23 Comments

  1. Such a beautiful post! Also, Fr. Mike is the best. My husband was at UMD with him as the Chaplain, and when I finally met him in person, I was just amazed. Such liveliness, such holiness.

    1. Hi Jen! I’m glad you did! They are some of my favorites which have stuck with me during Mass– especially when I find myself losing focus. :) thanks for visiting!

  2. Thank you for writing all these wonderful and true things about the mass – it can be a lot to swallow and tough to be the one to put it out there for others to read and criticize. You are brave and I greatly enjoyed reading how you explained it! Also, thanks for writing about the everyday struggles of a mom of young ones, it’s a world all its own : ) Have a wonderful week!

    1. Thank you so much, Sarah, for the encouragement. I deeply appreciate it. There are many days where I’m like, why am I writing this again? Thanks for visiting!

  3. I ended up here for the first time after reading Jennifer Fulwiler’s 7 Quick Takes this week and I saw your cute picture:) The title of this post intrigued me and I am so glad I took my mommy time-out to read it! While I don’t disagree with Katie that everything about Jesus really is about each one of us, I think Kristy nailed it in her reply. Keep on writing! I really enjoyed my visit here:)

  4. Beautifully written, dear cousin. Many very valid points! Next blog should be about the importance of the Eucharist in the mass! Where else can you consume and be one in the body and blood of Christ?

    1. Hi Hannah! Welcome and thank you for visiting! Oy vey, the Eucharist is a big big biiiiig topic to write about which I fear I would fall very short writing about. Mehhh. But maybe!

  5. I totally understand the metaphors you’ve used here. And I will certainly be listening to the podcast as soon as I can (kiddos can slow these things down!) Thanks for posting!

  6. This is a great post! I haven’t commented before, but I’ve recently found your blog and have really been enjoying it. Regarding the comments implying that you’re putting down other Christian denominations, I disagree. Of course you are differentiating and stating why you believe in Catholicism’s teachings. However, you don’t do so in a way that implies disrespect. I think one of the many problems with our current attitude towards religion is to imply that in order to be respectful of one another we should all be able to participate in our chosen form of worship but not speak out in favor of it whole heartedly. If you believe in Christianity that’s great and if you attend a specific Church that’s fine too. But it seems that sharing why you believe in your Church’s specific teachings vs. other denominations is viewed negatively. God wants us to be passionate in our faith and your post does a great job of sharing about the Catholic Mass.
    I hope you will continue to share posts focused on religion and faith as you feel called to do so!

  7. Love this! So well put, and so True. I’m in the process of converting/coming into full communion, and one of the things I love so much about the Catholic church is the mass being said daily. It’s just lovely. Thanks for such a fun-ly written post. =)

  8. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I think about God’s love for me when the priest begins the consecration prayers. “TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU, AND EAT OF IT: FOR THIS IS MY BODY WHICH WILL BE GIVEN UP FOR YOU.”
    Not to get all sentimental here, but that’s powerful and moving. I mean I really am not worthy to physically receive God. With all the things I say, do, and think, on a daily basis? I should go to confesstion everyday. For reals. So, for me, a non-devout/lazy Catholic, I realize every Mass that God does love me and his sacrifice was for me. I think C’s point was that Mass is not about entertaining you? So when I say “I don’t like to kneel or I don’t like that song” the correct response should be, “well it’s not all about you Chris”.
    The problem or issue with any religious discussion is that if you truly have believe in your faith, and it is different than someone else’s, then that other person must be wrong. They have to be wrong by definition. I truly believe in all of my beliefs. Political, social, religious, and everything inbetween. The moment your beliefs change then your old beliefs were wrong. It sounds crazy, but it just might be true! So if you agree with me on anything, good for you! If you disagree then you’re wrong! :-) the trick is learning to still love those ppl and get along with them. I’ll always make fun of non-Catholics and liberals but I can still be friends with them. All except for those pro-abortion bastards! I don’t like them :-)

  9. Here is it! Your first critic. If something is truly so great then why must you bring something else down to prove that it is great? Bringing up other church practices is and should be irrelevant to your point.
    I disagree with you when you say “it’s not about you”. Saying “its not about you” implies that Jesus’ sacrifice, Jesus’ life had nothing to do with you. YOU are Gods kingdom. Without YOU God is sad and would leave everyone in the pews to seek YOU out. You diminish Gods value of YOU. He loves YOU. He wants YOU. He died for YOU! That’s something I really really wish I had never been taught or thought I understood. I will spend the rest of my life unlearning that. Or by the grace of God one day I will understand how important I am to him.
    This is a fatal error. That many many people do not understand or never even HEAR! They have allegiance to a church or not even church but traditions, a way of life. Believing in allegiance, believing its not about them. Getting so caught up that they forget or are distracted from God and his love for YOU.
    That is all ….for now.
    Love-sister

    1. #1: This is my only criticism. (I promise.) Our (Lutheran) worship service uses the Bible just as much as the Mass does… because it is BASED on the Mass (the only difference is that we don’t believe in transubstantiation and we aren’t as big on Mary). The Liturgy of the Hours is also thoroughly Scriptural.

      #4: There’s a joke about contemporary praise music which is that it can be “Jesus is my boyfriend” music because a lot of them, you could sing to your boyfriend without removing any words.

      #5: Word, sister-friend. I find that it takes me a week to get through podcasts because I’m engaged in other things or I’m listening as I go to sleep.

      1. Re: #1 Oh doyyyy! I forgot. I love the Liturgy of the Hours. I’ve yet to practice it but have a deep longing to incorporate it into the day with my boys.
        and re,re#4 Hehehe we go to a “contemporary” Mass some Sundays if we just couldn’t get out the door in the morning and now I’m going to catch myself not paying attention and inserting boyfriend into the music XD

        Thank you, as always for visiting, Jen :)

    2. Hey Kate,
      Understanding that God loves me, you, us,each person, that he loves and wants each person because He created us, He WILLED us, He LOVED us into existence is the first step toward a beautiful spiritual journey. It is a glorious day in Heaven -I imagine- when God sees that we come to this full realization of our individual, inherent worth as a unique creation. Only after accepting this truth can we step further on our walk with Jesus. But as concerns the Mass, it is understood by our attendance that we already know God loves us. We go to Mass of our free will, not only to be affirmed that He loves us, but first, that we choose, we love HIM, by offering up the sacrificial Lamb, His only son, Jesus Christ. The journey of Christianity starts by realizing that God gave His only son because He so loved the world, but the climb, the adventure, is loving God back. And that’s an entirely other blog post for perhaps another diaaaaa. :)

      1. So you expect people to come to mass even though they don’t know that God loves them and get something out of it?
        Isn’t that what this blog is about, getting people to mass? So deflect their reason for not coming to get them to come… for what reason? “Because its not about them?” Shouldn’t the blog have been about Gods love for those people even though they think the priest is weird or mass is incredibly boring? Because they obviously don’t get that God loves them and you just said that they won’t get that from mass.
        I guess my real question is, why did you write this blog? To mock other people/churches or to bring people to know God’s love?
        Just to make clear my tone and it doesn’t get misrepresented, I’m not offended personally because I claim none of the above reasons to be a reason for me. However you do mock your audience by assuming their thoughts. And like we’ve seen before, this approach only drives them further away.

    3. I think you misunderstand “It’s not about you.” Before being Catholic, I looked for a church that had music that appealed to me, preaching that was lively and entertaining, good programs for children. I was looking for a church to serve ME and my preferences. “It’s not about you” simply means that the Catholic Mass isn’t there to appeal to current trends and musical styles. It’s there because of Jesus. The entire Mass is centered around Christ. And because Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, the Mass isn’t going to look too different than it did 2,000 years ago.

    4. I think she meant the service is not for your entertainment so don’t crab about being bored or.not liking sister susie’s dress etc. The focus is God.

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