I have, on a few occasions, shared a snippet or two what from what I heard at mass in the morning.
Today, I am sharing a "Seen at Mass"...
Here's the backstory:
I got up to go to mass today and realized that I was in desperate need of clean laundry. Nonetheless, I managed to scrape together something to wear, drove to mass, and then hid in the very last row off to the side (you know, hoping no one would notice my bedraggled state).
Once there, my mind wandered off on a train of thought. I had noticed a young lady genuflect when she came in and shyly touch the corner of the tabernacle (that is situated in small alcove to the side) before scooting off to her seat. It got me thinking about how often I have almost reached my hand out but did not... I am not even sure why. Just awkward, I guess. And how on particularly tough days, I have knelt slightly outside the alcove looking at the few rows of padded chairs and thought I'd love to just curl up and go to sleep right there next to Jesus. It seems so comforting. At the end of these thoughts, I imagined how ridiculous I would look if someone walked in and saw me laying there! And it occurred to me how I often felt awkward publicly making a display of even the smallest kind - the sign of the cross, prayers before meals when eating out... I do them anyway, but I was well in to my adult life before doing these things, and they still feel far from habit.
On To "Seen At Mass":
Okay, so I am sitting in mass and all these thoughts have quickly come and gone from my head. Mass begins and, at some point before the consecration, a very large unkempt homeless man comes barreling in the back of the church and up the aisle straight to the front of the church stopping at the foot of the alter to fling himself prostrate on the ground. Within a few minutes he started to quietly sob.
I was a bit stunned. No one at the church seemed overly alarmed. Father continued mass and the man eventually got up and went to the opposite side of the church from me and sat down. Toward the end of mass, he moved to sit next to a woman who seemed to know him and he started to quietly cry again.
At some point during all this, I put together my previous thoughts that I had been thinking of how awkward I felt at times showing even the slightest outward display and here this man was, in front of a hundred or so people, laying it all out there. That he came to lay down in front of Jesus to seek comfort and seemed not to have a care at all that we were there.
I am not sure what troubles this man had and was glad to see that there were people who seemed to care who were comforting him after mass. But I do feel humbled by his willingness to throw himself in front of Jesus. I hope to take that lesson with me and be a bit more BOLD in my outward displays of faith!
Today, I am sharing a "Seen at Mass"...
Here's the backstory:
I got up to go to mass today and realized that I was in desperate need of clean laundry. Nonetheless, I managed to scrape together something to wear, drove to mass, and then hid in the very last row off to the side (you know, hoping no one would notice my bedraggled state).
Once there, my mind wandered off on a train of thought. I had noticed a young lady genuflect when she came in and shyly touch the corner of the tabernacle (that is situated in small alcove to the side) before scooting off to her seat. It got me thinking about how often I have almost reached my hand out but did not... I am not even sure why. Just awkward, I guess. And how on particularly tough days, I have knelt slightly outside the alcove looking at the few rows of padded chairs and thought I'd love to just curl up and go to sleep right there next to Jesus. It seems so comforting. At the end of these thoughts, I imagined how ridiculous I would look if someone walked in and saw me laying there! And it occurred to me how I often felt awkward publicly making a display of even the smallest kind - the sign of the cross, prayers before meals when eating out... I do them anyway, but I was well in to my adult life before doing these things, and they still feel far from habit.
On To "Seen At Mass":
Okay, so I am sitting in mass and all these thoughts have quickly come and gone from my head. Mass begins and, at some point before the consecration, a very large unkempt homeless man comes barreling in the back of the church and up the aisle straight to the front of the church stopping at the foot of the alter to fling himself prostrate on the ground. Within a few minutes he started to quietly sob.
I was a bit stunned. No one at the church seemed overly alarmed. Father continued mass and the man eventually got up and went to the opposite side of the church from me and sat down. Toward the end of mass, he moved to sit next to a woman who seemed to know him and he started to quietly cry again.
At some point during all this, I put together my previous thoughts that I had been thinking of how awkward I felt at times showing even the slightest outward display and here this man was, in front of a hundred or so people, laying it all out there. That he came to lay down in front of Jesus to seek comfort and seemed not to have a care at all that we were there.
I am not sure what troubles this man had and was glad to see that there were people who seemed to care who were comforting him after mass. But I do feel humbled by his willingness to throw himself in front of Jesus. I hope to take that lesson with me and be a bit more BOLD in my outward displays of faith!
