LITURGY MATTERS: Mass Boredom
By Michael McKenna, Archdiocesan Master of Ceremonies
It is not uncommon to hear it said that “Mass is boring”. The assessment is at times not entirely without merit. Even for the committed Catholic, the Mass can at times be less than fully engaging. The “Sunday obligation” can at times feel more a chore than a source of grace filled strength and delight.
Today’s Catholic is unlikely the first to be “bored” at Mass, but our antecedents in faith were far less likely to fall away from sacramental practice because of it. Indeed, the cultural hallmark of our present time is that “boredom” is not endured as a path to something of value. Sacramental practice is readily abandoned in favour of more immediately fulfilling pursuits, and frequently at a very young age.
Pope Saint John Paul II called for a “New Evangelisation” proposing a very Pauline inner conversion to Christ as a basis for outreach to others and to the wider culture. But as Dr James Pauley at Franciscan University of Steubenville observes: “if our interior disposition is not attuned to the movement of God in the Mass, if we don’t freely cooperate with the grace we encounter, then on the subjective level our boredom will close us off to the Mystery which is made present to us”.
Setting aside those obvious problems that distract from our prayerful participation, the assertion that “Mass is boring” reveals a common lack of understanding of the Sacrifice of the Mass as “the source and summit of the Christian life” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1324).
In this context, Fr Jeremy Driscoll OSB helpfully reflects that “it goes without saying that we do not understand the Mass as well as we should, but it would be a mistake to think that the Mass should be immediately understandable to all. How could it be? It is the summit of the Christian life. One does not begin at the summit; a summit is arrived at slowly and with effort… I will not get very far in understanding the Mass if I think I have the right to have it be meaningful to me in ways that I define. That would take away all possibility of receiving the Mass as a gift from another, from God. He defines it. It is His initiative, His action.”
The Heavenly dimension of the Mass is a constant reminder that to comprehend it fully is a summit to be arrived at over a lifetime. As a gift of Christ’s love, we can be certain that if we commit to it, the Mass will only grow more captivating and meaningful.
The question therefore becomes: What hardships am I willing to endure to be worthy of so great a gift?