What if I had a bad experience at Mass?
Maybe the homily wasn't very good. The music was terrible. Someone behind me talked through half of Mass. I was surrounded by families with babies who cried relentlessly and weren't taken out. My mind wandered everywhere except where I wanted it to go, towards worship.
I leave church thinking, Well, I didn't get much out of Mass today.
First, it is helpful to remember that there is an important distinction between having a bad experience at Mass and having a "bad Mass."
The first can certainly happen. The second really can't.
That is because at every valid Mass, regardless of how inspiring or uninspiring everything around it may seem, something extraordinary happens: Jesus Christ makes His sacrifice on Calvary present to us, and He gives Himself to us in the Eucharist.
That doesn't depend upon whether the priest gives a memorable homily, the choir sings beautifully, or we happen to feel particularly prayerful that morning.
And maybe remembering that can change the way we respond when Mass doesn't go quite as we hoped.
What if the homily doesn't inspire me?
We naturally want a good homily. We want to learn something, be challenged, and leave with something to ponder. But the homily isn't ultimately why we came.
St. Paul himself wrote:
"For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power."
1 Corinthians 1:17
A priest's preaching may be wonderful. It may also fall flat. But his primary role at Mass is something far greater than delivering a good sermon. He stands in persona Christi (in the person of Jesus Christ) and offers the Holy Sacrifice.
If we leave wishing the homily had given us more, there is nothing wrong with seeking out the writings and homilies of the saints afterward. But we shouldn't overlook what we have already received.
What if the distractions are driving me crazy?
The person talking nearby. The child kicking the pew. The babies screaming. Someone arriving late and climbing over us.
Sometimes the distraction isn't even outside us. It's our own wandering mind. We are thinking about work or an issue at home or going over in our head something that was said in a tone we didn't like. Our minds are often nanoseconds away from drifting to some outside thought.
We can spend so much of Mass noticing everything that is interfering with our prayer that the irritation itself becomes the greater distraction.
St. Francis de Sales gives us some wonderful advice:
"If the heart wanders or is distracted, bring it back to the point quite gently and replace it tenderly in its Master's presence."
He goes even further. If we spent the entire time simply bringing our wandering heart back to God, he says, the hour would still be "very well employed."
The goal is to keep returning to Christ.
Again. And again. And again.
Maybe the question isn't "What did I get out of Mass?"
J.R.R. Tolkien once wrote:
"I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament."
That's ultimately what we came for.
Of course, reverent liturgy matters. Good sacred music is uplifting. Strong preaching encourages. And there can be legitimate liturgical problems that shouldn't simply be dismissed.
But on an ordinary Sunday when things just aren't going the way we'd prefer, perhaps there is another question we can ask.
Instead of "What did I get out of this Mass?" Perhaps the better question is "What did I bring to it?"
Did I worship God? Did I choose charity toward the people around me? Did I bring my wandering attention back to Christ? Did I recognize the incredible gift being offered on the altar?
The most important thing happening at Mass was never the thing that annoyed us. It was Jesus Christ in the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar.
Even outside of Mass, we often need to bring our attention back to Christ. Our Decade Rosary Popper Key Chain is a simple way to remember to do this. Sometimes ten Hail Marys are all we need to stop, refocus, and return our attention to Christ, just as we learn to do again and again at Mass. And at Mass, little children can be quieted with this as well (it comes in pink and denim!). Find yours today at The Catholic Company!
