some musings

It's been quite a spring, and now that the Year for Priests is finally concluded with the solemnity of the Sacred Heart last Friday, it is imperative that we continue to pray for the new springtime in our church, and for more priests devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It is difficult being a priest today, but it is rewarding.

My former spiritual director, Monsignor Charles Pope of Washington DC, has an interesting article on the Archdiocese of Washington DC website's blog concerning appropriate dress for Mass. We have done a show on reverence in dress for feed my lambs, and, as the comments on Monsignor Pope's article attests, whenever a priest broaches the subject of dress, it creates quite a stir. So what is the proper dress for a person attending Mass? That's something that you know deep in your own heart. There are different varieties of dress and different circumstances such as the weather, the culture/country, and the financial situation of the family. But in each case, proper attire is something to strive for. Should we be happy that they are at least attending Mass? And what they are wearing has no bearing on worship? Yes and no. Yes, it's great that people are attending Mass instead of finding something else to do. But think about what you wear every day during the week for each and every thing that you do and place that you go, and then ask yourself, what are we doing at Mass?

If Mass is an act of worship of the God who loves us and died for us so that we could feast on his Sacred Body and Blood; if Mass is the wedding feast of the Lamb, and we are there to thank God for his death and resurrection, I would think that Mass is something special, something wonderful, something so totally amazing that it would require us to treat it as something different from a barbecue, or a sporting event, or a walk on the beach.