Photo Credit: San Diego Shooter - Flickr
Have you ever stood in line hours before the midnight premiere of the movie you expect to be your new favorite?
Even better, did you dress up for the event?
We’re in the beginning of the summer movie season, and I’m hoping that it lives up to all the hype about the new movies. There are long-awaited comic hero movies, romantic comedies, and exciting thrillers to look forward to seeing. Although the high prices of tickets will require most of us to be selective.
We are a people of stories, and watching them is more than entertainment. From our first forefathers to today, oral-tradition to the big screen, storytelling is how we continue to give life to past events and even our imagination. While there are some that do it at questionable quality, it is something that won’t be going away anytime soon.
For us Catholics, there is a regular storytelling event that is central to our faith – the Holy Mass. Sure the lectors may not always come off as reading something life-changing, but the power of the story truly is if you let it.
Jesus, since He is God incarnate, kicks it up a few notches than high-definition and surround sound.
He takes stories of old and ancient prophecies and fulfills them. Not just in a cardboard cutout kind of way either. At each mass Jesus becomes truly present in His body, blood, soul, and divinity.
Not even Marty Mcfly can handle that with his Delorean time machine, nor Thor with his rainbow bridge.
Now let’s go back to the original questions. Remember that excitement of being together with strangers, sacrificing sleep and other important things to share your collective interest in a story? How does the mass compare?
How much thought do you put into getting ready for mass?
I’m not casting stones here either. Personally, sometimes I get more excited about the next new preview of the new Dark Knight Rises movie than I do about going to mass, but I’m working on it. Mass is more than entertainment, it’s active participation in the salvation won for us by our Lord.
Try this, next time you invite someone to join you for a movie, invite them to join you for mass the following Sunday too. Jesus deserves more endorsement than comic book superheroes.
I used to not dress up for Mass at all. That changed when I had a real summer job, one that required me to dress professionally five days a week. I vividly remember thinking, “Oh, it’s Sunday! I don’t have to put on anything nice; I’m just going to church.” The irony hit me immediately, and I started dressing up for Mass that very day.
The way I see it is this: if you were invited to a fancy dinner with a celebrity, brunch with your boyfriend or girlfriend’s family, or a special event for a club you belong to, you would wear your best clothes or at least look nice. Why should the Lord’s Supper get anything less?