Tonight I went to the Holy Thursday Mass at the church near our house, and they didn't do the foot washing so it wasn't much longer than a regular Sunday Mass. And you know what? I was happy about it! I used to love beautiful, elaborate liturgies, but the older I get, the more I like things simpler. Why is this? It might be that I've noticed that other people who love elaborate liturgies seem to miss a lot of the basic points of Christianity. After all, Jesus didn't come into the world to tell us to have beautiful music at Mass - he came to tell us to love one another. Sometimes people who love fancy liturgies seem more interested in the rules of religion (an awful lot of them manmade) than the hard work of actually getting out there and living their faith. Believe me, I know it's a lot easier to sit in your house and pray chaplets than to actually love other people, who are often annoying, tedious, or downright infuriating. When I was younger, I felt that singing in a choir was the greatest way I could worship God, but now I'm starting to think it's not that important. Maybe the reason I like the church near us is because the priest seems so devout and like he gets it; when I confessed to not loving people I don't like, the priest at our usual parish was all like, "We all feel that way," but this priest said it was a really good thing for me to confess. When I told him that I always pray to love those I don't like, he said, "That's a really good prayer." Certainly during this season of Lent, simplicity makes some sense. Maybe for the Easter Vigil I'll try to go downtown and attend the Mass with the Bishop, but today for Holy Thursday I just wasn't feeling it. A simple liturgy just felt right tonight.
Famous Hat
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