When Mass Just Isn’t For You
By Andre Audette
In my previous career, some of my research explored the psychological causes of people joining or leaving religions. There are many complicated factors involved, but for Catholics, among the most cited reasons for leaving are “I just don’t get much out of Mass” or “Mass just isn’t for me.”
In my career now, I would have two responses to this claim. The first is: that’s right! Mass isn’t for or about me. The Mass isn’t about our personal preferences, needs, or entertainment. It’s not about the priest, music, or whether we like incense. It is, instead, an unbloody Sacrament recalling Jesus’s death on the Cross and carried out for the purpose of worshiping God and transforming our lives through grace. If anything, we should be willing to give up our preferences so we can conform them to the preferences and divine will of God.
Even so, my second response is that we get more out of Mass than we can possibly comprehend! As fallible humans, we easily fall prey to Catholic politics, boredom, or other distractions. Meanwhile, Jesus Christ is pouring out His grace — for us! — masked by the appearance of bread and wine and readings from a book. We have the privilege to renew our covenant with God every time we enter the Mass with open and willing hearts and to receive graces to help us grow in holiness.
And as we sing “holy, holy, holy Lord, God of Hosts,” we unite our voices with the angels and saints in heaven itself, transcending everything we know about reality and lifting the veil between heaven and earth. That’s a lot of potential to “get things” out of Mass!
Here’s the sticking point: we need to prepare ourselves to “get something” out of the Mass and cooperate with God’s grace. Here are four simple ways to help us do that:
-Fast. The Church requires us to abstain from food and drink (except water or medicine) one hour before receiving the Eucharist. If the Eucharist begins to feel less satisfying to you, try extending the fast so you can hunger more for Jesus.
-Read the readings for Mass beforehand. The prayers, music, and even silence hit harder when you have centered God’s Word in your heart and prepared to receive the specific messages He is trying to communicate to you in the Mass. If you get distracted at Mass, knowing what to expect ahead of time can help focus your attention.
-Get involved. Let us know that you want to serve in one of our many liturgical ministries: as an usher, reader, greeter, altar server, Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion, or join the choir! These are great opportunities to learn more about the Mass and to let God’s grace work through you.
-Pray. One of my favorite prayers in the Bible is from the man who tells Jesus: “I do believe; help my unbelief!” It reminds us that God loves us through our imperfect faith and desires to reveal Himself to us even more.
Although the Mass isn’t about us, in each Mass God still gives us more than we know and more than we deserve. Let us pray that God gives us the humility to put our preferences aside and the faith to see just how much we “get” out of the Mass.