From the Pastor’s Desk,

I am not sure that we as Catholic Christians really understand how blessed
we truly are with all of our liturgies. We belong to God’s “church” which
can trace itself back to the founding apostles. We celebrate God’s love in
a ritual enactment of the Eucharist, in fact in all the sacraments. At Sunday
Mass we can experience God’s outpouring of grace and He in turn calls
us to overflow with life in response. Through regular participation in the
Sunday Eucharist, celebrated well, we set our hearts to worship and place
our lives in God’s hands. To do this, we need to celebrate the liturgy with
the attention and intensity that the liturgy deserves. We cannot hide from
the mystery of God’s love when ritual is celebrated well.
When people tell me that Mass is “boring”, it is the same old thing, they
are showing how programmed they are by our culture. Our culture fosters
a, “be entertained” attitude. It seems as if every waking minute, we must
be stimulated. There are headphones, cell phones, stereos, televisions,
computers, ipads, and text messaging; we cannot simply be still and silent.
Liturgy within the context of Mass, involves us in worship, which means us
actually praying, singing, listening, and being open to God speaking in the
silence of our hearts. It does not mean that we come to Mass to be entertained.
As baptized believers, we are each called to draw others to holiness, to a life filled with God’s grace. As members of
God’s family, we are to celebrate God’s love in community, receiving God in the Eucharist. This is the supreme act of
worship on our part as God’s children, and the supreme act of God’s love to us.
Catholic Liturgy celebrated well, moves us back in time to the Last Supper. Yes liturgy takes on a little personality of
the parish in which it is celebrated, but the content, the structure is always to be the same. As we travel, whether in
this country or abroad, we are able to worship at Mass even though we may not know the language because the liturgy
is the same. If you come to Mass to be entertained you will be disappointed. Come to worship in God’s house
and be a part of God’s family in prayer, a prayer that can be traced back to the apostles.
Yes our liturgies are different. We are social distancing in the pews, face masks for everyone, less music and shorter
homilies so our liturgies are not as long. This may be the new norm for months to come. Fr. Joseph and I remember
all of St. Agnes parishioners daily in our prayers.
~Rev. Lewis Hejna