A tale of two Masses
A few months ago, I visited some very dear friends of mine for a weekend of relaxation and fun. Since the family strives to live their Catholic faith, the question quickly arose about where we were going to Mass during the busy weekend.
As the conversation went back and forth about various parishes and convenient Mass times, I quietly spoke up and said that, since I am a priest, I just might be able to take care of this for everyone. A home Mass! Problem solved.
After receiving the necessary permissions for a Mass celebrated in their home, I gathered all the required materials of candles, a chalice, hosts, wine, altar books and vestments to prepare for a noble celebration.
The family had taken a special table and set it up as an altar in their living room. While I was setting everything up on this table, the young grandchildren — ages four, five and six — gathered around me and asked what I was doing. I tried my best to explain that we were going to have Mass in their home. They looked back at me with questioning big eyes.
Early Sunday morning, in the middle of our weekend of fun, my friends and I took the time to gather together for Mass. As I celebrated the Mass in such an intimate setting, I looked up and saw the faces of the adults. They expressed all of the joys and sorrows of family life, the hopes and fears of the passage of time, and their love for each other and for me. It was for all of us, an incredibly moving experience.
After Mass, I cleaned everything up from the special table and a wonderful breakfast was prepared. While we were eating the scrambled eggs and pancakes, I noticed that the young children had disappeared. Now, it is true and lasting wisdom to recognize that when young children disappear into another room and become very quiet, the matter needs to be investigated quickly.
I got up from the table and peeked around the corner to see what was going on, and what I saw brought tears of laughter and joy to my eyes. Imitating what they had just seen, the children were playing Mass.
The two boys had found towels, which they had turned into vestments. They had cut out hosts from construction paper and a small cup was being used for a chalice. Their sister was reading — or trying to read — from a daily missal the family had. One boy was serving Mass, I think, while at the same time fighting with his brother who was trying to be the priest. The boys paid little attention to their sister while she tried to read from the book.
As I secretly continued to observe, the “Mass” followed the same basic structure, the only difference being that they just went “blah, blah, blah” during the homily. Interesting. Their “Mass” was fairly short. I think they skipped a few things, but, in the end, the two boys, server and priest, gave a double blessing, proceeded to trip over their towel vestment and each other, all while their sister shook her head and ordered them back to clean things up.
How wonderful! Seeing this beautiful act of faith through the eyes of young children brought things into focus for me about what the Mass is really all about.
Whether in the grandest of cathedrals or in the humblest of places, what the children saw us doing and reenacted in their simple, innocent way is at the heart of our Catholic faith. It is all about Jesus! He is at the center of our lives, it is he whom we worship and adore. And we meet him every Sunday in our parish at Mass.
But like small children, we adults sometimes fight about the Mass or even at Mass. We make our preferences known sometimes in very uncharitable ways.
Yes, we sometimes order people around the church and, occasionally, alas, the homily is just blah, blah, blah. We sometimes rashly judge others, we shake our heads at them and refuse to listen. And we do many such things as adults. Seeing the imitation of young children often shows adults a side of themselves that they would rather not see.
And yet, we still come to Mass. We gather together to worship God in community and to be nourished for our Christian journey. What a blessing this is to be together! His body and blood truly and substantially present in the holy Eucharist brings us all closer together, and the heaviness of life is made lighter.
That happy morning, together with my dear friends,
I experienced this — twice. It was truly a tale of two Masses! And Jesus was there.
Fr. John Girotti is vicar general and moderator of the curia for the Diocese of Green Bay.