faith. That makes it all worthwhile.
LENTEN RESOLUTION SCOREBOARD - FOR YESTERDAY - WHAT WAS KEPT - WHAT WAS NOT
H - Yes;
B - Yes;
P1 - No;
P2 - No;
S - Yes