{"id":106345,"date":"2021-04-29T12:38:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-29T19:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/?p=106345"},"modified":"2023-02-08T08:40:58","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T16:40:58","slug":"so-you-think-that-mass-is-boring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/so-you-think-that-mass-is-boring\/","title":{"rendered":"So, You think that Mass is Boring?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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If we only knew how God regards this Sacrifice, we would risk our lives to be present at a single Mass. (Saint Padre Pio)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I<\/span>f you think Mass is boring, it\u2019s probably because you don\u2019t know what you’re experiencing! Many of us think of Church as that place you have to go on Sunday as a duty or obligation to God. That\u2019s not wrong, but it\u2019s not the whole story. God created us, and just as we have duties to our own parents and families, we have duties to God. We owe God reverence and we have to thank Him for creating us and creating the world. But there is so much more than this! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

God wants us to be free from sin, sorrow, and death, and the liturgy is the way that those things are overcome. Just like a father wants his child to grow up happy and healthy, God the Father through the Son wants us to grow up to be holy and perfect, just as He is perfect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Second Vatican Council summed it up this way: \u201cThe liturgy\u2026 is rightly seen as an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ”<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span>. What does that even mean? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two thousand years ago, if you were living in Galilee, you could have met Jesus in the flesh. He was walking around, teaching people, healing the sick, washing away sin, lifting up the fallen. And today, two thousand years after His death and resurrection, He is still<\/em> doing those things\u2013and He is doing them through the sacraments. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The liturgy is nothing less than the saving work of Jesus Christ continuing in the world to the present day. The liturgy is the ongoing work of redemption. <\/em>It is how Christ through physical signs and symbols glorifies the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit and sanctifies all humankind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as amazing as that is, that\u2019s not all! When we participate in the liturgy on earth, we are also participating in a certain way in the Heavenly liturgy<\/em>. The Heavenly liturgy is celebrated by the angels, the saints, and the \u201cgreat multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues\u201d<\/span>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span>. In the sacraments, heaven truly comes to earth. When we sing sanctus, sanctus, sanctus<\/em> we\u2019re singing the song that Saint John heard the heavenly choirs singing<\/span>3<\/sup><\/a><\/span>. Whenever we celebrate the sacred liturgy, we touch eternity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the Priest raises up the precious body and precious blood, that is Christ at the last supper prefiguring His own sacrifice\u2013instituting the Eucharist for His disciples while He still walks the earth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And at the same time, during the sacrifice of the Mass, that is Christ\u2019s sacrifice at Calvary. For just the briefest moment, time and space don\u2019t matter\u2013and we are there, kneeling at the foot of the Cross with the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Mary Magdalene and Saint John. We are witnesses and participants with all the heavenly hosts and with all the faithful past, present, and future. We transcend the mere bounds of time and space to kiss eternity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can\u2019t get more exciting than that! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(excerpt from The Altar Server Training Manua<\/em>l, a work in progress)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If we only knew how God regards this Sacrifice, we would risk our lives to be present at a single Mass. (Saint Padre Pio) If you think Mass is boring, it\u2019s probably because you don\u2019t know what you’re experiencing! Many of us think of Church as that place you have to go on Sunday as a duty or obligation to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":84471,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Blatherings from the Blog: So, You think that Mass is Boring?","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[126,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exhortations","category-sacred-liturgy"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Mass.png?fit=1472%2C1080&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1aGBK-rFf","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":90531,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/a-plea-for-beauty-in-the-sacred-liturgy\/","url_meta":{"origin":106345,"position":0},"title":"A Plea for Beauty in the Sacred Liturgy","author":"Thom","date":"13 January 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Superman fights for \"truth, justice, and the American way!\" We should fight for the three transcendentals: truth, beauty, and goodness. The transcendentals were known to the Ancient Greeks, but Catholic theologians quickly baptized them into their study of philosophy and theology. Transcendentals are the timeless and universal attributes of being.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Archbishop J. Peter Sartain"","block_context":{"text":"Archbishop J. Peter Sartain","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/archbishop-sartain\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/2018-06-03-18.43.42.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/2018-06-03-18.43.42.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/2018-06-03-18.43.42.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/2018-06-03-18.43.42.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/2018-06-03-18.43.42.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":85938,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/for-the-love-of-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":106345,"position":1},"title":"For the Love of God","author":"Thom","date":"14 October 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"If we believe that God created the world and us in it, if we believe that He did so out of an overflowing of divine love, if we believe that we were created that we might return that love to God and to His creation, then these facts should inform\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cardinal Sarah"","block_context":{"text":"Cardinal Sarah","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/robert-cardinal-sarah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/11401460_10152884020955382_8949689444964467811_n.jpg?fit=720%2C960&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/11401460_10152884020955382_8949689444964467811_n.jpg?fit=720%2C960&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/11401460_10152884020955382_8949689444964467811_n.jpg?fit=720%2C960&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/11401460_10152884020955382_8949689444964467811_n.jpg?fit=720%2C960&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":84534,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/reflections-on-the-mass-of-the-immaculate-conception\/","url_meta":{"origin":106345,"position":2},"title":"Reflections on the Mass of the Immaculate Conception","author":"Thom","date":"08 December 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Normally, we ask the servers, lectors, and extraordinary ministers to arrive thirty minutes before Mass. I was coming from work, and due to the train schedule I arrived an hour before Mass was scheduled to begin. I walked from the train station to the church in a refreshingly cool evening\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "community"","block_context":{"text":"community","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"MC and Server Vestments","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_3928-e1418147431823-240x320.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":88716,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/on-vestments\/","url_meta":{"origin":106345,"position":3},"title":"On Vestments","author":"Thom","date":"12 July 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"There is a tendency in the modern world to minimize the use of vestments in the liturgy. In my early days as a Catholic, it was not unusual to see a priest celebrate Mass wearing only an alb and a stole. Often, this was taken as a sign of humility\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Exhortations"","block_context":{"text":"Exhortations","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/sacred-liturgy\/exhortations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/OR_2091_GVS_D21_SET_MCI.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/OR_2091_GVS_D21_SET_MCI.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/OR_2091_GVS_D21_SET_MCI.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/OR_2091_GVS_D21_SET_MCI.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":90266,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/rorate-mass-resources-in-the-ordinary-form\/","url_meta":{"origin":106345,"position":4},"title":"Rorate Mass Resources – in the Ordinary Form","author":"Thom","date":"12 December 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Last year about this time, our parish of Holy Rosary celebrated a Rorate Mass in the Ordinary Form. And what, pray tell, is a Rorate Mass? The name comes from the opening words of the Entrance Antiphon, Rorate c\u00e6li desuper, Latin for \u201cDrop down dew, ye heavens\u201d. 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