What are we willing to die for?
I remember attending a
scripture class once taught by Father John Gillespie in Florida on the book of
Revelation. The class, made up of mostly an older crowd included one man in
particular who struck me as not long for this world. His complexion already
very insipid, grew even paler when
Father John explained that according to the book of Revelation, Heaven would be
an endless celebration of Mass.
I'm sure many of us might
struggle with the concept of a celebration of Mass being an apt metaphor for
Heaven. But when we really feel close to God can anything be more heavenly?
At the end of her pilgrimage
Lash claims that she experienced incredible darkness and in the midst of that
she wonders if the source might not be her intellectual pride.
It seems that this is often
the source of our difficulties at being truly present at Mass. In writing this
I found myself present at a Mass where there was a Rite from the Order of
Christian Initiation of Adults, a speaker inviting everyone to participate in
small faith groups and the blessing of Catechists. It is amazing how the
crowding of all these did not effect me in the usual negative way because
throughout I remained focus on what I was at Mass for—my incredible need of
God’s love and mercy.
Now admittedly I know that I
would have usually found a hundred things to criticize about this particular
liturgy, like why didn’t they spread the wealth and do the OCIA rite at another
Mass? But I can see what a horrible temptation that is since it is a rejection
of the reality of the situation.
Lack of focus leads to us
becoming a spectator when we have desperate need of being a participant. Our
very life depends on this gift of God and only the participants receive that
gift.
God is a good shepherd and
as Saint Paul says, "There is nothing I cannot master with the help of the
One who gives me strength." And that includes converting me from a
spectator to a participant in His rich and abundant mercy.
