Comments on: It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over (And This Ain’t Bubba’s Diner)

By: jjen009

jjen009 — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:07:44 +0000

Thanks, HomeschoolNfpDad

Yes, that’s what I do – I mean, come to work early and take 90 minutes for lunch – which still normally means I leave right after Communion.

I am lucky, actually, that I can do this. I live 50Km away from work, take the ‘bus to work each morning, and get to work about half an hour early. The round-trip walk to Mass is about 45 minutes. Some of the priests at that Church (the Auckland Cathedral, which is the nearest Mass for me – I work at the University of Auckland) are quite aware of those whose lunch hour is restrictive, and deliberately make the homily brief, and though they do not rush through Mass, they don’t dawdle, either – avoid singing Mass parts, etc. In those cases I am so glad I can stay till the final dismissal, and make at least a few moments’ thanksgiving at the end.

But – alas! – lately we have a priest – a young man, and no doubt he will learn! – who loves taking it at a very gentle pace; expanding his homily; etc. As a result even now I am generally closer to 95 minutes away; staying until he has finished would make it 100 or 105, which I won’t do.

But I am so fortunate that I am even able to make weekday Mass. Many cannot. In my case it is both my employer’s understanding attitude and my fortunate ‘bus timetable that enable me to do it.

Wouldn’t miss it for the world!

By: HomeschoolNfpDad

HomeschoolNfpDad — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 11:13:41 +0000

Father Mitch Pacwa once commented on EWTN about the difficulty you mention with weekly Mass. He observed that during the week, it is common for folks to come in late to the Mass, and he even said that this was okay. It’s not the weekday Mass is any less significant or less important than Sunday Mass, but it remains a fact that weekday Mass is not obligatory while Sunday Mass is. A priest who celebrates weekday Mass in a “beautiful, leisurely style” is, I think, fulfilling his obligation as a priest. A layman who gets there late or leaves early due to work obligations is, I think, fulfilling his vocation to bring Christ into the world. Let’s face it: some of us could readily take 90 minutes or more for lunch in order to attend a weekday Mass in full (including getting there and returning), so long as we got to work earlier than normal or left later. Some jobs — and some employers — are more flexible in that regard. Other jobs are simply not as flexible, but the laity in those jobs are still called to bring Christ into the world. Father Mitch’s admonishment that we simply do the best we can is correct, I think. A layman who gets to such a weekday Mass late or leaves early in order to meet work obligations is not purposefully subverting the Sacred Liturgy; the priest who cuts short the recessional in order to get coffee and donuts probably is. The cases simply do not compare.

By: jjen009

jjen009 — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 07:28:23 +0000

The point you make is well taken – but in my own situation I have two conflicting experiences:

1) Week-day Mass. I am able – thank God! – to make it to mid-day Mass. Like many, I have to do it during my lunch hour. Some of the priests are aware that many of us are workers and have to get back to work; they move things along. Some, however, seem just to love doing the Mass in a beautiful, leisurely style – like a man with all the time in the world.

Understandable and commendable, but sometimes we need to remember that we are in the world as well as of it. I am often doing what I once heard Scott Hahn refer to as the “Judas Shuffle” – receiving Communion, and walking straight out of the church, without so much as a few moments’ thanksgiving. I have concluded that it is wrong for me to turn up 10-15 minutes’ late (even now, with slow priests, I am sometimes 5 minutes) late after my lunch hour.

2) Sunday Mass ought to be different. I would, indeed, love to stay after Mass for thanksgiving. I do, in fact, spend a few moments. But in reality the noise of people yacking together immediately after Mass – even inside the sanctuary, or else certainly in the foyer – makes it rather off-putting.

Oddly my time after Mass during the week is often more prayerful – walking back to work, in anonymity – than on Sunday, when the focus of everyone is towards socialisation.

Not the best, I am sure!