By MATT POTTER
RADICAL JOY — CATHOLIC STEWARDSHIP AND ABUNDANCE
Here’s a question I would never have thought I would ask someone in casual conversation:
“Been to Mass lately?”
I’m a lifelong Catholic, so this is a completely foreign statement. I can imagine if someone asked if I had been to a new coffee shop, restaurant or 100 other things or places. But Mass?
That was where we could be found every Sunday! Why would we not be at Mass?!
Because … COVID-19 and the global pandemic; they changed all that. At first, Mass was suspended. A little while later, Mass could be offered in public once more, with restrictions; but the obligation to attend Mass was suspended. As I write this, that dispensation is in place until at least Nov. 1. When you read this, it might be different. Who knows? Really – who knows anything?
This year has been remarkable, not that it has been all good, but that we have never seen anything like it. I know good things have and will come from our struggles and darkness, but they are not very apparent today.
I have been to Mass five times since March 14. That number is skewed to the last six weeks as the first Mass I attended was the Chrism Mass on Aug. 25 at St. Benedict Cathedral in Evansville. I stayed away again until Sept. 13 when I traveled to Sullivan to talk to the parishioners of St. Mary about CPC at their 9 a.m. Mass. The following weekend I went to Sacred Heart Church in Schnellville on Saturday evening and St. Anthony church in St. Anthony on Sunday to talk to Divine Mercy parishioners about CPC, too.
I knew the Chrism Mass would not be full; I was confident the risk of COVID-19 infection would be minimal. I was invited to Sullivan, Schnellville and St. Anthony some time ago and wanted to keep my commitments to them, or else I would not have gone to Mass those weekends.
These were wonderful celebrations, and the people in the parishes were so very welcoming and friendly. But those parishes were not my parish.
My wife and I are parishioners at Holy Rosary in Evansville. I had been watching the livestream of Mass from there every Sunday since the lockdown, but it had reached a point where I was able to set aside my fear and return to my parish church. So we went back to Mass at the least crowded time and sat as far back and away from everyone as we could.
It was awesome.
The church had all the necessary social-distancing accoutrements. It was so very good to be with parishioners whom I had missed since the last time I came through the doors in March.
We are a Eucharistic people. We are meant to share the Sacrifice of the Mass together. Without the Mass, there is a hole in our hearts that can only be filled by the Sacred Heart. Watching the Mass on social media doesn’t close that hole, in my opinion. It only tells us how big that hole really is.
It is impossible to say what the future holds; but with more COVID-19 cases, it seems inevitable that increased restrictions will appear. As stewards of God’s gifts and as disciples of Jesus Christ, we are to take the gifts given to us and return them with increase to the Lord. The Mass is a great gift, and we must take care of it and never, ever take it for granted.
Been to Mass lately?