March 11 - Lent, Day 27 - A Privilege and a Responsibility

Stained glass panel from St. Augustine's, Vineyard Haven, a church of Good Shepherd Parish of Martha's Vineyard.

Do I see Mass as a weekly duty, or as a privilege I want to enjoy as often as possible?

I attend Mass almost every day during the week, and at least once - depending on whether I am leading the songs or not - during the weekend. I consider attending Mass both a duty and a privilege. There are plenty of mornings I don't want to leave my house but I make myself because I know how much attending Mass feeds me - the words and the Eucharist - and serves as armor against the insanity and chaos of the world. After not attending Mass for twelve years, it is a joy and an honor to do so once again.

Dear God, help me to never forget how much I love attending Mass and partaking in your sacraments.

February 17 - Lent, Day 5 - From Chaos to Cosmos

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). God also instituted a place in which to commune with him directly.
Our Lady Star of the Sea, Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts.


Dr. Hahn's questions for today: What ways have I allowed myself to be influenced by the world's thinking? Where am I tempted to think I am self-sufficient, having no need of God?

When I listen to or watch or read the daily news, exposing myself to its constant barrage of doom and gloom - I forget that God is in charge. I forget that I subscribe to another reality, a reality that transcends the daily, worldly chatter that would have me believe that war, brokenness, tragedy, and death are the final words.

When I am tempted to skip Mass, thinking, "It's a cold, snowy day; I'm so cozy here; there's always tomorrow," thinking that somehow my memory of my last Mass, my thoughts of God (and somewhat unfocused prayers) are enough, I am putting God on the back burner. Not completely, but listen, either the sacraments are real and make a difference, or they do not. If not, why bother at all, ever? If so, why put them off? Yes, God is everywhere. But one thing I learned at the end of my Jewish journey, when I had no community, no pulpit, no pew - is that having a real connection to God: taking my faith beyond my imaginings and vague recollections and self-interpretations - subjecting myself to a mish-mosh of popular culture/facebook cutesy sayings and questionable theology - makes all the difference in the world. There's a reason that the Church has written into its instructions Holy Days of Obligation (so too in the Jewish faith, God instructs the Jews to observe the Sabbath and to assemble at certain times of the year); clearly, if left to our own devices, we are left to wander in the desert, meandering hither and yon, victims of the world's opinions and trends and fancies and some vague recollection of the faith we learned as children, but not connecting with anything with any real power or any real substance to sink our teeth into.

Dear God: thank you for leading me home. Please help me to remember to never leave you and your Sacramental Church ever again.