Wednesday, August 03, 2005

So You Think Mass is Boring?

So You Think Mass is Boring?

(Some Replies)

After seeing and hearing more and more people say that "the Mass is boring," I decided to put a few replies together, which hopefully will make people think twice before saying such silliness.

"I don’t get anything out of Mass."

1. Just what do you think the Mass is, anyway?
2. Of course you do, but grace is not something you can feel.
3. Remember that the Mass is a sacrifice; you offer up yourself along with Jesus.
4. Shouldn’t you be concerned with what God is getting from you?
5. What are you expecting – a door prize?
6. Are you going to Mass expecting to give, or to receive?
7. Oh, and seeing God Himself and hearing His word and receiving Him into your heart is not enough for you. What else could you possibly want?
8. Oh, yeah. And when God hands you a blank check with His Own signature on it, you say that you get nothing out of Mass. (Well, of course you can’t cash it in here; it’s drawn on the First Bank of Heaven, so be careful not to lose it till you get there. You might have a bill to pay.)
9. I never thought that love meant getting something. Do you expect those whom you love to be giving you something all the time?
10. People have risked torture and death to get to Mass. Don’t you wonder what they were getting out of it?

2 Comments:

At 08 August, 2005 07:29, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I used to say I had a difficult time getting anything out of the mass, but not because I thought it was boring. It was hard to go with a baby or child that wouldn't sit still- I did complain one time to a priest, saying I wasn't getting anything out of it as the kids were too distracting- he said to come anyway and ignore the annoyed looks I might be getting. When I joined the choir in the parish where we live now, my youngest was three years old, and sat on my lap throughout the entire Mass, unless we were singing- I would have waited until she was older, but the choir director at the time was an angel who said we were all welcome. Now my oldest, who for many years refused to sit with us in the choir loft, is planning on joining the choir when she's done with college. Little one, who is older now, says not to bother asking...

Yeah, she says that NOW...
:)
Faith

 
At 08 August, 2005 09:57, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Know of one church, not Catholic, that has started a youth ministry for young people. They've brought in amplifiers, and I think provide the words to the music on a big screen...
Kind of like a cross between following the bouncing ball, and karaoke nite.
They blew a fuse at least once.
But they want to at least try a contempory service to attract young people... altho I am not sure that there are that many young people available-
Perhaps they should rethink their stance on b/c...
At first I thought- neat!
Then I thought- aren't we entertained enough in this world?
How much of this is mega-church influence? Not OUR mega-church, of course, but one of the splintered, mini-variety, where each church lives by a set of rules that they have made up- "Biblically correct," but subject to change after a vote where majority rules...
No, I said, not Catholic. They would not do things our way- we're too big, too organized- as opposed to the individual organized splintered denoms, that try to get as big as possible, with their mini-popes in charge...
Is one hour a week of quiet time honoring and giving thanks to our Lord too much to expect from us?
These are very good people, some of whom have done more with less of a religion than some of us Catholics have done with the richness of our Faith- so who am I to say...

 

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