Saturday, June 26, 2004
Or, let's not play dress-up
Which brings me to my point. The matter of appropriate dress is not
simply a matter of modesty, or lack thereof - it is a matter of respect &
reverence, an outward reflection of interior attitude. Which is what
troubles me most. When people come to Church inappropriately clad it's
clear that their minds are far away from the location of their bodies.
Mass attendence is nothing more than habit and afterthought. Not
something that is prepared for, not something that is thought about either
before or after its celebration. We Catholics have the incredible
privilege of possessing the Eucharist and what greater privilege is there
than attending Mass and accepting the body and blood of our Lord into
ourselves. What greater joy.
We need to bring to our communities a "Sabbath attitude" like the one that
I grew up with in an observant Jewish home. God's day and God's house
deserve our best. You know that out here I find that kind of reverence
and respect only in poor immigrant communities, especially the Hispanic
community. There you see impoverished workers, who live in crowded slums,
walking to Church in the hot sun with their children, wearing the clothes
that they wear ONLY to Church - the best things they own. I've seen
homeless laborers stripping down in the bathrooms of laundramats on
Saturday nights to wash their only clothes in preparation for Sunday Mass.
Now that's respect - and would that their much more affluent neighbors
would get the idea and emulate them.
My response: I can't really add much to this except to say how much sense it makes and how often I observe people receiving and not externally caring much. It's kinda painful at times.
simply a matter of modesty, or lack thereof - it is a matter of respect &
reverence, an outward reflection of interior attitude. Which is what
troubles me most. When people come to Church inappropriately clad it's
clear that their minds are far away from the location of their bodies.
Mass attendence is nothing more than habit and afterthought. Not
something that is prepared for, not something that is thought about either
before or after its celebration. We Catholics have the incredible
privilege of possessing the Eucharist and what greater privilege is there
than attending Mass and accepting the body and blood of our Lord into
ourselves. What greater joy.
We need to bring to our communities a "Sabbath attitude" like the one that
I grew up with in an observant Jewish home. God's day and God's house
deserve our best. You know that out here I find that kind of reverence
and respect only in poor immigrant communities, especially the Hispanic
community. There you see impoverished workers, who live in crowded slums,
walking to Church in the hot sun with their children, wearing the clothes
that they wear ONLY to Church - the best things they own. I've seen
homeless laborers stripping down in the bathrooms of laundramats on
Saturday nights to wash their only clothes in preparation for Sunday Mass.
Now that's respect - and would that their much more affluent neighbors
would get the idea and emulate them.
My response: I can't really add much to this except to say how much sense it makes and how often I observe people receiving and not externally caring much. It's kinda painful at times.
