Mass is something really boring? (III)

Ability to make ourselves important questions. This is the point. Children when they are small often ask quaint and charming questions even during Mass.  “Daddy, why does Jesus look so sad on the cross?” “Mommy why is the priest wearing that long dress (alb)?”  “Why is there smoke coming out of that silver chain thingy (incense)?” It is when they have learned all about what their eyes, ears, nose, and other senses can tell them that they then grow bored with Mass.  The same can be said of us adults. When we have heard most of the bible stories, know most of the responses, know when we sit and when we stand, have heard most of Father’s homilies we become bored.  If we are raised Catholic then this period of time might even come when we are still adolescents. We know what Mass is all about, and we become bored with it. We then usually fall into one of two mindsets. We go to Mass because it is the right thing to do, or we stop going to Mass. So what is the solution? If we are going to Mass thinking that we know what the Mass is all about, and we just have to go because we are supposed to, then, to use an old phrase, we have “missed the boat.”  Just like the child who gave up on math because he had mastered addition and subtraction, we have in a very real sense given up on Mass. The Mass is meant to be a time whereby we grow in our relationship with God.  When we go to Mass as children we think that going to Mass is about listening to the readings and the homily and then receiving Holy Communion.  This idea of Mass is often carried into our adulthood, and if when are honest about it, we grow bored of Mass.  But this is a child’s understanding of the Mass. Being bored is neutral; being bored is about not receiving what we want.  We want something new when we are bored. When we enter into the adulthood of our faith, we realize that going to Mass is not just about sitting passively listening to the readings and gospel, and then receiving Holy Communion.  When we enter into a true adult faith we realize that going to Mass is about engaging with God himself.  It is about growing in relationship with God Himself. Today is a good time to think about something serious: Do I hold a conversation with you, Jesus when I come to church? Do you talk to me and I hear you, or you talk to me and I do like I do not hear You? ■ Fr Agustin