“But I just don’t get anything out of Mass!” That’s an excuse that has never held much water for me. There’s so much meaning in liturgy over and above what little ‘motion’ we might get from it. I know, I’m a liturgy dork, so I get paid to say that. I go to more church than most people, and most of the time I don’t “get” a whole lot by way of profound, emotional prayer, but I just keep going back!
Tonight the BC mass was my 5th of the weekend. I was in a goofy mood and ran a goofy rehearsal before mass. The choir sang beautifully, the preaching was inspired, and as always the community was engaged and prayerful. The choir received communion before singing the hymn, while the pianist ‘noodled’ (that’s a technical term). As I walked back to my stand and waited for the choir to be ready to sing, I thought to myself: I only get one life, and the one that I am living is so sweet. My friends pray for me, I am surrounded by beautiful music, the people around me talk about things like the Gospel of Mark. After receiving communion I was smacked in the face by grace and I felt, as our closing song stated, “bathed in the glory of God”. I suppose you could say I “got” something.
I knew that in just a moment I would be back on, conducting the communion hymn, but I stood very still and shut my eyes and let myself be grateful.
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