When people buy houses, generally the location is determined by proximity to work or school district or shopping or some other practical consideration. Usually that consideration has nothing to do with proximity to Church. Fortunately for Catholics, the Mass is the Mass is the Mass, and pastor personality has little to nothing to do with the reason a person buys a house or rents an apartment. Usually that is a good thing, because we Catholics can move anywhere in the world and get Mass at our nearest Catholic parish. This cannot be said of any other ecclesial community which is one reason the Catholic Church is AWESOME!
Recently, we’ve been having to deal with not being able to go to Mass at all. However, now that the world is beginning to get back to normal, some of the last services to be restored is the ability to go to church, which is just wrong!
Fortunately for me, the Church closest to me has a pastor who, while being obedient to the Bishop, has not perpetuated the atmosphere of fear so prevalent, not only in society, but in “people of faith.”
I grew up in a fear-based home, but I’ve been set free from living out of that fearful ‘what if’ mentality. Bad things can happen to anybody and while we can be reasonably careful, we cannot always avoid even tragedy. Nor can we live so carefully that we can escape death—from COVID or anything else. I hate to be the one to break the news, but we’re all going to die of something! Nobody gets out of this life alive.
Last year, I took a road trip for a couple of months. I found great comfort in knowing that wherever there was a Catholic Church, I belonged. That is MY Church and those people are my brothers and sisters. Catholicism is more than belonging to a ‘church,’ it’s a culture.
I have sister Catholics who belong to a church where they have until recently were still having outdoor Masses. One lady told me how much it bothered her having to receive Jesus in a parking lot. She preferred going to my parish, but felt disloyal. I couldn’t understand this. Catholic means Universal.
I know it is crude to put it this way, but when you go to a branch of a bank across town from where you opened the account, you are not being disloyal to the person who opened your account.
By this I don’t mean that she should stop giving her money to her regular parish. These are extraordinary times and things are in such flux. Going to a different church is a temporary measure where she has the opportunity to honor the Eucharist as she feels in her heart it should be honored. Of the many things she can’t control, this is one she can.
Besides, I can’t imagine the kind, gracious, merciful and generous God of the Universe is keeping tabs on where we go to Mass. He just cares that we love Him enough to go and honor him the best way we can.
The other day, I visited her Church during Adoration when the Blessed Sacrament was exposed. A sign on the door listed guidelines, such as wearing masks, social distancing, etc., but what disturbed me beyond the typical safeguards was the last thing on the list. No congregational singing.
This goes beyond a safety. To silence our worship is purely demonic dressed up in concern. I don’t know whose suggestion it was to keep us from singing but start looking for rocks to cry out. This person and those who supported the decision have yielded to the spirit of fear that has been so rampant in society before COVID but has only gained untold strength because of it.
I am not one of those who believes God will protect us from COVID or any other calamity just because we are believers in Christ. Nor am I a fatalist, but whatever “bad” thing He allows to happen to us is for the good of our hearts and the salvation of our souls!
More than that, is He not worthy of our praise? If the Lord were to allow sickness and even death for singing praises in Mass, would He not be worthy of the sacrifice? Martyrs suffered so many more excruciatingly terrible deaths for Him whom they loved.
Further still, this kind of ‘guideline’ which was not even suggested by civil authorities, can only be understood if those who supported it thought of congregational singing as superfluous. Which can only mean these people, like so many Catholics who don’t even believe in the True Presence, have no idea why they are going to Mass in the first place, except for the possible reasons that they’ve always gone to Mass because their parents made them, or church is where they socialize.
They have no understanding, much like me thirty years ago, that THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE DELIGHTS TO HONOR US WITH HIS PRESENCE! The least we SHOULD do is fall on our faces to worship Him. The least we CAN do is sing His praises because He is worthy—threat of death or not.
Who are we if not children of the Almighty God?
Unfortunately, it looks like we are the people spoken of in 2 Timothy 3:1-5. “You must understand this, that in the last days distressing times will come. 2 For people will be …unholy,…rather than lovers of God, 5holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid them!
