Some thoughts on attending Mass...

Let me preface the following by saying that I am very passionate about Liturgy. Good liturgy is extremely important to me and Sunday communal celebration of Eucharist is something I truly believe in as a means to make Christ truly present and not just in a little white host.

Some, maybe 15, years ago our Parish conducted a survey as many parishioners were asking for "quiet" Masses on Sunday. Being essentially a tourist and retirement area one can imagine that the majority of the congregation was of the "older" variety. It is now a much younger parish with people making sea-changes to cheap, once weekender, fibro type accommodation as Sydney becomes more and more unaffordable. Plus new housing estates popping up like mushrooms all over the place. The survey asked parishioners did they prefer music with their Eucharist, as in "would you like fries with that?" or did they want no music so they could "pursue" their more private dialogue and devotion to God.

The numbers were so widely spread that it seemed reasonable to offer a choice and so the Vigil was a mass for the 'younger' older still working people, before going out on a Saturday night with more contemporary type religious music. The 7.30 am was the "quiet" Mass. No singing, not even the parts of the Mass that are meant to be sung. This Mass was indeed mainly attended by the retired generations, people raised and married before Vatican ll. These were the same people that were the usual suspects at daily Mass.

The 9am Mass became the "family" mass where people with younger children came and Children's Liturgy of the Word was held and of course Sunday evening was owned by the Youth. Guitars, drums, etc. It seemed like the "ideal" solution that pleased everyone although to me it had a divisive feel about it. Surely we should all be celebrating the same Mass with the same hymns even if at different times. After all we are "one body" and you can't have the feet doing something totally unrelated to the shoulders and the backside sitting down quietly and still be in unity. But then there is unity in diversity isn't there?

Questions...

Now our parish is in a financially "disadvantaged" area and there are many shift workers and many commuters who travel to Sydney to work. This can add up to 4 or more hours to their working day. It isn't always possible for these people to fulfil their Sunday "obligation". Does God really care when we do it? Does the fact that all the celebrations of Eucharist in our Parish are "different" from each other mean that they are not communal and misunderstanding of the meaning of Eucharist? Do the daily communicants, who like their Masses with no frills, mean they are not responding to the call of the Spirit. Surely everyone is entitled to worship and celebrate Eucharist in the most life-giving way for them. Or are they? Eucharist is meant to transform us. If we walk away from our Eucharistic celebration unchanged or indeed changed for the worse i.e. irritable and dissatisfied that we have not worshipped in a life-giving way then indeed we must ask ourselves what it is we just did? Whatever it was it certainly was not Eucharist.

Brian mentioned the other day about some of the very memorable liturgies he has attended over the many years of his Mass going. Most of them are common place and one fades into another with no remarkable stand out moments, but some Liturgies are truly unforgettable. One such liturgy for me was at a week day Mass. I wasn't a daily communicant but if I didn't have to work and I had taken the children to school and Mass was on and I felt the Spirit's call to worship I would go to a daily Mass. Mind you, as a person who loves liturgy, a 'no music' Mass really has something missing in my opinion.

I went to this particular weekday Mass and the usual, perhaps about 30, daily communicants were there, and being fairly active within the parish I knew them all or at least knew something about each of them. When I attended Mass with my family we always sat at the front as the children wanted to "see". When I went on my own I usually sat up the back … in true Catholic form. Daily Mass was quite amusing with the 30 people spread out all over the fairly empty church. Nobody except spouses sat next to one another! The priest would often exhort the people to move closer to the front and together but they never did. So at this weekday Mass I'm sitting at the back of the Church and Mass started and I made all the responses and stood, knelt and sat as required although I don't remember doing any of them. It was all by rote because my mind began to wander.

First of all I spotted old Joe down the front. Joe who would do anything for anyone and had faith that shone out of his every pore. I found myself talking to God about Joe. Asking God to bless him as he hadn't been all that well recently. Then Joe's wife caught my eye and the same thing happened and I remembered their six children and all their grandchildren and the hospitality they had shown to us at their family gatherings and generally thanked God for these people. Next my eyes were on a lady who had lost her husband of many years about 2 years before. They had not been able to have children and so she was very much alone. I had actually nursed him when he was dying. I knew she was still nowhere near having come to terms with his death and how miserable she was and I found myself praying for her and her dear husband. Then another person that had bad asthma became the focus of my prayer, and then another with a bad back, and one who had a severely disabled grandchild recently born and the anguish this had caused. This continued throughout the whole Mass. I went to communion offering it for all the people there in the church and their loved ones. I certainly didn't hear the readings or anything else that was said throughout the entire liturgy, my mind was completely elsewhere. On all those brothers and sisters in my family that were present with me in the Church.

After the Mass I berated myself for not having paid attention to the celebration and started to apologise to God. This lasted for all of about 2 minutes because I felt so light hearted about what I had just experienced. I truly felt I had responded to the Spirit's call and that was not so much to celebrate Eucharist in the host but Eucharist in the community.

More Questions...

Every Sunday we say "and I ask you my brothers and sisters to pray for me to the Lord our God". I wonder how many of us really do that? Wouldn't it be wonderful if you knew that everyone in that church took what they said seriously and indeed were praying for YOU. How often we say those words through habit and rote without giving it another thought except in general terms. How often do you pray for those people who have just asked you to do so?

So let's pray for one another and let's do it any time and in our own way. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God for the people with whom we share our faith and our worship whether it be with music or without. There's room in a church where "here comes everybody" for every body surely and it shouldn't really matter if it be on Sunday or any other day for truly it is "Good for us to be here". God's time is not our time but our time is always God's time.

Oh and HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL DADS.
We give thanks to the FATHER for you all.

KateD

Photo Credits:
Main image: Mass, Parramatta Cathedral, Brian Coyne
Youth Praying image: www.bethel.edu
Packed Cathedral image: Celebration of Archbishop Barry Hickey's 50th Year of Ordination, St Mary's Cathedral, Perth, Brian Coyne. (Normally Barry Hickey does not use the pulpit like this.)
"Home Mass style Liturgy": Adelaide, Brian Coyne
Bottom image: Eucharist, image from the Stations at Parramatta Cathedral, Brian Coyne

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KateD can be contacted at:
KateD <kated@catholica.com.au>

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