By Megan L.
I love when someone makes a mistake at Mass. As long as the word is read, the host and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ and we receive him, and a collection is taken up for the poor, everything else can go horribly wrong in my book and the Mass will still be wonderful.
One of my favorite Mass memories is from my senior year of college. Our campus had been blessed with a new priest, new to us as well as the priesthood, and it was an exciting first Mass of the year for us all. I was set to lector and assigned the first reading, which also meant I carried up the Book of Gospels to the altar.
Except I didn’t.
To be fair, the Book of Gospels and the Lectionary look a lot alike.
And so at Father’s first campus Mass, we all experienced a hectic moment of confusion, recognition, and problem-solving. It was beautiful.
Some would argue that this was a nightmare, however for me it was love at first Mass. This could not have gone better. My reasoning—we far too often allow Mass to become a habit (nun-pun intended). Sunday morning, wake up, get dressed, get to the church, sit, listen, sing, repeat the Creed and the Our Father, Sign of Peace, receive Communion, sing, exit, brunch!
It’s a wonderful routine. Unfortunately, routine distracts us from the radical beauty that we have the good fortune to participate in at least once a week. I love mistakes because they break us out of routine, forcing us to pay closer attention to everything that’s going on, everything that we’re experiencing. For the Mass is and should be anything but routine.
Think about this: Jesus died for your sins, for my sins, for all sin. For God so loved the world. For God so loved you as an individual human being. And in the process of doing so, in order to grant us the greatest gifts, the Lord presented us with the institution of the Eucharist. For Jesus knew that his time on Earth was finite and he wanted so badly to be with us always. This is what many, including myself, fall into a routine with. We allow habit to distract us from the true presence of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
There’s a reason I love being forced out of my routine. When I focus on all that is happening at the Mass, I cannot help but be overwhelmed with Christ’s love.
That being said, it really shouldn’t take a Lectionary/Book of Gospels mix-up to refocus my attention on Jesus. That is why I loved this video that Catholic Vine posted back in May:
We have to make the Creed real. We have to make our faiths real- it should never be allowed to wallow in habit and routine. Jesus’s message was to wake up! To see through his eyes, to love one another, serve one another, serve him. To radically live out the faith.
Often my solution to this is to read the Mass readings ahead of time (I usually read mine the Monday before, a habit left over from this awesome small group I’m in). I pray with intent over the readings and try to work out the connection between the three. This focuses me more during Mass on how the priest connects the word and helps me keep my attention where it belongs.
(You can find a link to the daily Mass readings under the Scripture tab above)
If all else fails, I drop my book at the beginning of Mass. There’s nothing quite like an intentional mistake to shock you out of a reverie.
I wish all of you luck in ‘making it real,’ because when you do- when you focus on what’s happening all around you, on Jesus beside you and the Holy Spirit within you, on the true presence and the community taking your hand in their’s, your life can be truly and radically beautiful.
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Megan is a recent graduate of the College of William & Mary with a BA in Government currently working as the Advancement Services Coordinator for the Catholic Leadership Institute.
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