This is a common complaint (one I’ve uttered myself more times than I care to admit!).
Eventually I realized a few things.
Mass does not exist to serve me. It’s not a movie, a rock concert, or a Tony Robbins motivational seminar. It’s not something you roll up to with a pair of 3D glasses and a tub of popcorn and say, “Entertain me!”
So the fact that the choir consists of one lady who was in attendance for the Gettysburg address, or that the priest delivered a homily as engaging as a sloth marathon is irrelevant.
Of course, that’s not to say you can’t get anything out of Mass.
In fact, God gives us more graces than we realize whenever we make the effort to show up.
But claiming that you didn’t get anything out of Mass begs an important question:
What exactly did you put into it?
If you watch a movie, what delivers a better result? Do you turn the sound up and and lights down and cuddle under blanket with a bowl of popcorn on your lap? Or do you multitask by checking email, scrolling social media, pausing it every once in a while to make a phone call, and then tell your friends later that the movie didn’t do much for you?
You were in the same room that the movie was playing, but were you really present?
Like anything else in life, them more you put into something, the more you’ll get out of it.
I love this recommendation from Matthew Kelly of Dynamic Catholic:
Get yourself a small journal. Then bring that journal to Church with you on Sunday. Try to arrive a few minutes early for Mass. Place this request before God: Show me one way in this Mass that I can become a-better-version-of-myself this week! Then listen to the music, the readings, the prayers of the Mass, the homily, the quiet of your heart. When that one thing strikes you, write it in your Mass Journal. Now spend the rest of the Mass praying about how you can become a-better-version-of-yourself in that way during the coming week. This one habit will change your whole experience of the Mass, your relationship with God, and your appreciation of the Church.
If we go simply to “have gone to Mass,” we will not get as much out of it as if we put our whole being into it, singing with all our heart, listening intently to what God is trying to tell us through the readings, and offering ourself in union with the divine victim.
If we sit there like a bump on a log critiquing the choir, the readers, the decorations, the priest, and the parents who can’t seem to control their kids, waiting with our arms crossed for a bolt of lightning to strike us with feelings of euphoria…well, I’m afraid we won’t get much out of Mass.
It’s not a bad thing to desire a richer experience every Sunday.
In fact, God wants that for us as well.
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