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Eucharist: Miracle of Presence

28 Mar

Photo by Ray Hosler

Nighttime is like our faith in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. There is light, beautiful light, but more is promised with the dawn of greater understanding.

“Eucharist” can mean different things to different people; it is more than any human can fathom; it is mystery – but, in faith, a mystery that excites one’s imagination and offers an intimate experience of God.

The ‘Way’ We Enter into Eucharist

Eternity is timeless – no beginning and no end. It is a perpetual NOW. Everything Jesus did on earth is eternally present to the Father. So in the Mass, you enter into the one reality of salvation – all of salvation history. You especially enter into the reality of the Last Supper, the passion and death of Jesus, his resurrection and appearance to his disciples.

You are there – in the Upper Room, on Calvary, at the empty tomb, on the way to Emmaus. In real-time, you experience what is eternal. That’s the power of the liturgy.

For just a moment, reflect on some of the parts of the Mass to see how we enter into Eucharist.

The Liturgy of the Word

After the entrance hymn and procession, the expression of sorrow for sin and the opening prayer, you enter into the Liturgy of the Word, the great “listening” part of the Mass.

  • First, there are the Old Testament readings. God speaks to us today through ancient history – we witness the creative, saving and majestic power of God, and the frequent faithlessness of his chosen people; we hear the voices of the prophets and  join in the praise of the psalms.  This is more than a mere remembering of the Old Testament: We live it because it is the living, powerful word of God. He speaks to us now as he did back then to the Hebrews.

  • Then, in real-time, we enter into the eternal presence of Jesus and the timelessness of his own words. The Holy Spirit brings to life those sacred words from Paul and the other writers; Jesus speaks to us today in the gospels; we see him manifest his power in miracles and his mercy in forgiving sinners.

The Offertory

In the Offertory, we are offering more than money. We bring to the altar our entire lives. In gratitude, we offer the Father all the blessings we receive – food, clothing, shelter, family, friends, faith and hope. We also bring to the altar our pain, weakness, temptation and our sinfulness. We bring all this to Jesus who has died for us, to Jesus whose death and resurrection we will witness in real-time in just a few minutes.  

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

It can seem like mere replaying of a scene from Passion Sunday – “Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” That was the cry of the people who spread their cloaks and palm leaves before the Lord who came into Jerusalem on the first day of Holy Week, the week in which he was to be betrayed, suffer, die and rise again.

But those words ring out in history, find root in our own hearts as we this day cry out: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

He is coming, really coming – right here in our midst, here on our altar. We are going to receive him, the Bread of Life, our Savior, our Lord and our Brother. He comes to us, not riding on an ass, but as food for mind, body, spirit and soul. This is really Jesus –Son of God, Son of Man, Son of Mary.

He comes to us and we are made one in him. We draw ever closer to the Father, in the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit.

The Eucharistic Prayer

It is through the power of the Holy Spirit, sent by the Father and the Son, that we have the Eucharist.

Just think about the words of the Eucharistic Prayer: 

“Make holy, therefore, we pray, by sending down your Holy Spirit like the dewfall, so that they may become for us the Body and the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Think, too, of the words of consecration: “This is my Body given up for you,” and “This is my Blood poured out for you…” I added the emphasis because Jesus is acting freely. He is giving and pouring out – for love of us. He is dying in obedience to the Father – for your sake and mine.

In the face of such a gift of salvation, we may want to pray: “How, dear Lord, can I respond to such selfless and pure love? Help me, Lord to live and die for you.”

Then, with the priest, we address the Father: “Through him, with him and in him all honor and glory are yours Almighty Father …” And we respond with a great “Amen!”

  • There is a great truth here. We know that we go to the Father only through Jesus. And we want to go with him. But it’s important to realize what it means to go IN him.
  • IN HIM, we are the Body of Christ. In him, we call God Father. In him, by the grace of baptism, you can look at God intimately and say, “Father, I am your son” or “Father, I am your daughter.

The Lord’s Prayer

When we pray together the Lord’s Prayer, we are doing more than merely saying words Jesus taught us to say. It is no stretch, because we are the Body of Christ, to see ourselves with our Lord and those early disciples who have just asked Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray.”

  • We pray together, with Jesus, to the Father. We join with Jesus and we pray “through him and with him and in him.”

  • In your personal and private prayer, have you ever asked the Lord Jesus to pray with you this prayer to our Father? Try it. You may well experience a new depth in prayer. Think for a moment on one particular phrase in the Our Father: Forgive us … as we forgive others. What comes to mind? Jesus on the Cross? Jesus in his agony praying for his executioners and tormentors – and for you and me? “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

The Greeting of Peace

This is a very important action of worship. It acknowledges that we are one in Christ, that we love one another that we want to be close to one another in the Lord. The peace greeting also underscores the need to forgive one another. How can you honestly offer peace with anger and resentment in your heart? As you wish peace to those immediately around you, you offer it to everyone in your parish church and to all believers worldwide – for, you see, we are one body in the One Lord.

The Plea for Mercy

Anyone who believes in God must admit he or she is indeed a sinner and in need of God’s mercy. We also pray for peace of mind, heart and soul, for peace in our Church and in our world.

“Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us … grant us peace.”

Behold the Lamb of God!

Here is the proclamation of prophesy fulfilled!

“Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world.”

Here is the Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice once and for all.

The Hidden Mystery

There! There it is! The hidden mystery – the truth and completion of Communion: When you receive communion, you receive the total Christ – his Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. Since his divine nature is the one and same nature he shares with the Father and Holy Spirit, you receive, “through him and with him and in him,” the Father and the Spirit.

You enter ever more deeply into the divine life of the Most Holy Trinity. You affirm your communion with all the saints. The saints are one with God. You and I are one in God. We are all together in God, basking in his merciful and everlasting love.

The Sending

But being in God’s love is not the end of the Mass. The command is there: “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.” Go and make disciples, the Lord tells us, share my love with all people of every nation, show them the joy of living in faith, expand my kingdom on earth.

And enthusiastically we say, “Amen!”

“So be it! We believe! We live for the Lamb of God!”

The desire and need to belong

2 Mar

Family

Belonging to God is belonging to his family, the Church.

It was, in one way, nostalgic.

But, it was also new and exciting.

A trip Louisiana, for a parish mission, put me in the midst of my Cajun culture. The same warm-hearted people with the same “never give up” conviction that, in the end, all will be well.

What’s new? The older generation was very literate. Of course they were. Our generation was one of the first that, in great numbers was able to attend and graduate from high school – and many more went on to higher education.

Prior to our generation, especially in rural areas, kids often dropped out of school to work on the farm or otherwise help support their families.

The mission was in Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in the city of Scott, which shares a boundary with Lafayette. Father Thomas Voorhies is pastor and his associate is Father Mario Romero – both full-bloodied Cajuns, at least by our own definition of Cajun.

And, I realized anew how easy it is to belong in Cajun land. There is no place on earth warmer than a Cajun heart. You want to belong? You belong.

It’s amazing, that precious sense of belonging. And I knew I belonged there just as surely as I belong in Florida, in the Diocese of Orlando, and in St. Mary Magdalen Parish in Altamonte Springs.

The theme of the mission was growth in our Catholic faith –to respond to Jesus’ call to follow him, to enter into a deeply personal relationship with him, to delve more deeply into Holy Scripture, to realize more fully the meaning of the Mass and to revisit marriage as missionary and a witness to the Eucharist.

I was deeply impressed with the dedication of the priests and the enthusiasm and commitment of the parishioners.

So, one insight gained over the weekend and three nights of the mission is the need, sometimes smothered in distractions, to belong to God.

 So, if you wish, begin to pray for the “sense of belonging” to God. Then move into a prayer that says, “Lord, I want to belong to you.” Finally, you will be able to pray with all sincerity and fervor, “Lord, I belong to you.”

Belonging to God – that’s the best “belonging” of all.

Old Friends

25 Jan

But the present, built on the past, means good for all.

True friends are like a rock, a solid place on which to stand — and a refreshing breeze in the heat of the day.

Discard not an old friend,

for the new one cannot equal him.

A new friend is like new wine

            which you drink with pleasure

            only when it has aged.  (Sir 9:10)

 Their names are like a litany – Raywood, Linwood, Sigur, Fortier, Bert, Jim, Ed, David – and the litany could go on and on.

Friends all. Old friends. Tried and true friends – the kind who love you enough to tell you the truth, to challenge you when you are off base, to embrace you when you suffer, to laugh and celebrate with you the wonderful, happy things in life.

Love makes life make sense – the love of husband and wife, the love of parent and child, the love of friends.

Love “makes” God real.

“God is love and he who lives abides in God and God in him” (1 Jn 4:16b).

I want to be that kind of friend. I hope I am.

Jesus is.

 

 

Can’t go home …

18 Jan

The Cross of Christ calling multitudes to salvation, calling you and me, calling our family. Givng us identity, continuity. Letting us help God in making and remaking sociiety into an image of his Kingdom.

The Cross of Christ — calling the multitudes, all of humanity, into the saving embrace of God; calling you and me and our families into the great mystery of God’s love; promising relevance and meaning — and, yes, a sense of continuity; sending us into the world, poor little us, with the great message of hope and salvation.

I stood on the small bridge spanning the canal of muddy, oil-streaked and fertilizer polluted water. This canal lies between the rural communities of Henry and Boston in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana – real Cajun Country.

The canal was not always polluted. Years before, my brother and I had stood on that same bridge and we could see garfish swimming along. And we fished there for gar and perch.

But on that day, I was thinking back to my youth, remembering that on this road, now black-topped but then only gravelled, a bunch of us boys would leisurely ride or race our horses in all kinds of weather. And we helped fathers and uncles herd cattle over this road to better grazing or to trailers that would take them to the livestock sale held in Abbeville.

I had driven past our old homestead west of Henry. The huge barn was gone, as was the dairy. The house seemed small and mournful. Grass in the pasture was fighting drought – the pasture where we had our cows and a couple of horses. Behind the house was more acreage. It now seemed unused from what I could see, but in my day, that land had grown cotton, corn and soybeans.

As I stood on that little bridge, I remembered the times my friends and I went skinny dipping down a distance from this road, walking on the canal bank braving water moccasins and briars. I remember the relish with which I enjoyed feeling the tepid water wash over my skin. Was it maybe reminiscent of the womb?

I had stopped by Landry Cemetery to visit my parents’ tomb – and the ones of my paternal grandparents and uncles and aunts. Father Verheem is buried there, far from his native Holland. I served Mass for him until I was 25 or so.

Is this the way it all ends? You lie in a lonely cemetery, deep in the woods, far from living people – is this the only proof that you ever existed?

So much has changed: The one store in Boston is no more; the three stores in Henry and the canning center are no more – and the school was destroyed by Katrina.

Our parish church, St. John the Evangelist, remains to this day – but now it is elevated against the threat of future floods.

Nothing is the same. It’s all changed. Somehow, part of me is gone – but then, there is more of me than there was before: I have my own family, and it has grown in leaps and bounds; I had my profession in the Catholic Press and I am writing still; now in Florida, my fellow parishioners at St. Mary Magdalen’s are also family to me.

No, I can’t go back home — and I don’t want to go back. It was good then. But it’s good now, even great.

I am home! Peg and I have become home to three more generations – for that is where home is, in the heart of family.

And now, in this Year of Faith, in this call to a renewal of faith, to a new energy in bringing the word of God to all peoples in the world, now, family takes on a new dimension. By nature we belong to the family of man. By grace, we belong to the family of God. Through the Cross of Christ and his resurrection, through the power of Pentecost and the call of a multitude of starving souls, we go into the world,

We go with the Cross of Christ as our banner, with his Word as our Light and the Spirit as our Force. We go into the world, with courage and vision — the courage of the Christ on the Cross and the vision of the Father who calls all peoples to himself.

To pray with Jesus, Part 2

21 Nov

Moving into the essence of God seems at once a distant unreachable height or a depth obscured by our own confusion over who and what we are in relation to God. Jesus came to help us through that.

In my Nov. 8 blog, “To Pray with Jesus,” I asked you, dear readers, to share with me your experience in asking Jesus to pray the Lord’s Prayer with you.

Oh, oh, no takers.

Perhaps it was rather presumptuous of me to ask you to share something so personal. It’s just that personal insights are a great gift from God and are often too precious to be locked up in the depths of one’s heart and soul.

“Bloom where you are planted,” the old adage goes. Yes, bloom where you are planted, but pollinate, pollinate and pollinate some more. (Perhaps this metaphor stretches “pollinate,” but … oh well.)

Let’s move to the mind of Jesus as he prayed that perfect prayer. He prayed in his human nature, as a man whose humanity was created by God but as the Son of God who is coequal with the Father and the Spirit. This is a great mystery – but we can’t downplay either his humanity or his divinity without belying the mystery of the Incarnation – and therefore the reality of our salvation through the birth, life, passion, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. In Jesus, his divine and human natures are distinct. His divine nature did not in any way cause him to live a lesser humanity. His humanity did not detract from his divine nature.

So, when Jesus of Nazareth taught us to pray the Our Father, he prayed as a human being – a human being free from any taint of sin, a human being who was totally obedient to the Father. He was the New Adam, the One who was to reverse the sin of Adam and Eve and reconcile us with the Father. He did this in his human nature. But we can never forget that the Son of God assumed to himself this human nature, so it was God who became one of us in all things except sin.

Our Father …

God is indeed Father of the Son – but Jesus, in  his humanity, says, “Our Father.” This is the astounding truth his entire life and death reveal to us. God is our Father. This was a new revelation his disciples might not have fully understood until after his resurrection and ascension. He is more “Father” than we realized before Jesus came to us. Jesus spoke of the Father as “Abba,” an intimate and endearing name equivalent to “Daddy” or “Dad.”

In calling God “our Father,” Jesus makes it clear that he is one with us, one of us, the One for us – and when we surrender to him and enter into his life and love for all humanity, we are one IN him and the Father.

… in heaven:

Here is a danger – a cloudy understanding of heaven can keep us distant from our Abba, our Father. Heaven, for us, is often something way out there, way beyond our mental and emotional grasp. Jesus brought heaven to earth. God is heaven. When we go to heaven we go to and into God. So, heaven, Jesus wants us to understand, is present here and now when we are united to the Father. But heaven is not yet fully realized.

This “heaven-here-and-now” is however veiled and tarnished by distress, anxiety, sin and suffering. But it need not be so. The Church offers us the sacraments of life, of mercy and of healing. The Spirit gives us understanding and wisdom. In faith, we can find God’s mercy and wisdom in any given situation. I am reminded of a parishioner who was dying with cancer. She brought joy and courage into the lives of families and friends. She faced death with courage and, I would say, with peace and joy.

For her, “heaven-here-and-now” was not totally veiled, not totally tarnished.

… holy is your name: To be continued.

Life is precious

17 Aug

New life — soft, helpless, totally dependent. A reminder of how fragile life is, also how precious and enduring. The gift of life: pass it on, nurture it, bless it; hold it in reverence.

In all honesty, it seems to me, that radical feminists belittle women who want to make their families a priority, who do not think of themselves as baby factories simply because they want more than two or three children. (I remember telling one young woman who didn’t want more than one child, herself the fourth in her family, “I bet you’re glad your mom didn’t feel that way.”)

This radical stance against new life, along with those “enlightened freethinkers” who support gay marriages, is rooted in a falsehood so deep and twisted that, perhaps falling short of diabolical, it is at least perverted. But then, it would seem by their standards that people of faith are not enlightened; they are not free thinkers.

People of faith are indeed free – and they are thinkers who weigh all factors in making a decision about how they will live as whole human beings. They give attention to how they fit into God’s creation – how they are part and parcel of God’s plan for the world.

How can anyone respect a “liberation” that negates the very dignity of the human person, that equates truth with anyone’s personal preference and calls a human in the womb mere matter? And it is mystifying that any woman (or man) who claims to be Catholic can publicly or even privately support abortion.

Years ago, I wrote an editorial for The Florida Catholic weekly newspaper in which I stole a line from a dear friend: “If you are so much in favor of abortion, why not make it retroactive?” Even the liberal daily picked that one up.

I think these “liberated” women are actually victims of ignorance or have consciously rejected God-revealed truth. If victims, they are victims of manipulation by forces in society that, again through malice or error, want to make humans their own creator and subject to nothing that causes any strain to the brain – or discomfort to the big, all important “ME.”

God is Creator and Father. He created you to be free – gave you free will and intelligence. God leaves you free to enter into the highest freedom – into a communion of love with him and all others, and the strength and power to do so. The real issue is human life – the dignity and sacredness of human life and true happiness and the utmost experience of freedom.

Friends for Life

26 Jul

This cute little fellow, Bambi by name, was a Christmas gift from a coworker and friend. Lucy, whose sense of humor remains unsurpassed, decided I needed to be chided for “killing Bambi.” I was at one time an avid deer hunter. Increasing costs and aching old bones make it all but impossible for me to hunt anymore.

So rest, easy, Lucy. “Bambi” is safe — from me, at least. … Well, who knows?

But this is not about deer hunting or its pros and cons. It’s about friendship, the kind of friendship that lasts on and on and on. I’m happy to say that in our staff at The Florida Catholic, when I was editor and manager, we had a great team, great relationships and strong professional and affectionate bonds.

I know I was their friend — but I was also convinced they were my friends. There is a difference, you know. You can be my friend, but I can fail miserably to be your friend.

I started musing about reciprocal friendship and one-way friendship when I reflected on the words of Jesus at the Last Supper:

“I call you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go out and bear fruit that will remain …” (Jn 15:15b-17).

How often have I failed to be a friend to Jesus, failed to resist temptation, to help a needy person, to work untiringly for the Kingdom. And yet, he has continuously been my Friend, my Savior, my Lord. He has never stopped loving me, forgiving me.

What a great Church we would be if we all were able to live in God’s grace, in reciprocal friendship with him and with one another.

Perhaps that’s why our efforts to bring peace and faith into the world have met with somewhat limited success — we have not truly been friends to those who most need to know God’s love and mercy.

Are our own human friendships— with that sense of hospitality we have with one another, that desire to spend time together — a taste of what reciprocal friendship with God will be like?

Marriage in the Year of Faith

25 Jul

Holiness rises above the cloudiness of stress and confusion. A holy marriage rises above the misconceptions about love and family. Society today needs the solid witness of good marriages and families.

“In rediscovering (Christ’s) love day by day, the missionary commitment of believers attains force and vigour that can never fade away. Faith … makes us fruitful, because it expands our hearts in hope and enables us to bear life-giving witness: indeed it opens the hearts and minds of those who listen to respond to the Lord’s invitation to adhere to his word and become his disciples.” (Pope Benedict XVI, “Porta Fidei,” No. 7.)

Marriage is rooted in that agape love of Christ and his disciples; it is given to man and woman for personal sanctification and for providing a safe place for their children (Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity, No. 11, Vatican Council II).

But is it not more? How can sacramental marriage impact our Year of Faith?

St. Paul teaches that the love of husband and wife mirror the love of Christ and his Church. The wife submits in all things. She dies to self; she submits to the marriage all that she is, has and desires, out of love, to their holy union. The husband does no less. He dies to self so that his wife made be made holy – as Christ died for the Church. The priest shortage rightfully prompts us to pray for vocations to the priesthood. However, with so many marriages “on the rocks,” I don’t sense the same anxious concern over the shortage of successful, fruitful and productive marriages. And we need such marriages for the successful mission of the Church. (Ephesians 5:21-30).

That’s the key, I think: We must see married people and their families as essential to the mission of the Church.

A holy married couple is a Eucharistic presence in the world. They mirror the passion of Christ for the salvation of the world. Theirs is a sacrament of service – caring for their own, but enfolding friends, neighbors and needy people in their familial embrace. They provide witness to the Christian meaning of hospitality (to make a safe place) ; they embody sacrificial love; they live for one another and their children – but they live also for the world and in the world where their faith can have a tremendous impact.

Marriage brings together into one flesh, mind, heart and spirit two committed disciples of Christ. Two lay people, made one in Christ, who are “to work so that the divine message of salvation may be known and accepted by all men throughout the world.” … “They fulfill their prophetic mission by evangelization, ‘that is the proclamation of Christ by word and the testimony of life.’” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Nos. 900 and 905.)

Marriage is indeed a missionary, Eucharistic and evangelizing force for the Church’s mission – and, therefore, an important consideration in our Year of Faith

Sanford, Florida

22 Jul

Tempers and prejudices can stir up murky waters.

Way back in the “Searin’ Sixties,” when the Civil Rights fight was boiling over, I ended up in court, subpoenaed by ACLU, to testify for the plaintiffs.

 The case involved leaders and members of the Southern Consumers Cooperative, a coop of black farmers who were trying to get a fair price for their crops, and the District Attorney in Lafayette, La.

I can’t recall the exact wording of the charges, but the fundamental driving force behind the case was racial discrimination.

The ACLU subpoenaed me as an “expert witness” in the role the secular press had in forming public opinion against the coop.

At that time, I was managing editor of the Southwest Louisiana Register, Catholic weekly for the Diocese of Lafayette.

 Under the leadership of two courageous priests, Fathers Alexander O. Sigur and Charles B. Fortier, the Register was the only public media promoting desegregation and racial justice. We were so deeply involved in this social issue that segregationists dubbed us The Congo Chronicle.

 I’ve never regretted my part in that battle. I’d do it again in a minute if it were necessary.

With this information as background, I hope that what I am about to say will be received with some objectivity – but I doubt that some people can be objective at all because of their racial bias and political loyalties.

 The reaction of certain African-Americans to the death of Travon Martin in the encounter with George Zimmerman was and is less than helpful. People from out-of-state came to Sanford, Fla. by the busloads to protest perceived discrimination.

 The “racial prejudice gauntlet” was immediately thrown down because in its initial findings, law enforcement thought the death was a result of self-defense. But investigations were still underway.

I hasten to add that the hateful reaction among certain white Americans to this social mess was equally contemptible. Anger and apparent hatred sizzled in some e-mails and conversations, fueling the charges of discrimination.

 Recently, certain African-Americans again took the public stump to tie in voter discrimination with perceived racial prejudice in the murder case. It’s racial discrimination, according to these people, to purge the rolls of illegal aliens – because those illegal aliens are black or Hispanic.

 Racism is far from dead – and it exists in the black community as well as among whites and Hispanics.

 If Zimmerman is found guilty, he must suffer the consequences. But all that brouhaha in the streets and public media does little to support justice and public peace.

 We might all benefit from a bit of advice from St. Paul:

 Let your love be sincere; hate what is evil, hold on to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; anticipate one another in showing honor. …

 Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not covet,” and whatever other commandments there may be, are summed up in this saying, [namely] “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 12:9-10; 13:8-10).

Why Catholics drift away from Mass?

8 May

Sometimes you come up against a solid, seemingly impenetrable wall. You are stumped. You back up, turn around and go away. Sometimes, when you have “blank walls” in your spiritual life, going the other way is not the answer. Stop, think. Talk to others who have been stumped in life’s most important experience — the experience of God in your life, the experience of truth, of joy and peace.

Say you have a family member – or a friend – who no longer goes to Mass; or maybe, you are a dropout from Sunday worship.

Among the reasons often given for dropping away from Sunday Mass are poor homilies, lifeless liturgies, impersonal atmosphere. This latter reason is sometimes expressed in the complaint that nobody called to see why the absentee was no longer at Mass. And that means he or she was not known well enough to be missed – or no one really cared.

In our Men’s Bible Study May 7,  it was mentioned that these reasons could be only excuses, but I’ve been around long enough to know that foundation exists for such complaints. However, rest easy pastor of St. Mary Magdalen, we all quickly agreed that our own parish is actually a vibrant, loving and inviting parish whose clergy and staff work hard to preach the Word and to include everyone in the life of the parish.

What do you see as the reasons for Catholics drifting away from the Mass – and even joining other Christian denominations – even those who describe themselves “non-denominational?” (A wise old friend once said, “The minute you say you are ‘non-demoninational’ you have become a denomination.”)

What do you think? Consider, too, the possible reasons below:

Lack of proper catechesis regarding the Mass;

 Insufficient knowledge of and/or experience in the nature of our communion as Body of Christ;

Distractions in life or even in the Mass itself;

Lack of a personal, vibrant relationship with Christ;

No awareness of the role of the Holy Spirit in the Christian life, and/or,

Lack of being formed into wholesome discipleship.

So, what do think?

(One great aid to understanding the Mass is Father David Knight’s “Experiencing the Mass.” In less than  a hundred pages, he gives us “Five Moments of Mystery.” He leads us slowly and deeply through the Mass from the Entrance Procession to the sending after Communion. It’s worth a parish investment to put it in the hands of parish liturgical and formation leaders and to be used in education and formation programs. For this book and other spiritual treasures, go to www.immersedinchrist.com .)

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