When I was a kid I thought that Mass was the most boring thing on earth. I figured it was God’s way of punishing me for my sins. I would sit and stare at the stain glass windows in my home parish, St. Joseph’s in Salem, OR, and just wonder how those figures staring back at me did it. I mean, how did they pose looking so holy?
It wasn’t until my high school years that my eyes would be opened. I knew so much about what to do at mass that I had never really stopped to think about what it was all for. I then began to meet people through my local youth group that had a relationship with this person that we were worshipping each Sunday. It was during that time that my heart was opened to the Lord and His love for me.
The mass is not about a “what.” What is the best liturgical music, what the homily should be on, what are other people doing, what can I do to prove to others or to God that I am a good person? No. It’s about a “who.” It is a relationship with Jesus. We go to mass to encounter God is the most intimate way that exists, a way that he gave us during the last supper. We go to receive.
The mass is about a person. Jesus knows my heart better than anyone else and he knows exactly what I need. So whether I am bored, tired, angry, sad, joyful, thankful, or just showing up, Christ meets me right where I am at because he knows me. And Jesus knows that just going through the motions isn’t what will truly bring me fulfillment. He wants to transform me from the inside out. This is why he gave us the Eucharist.
I feel closest to the Lord at mass because of how close he wants to be to me. It is a chance for me to lay down everything on the altar. My hopes, my prayers, my worries, my needs, all that I am on the altar when we participate in what Christ did for us. So rather than coming to mass to see what I can “get out of it,” I should be coming to mass to see what I can give. Then and only then can I be empty to receive and then go forth to “love and serve the Lord.”
Sean Courtney
Admissions Counselor
Carroll College
It wasn’t until my high school years that my eyes would be opened. I knew so much about what to do at mass that I had never really stopped to think about what it was all for. I then began to meet people through my local youth group that had a relationship with this person that we were worshipping each Sunday. It was during that time that my heart was opened to the Lord and His love for me.
The mass is not about a “what.” What is the best liturgical music, what the homily should be on, what are other people doing, what can I do to prove to others or to God that I am a good person? No. It’s about a “who.” It is a relationship with Jesus. We go to mass to encounter God is the most intimate way that exists, a way that he gave us during the last supper. We go to receive.
The mass is about a person. Jesus knows my heart better than anyone else and he knows exactly what I need. So whether I am bored, tired, angry, sad, joyful, thankful, or just showing up, Christ meets me right where I am at because he knows me. And Jesus knows that just going through the motions isn’t what will truly bring me fulfillment. He wants to transform me from the inside out. This is why he gave us the Eucharist.
I feel closest to the Lord at mass because of how close he wants to be to me. It is a chance for me to lay down everything on the altar. My hopes, my prayers, my worries, my needs, all that I am on the altar when we participate in what Christ did for us. So rather than coming to mass to see what I can “get out of it,” I should be coming to mass to see what I can give. Then and only then can I be empty to receive and then go forth to “love and serve the Lord.”
Sean Courtney
Admissions Counselor
Carroll College
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