A priest on Facebook posted this and it elicited quite a discussion. One gentleman argued that at least people were at Mass and, besides, how you dress depends where you are geographically. I always find that argument shallow. How many weddings do you see with guests arriving in shorts and flip flops even if the wedding is held outdoors?
It seems to me that the way one dresses is an indication of the seriousness with which one treats the event. Would anyone respond to an invitation to Buckingham Palace to meet the royals dressed in the casual way so many go to spend time with the Lord of the Universe? These things are not irrelevant or unimportant.
The Mass is not a fashion show, but there are things that illustrate a person's level of belief.
- The way one dresses
- The attitude, posture, and gestures: using holy water to make the sign of the cross as one enters the church, genuflecting before the presence of God, keeping a reverent silence rather than chatting and visiting with friends until outside the "holy place"
- Arriving on time and even early to prepare - Think of all the time people spend to "warm up" before engaging in a sport or even a casual run around the neighborhood. Does anticipation of the coming of Christ deserve less preparation?
- Staying at least a short time afterwards to say thank you. Would you get up at a guest's house immediately after a meal and walk out the door without a word of appreciation?
The FB commenter said: “…at least people were at Mass” … as if it is a privilege for God to be in the presence of said Mass goer - God should just be thankful that he found the time just to even be there.
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of the Parable Jesus told of The Widow’s Mite. We often think about it in terms of money - how much should we give. I think it is more than that. How much *of ourselves* should we give? Do we give God just a little corner of our self, our life with all its activities and choices; or do we give back to God the best of everything we have and the totality of our life - heart, soul, mind, body, strength (Matt 22:36-40)
The Widow’s Mite (Luke 21: 1-4):
“1And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, 2 and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites.[a] 3 So He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; 4 for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings [b]for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.”
How we choose indicates what we believe. We may fool ourselves into thinking we believe correctly, but by our fruits are we known to God. What is it we are bringing with us to our Particular Judgement? God judges physical evidence in the time He grants us of our love of Him, love of “neighbor”. And one small marker is how we behave in His presence - especially then, we should give Him our best.
God holds our lives, every breath and heartbeat, and God holds eternity in the palm of His hand. To live as if this is so in love and gratitude is the essence of saving “belief” (Mark 16:16)
I played organ for a Novus Ordo funeral two weeks ago, and I looked down from the choir loft and saw male attendee, about seventy years old, wearing shorts and a sleeveless undershirt. I felt sorry for him -- a case of terminal stupidity.
ReplyDeleteHere's a funny story I hope is allowed to post here.
ReplyDeleteYears ago (early 2000s) a buddy of mine and I were out shopping for wedding gifts for a buddy of ours (the guy and his wife have been married 18+ years and have 5 kids).
We went to one of the stores that was on the registry. Both of us were wearing shorts and t-shirts and I had on a baseball cap. It was a Saturday in the middle of summer and there were several single ladies in the store wearing nice sundresses (yeah my buddy and I aren't dead). I said to my buddy "I need to be careful how I dress when I go shopping at a place like this." He and I realized that we missed an opportunity to meet a few girls that day because we were dressed more for the auto shop that day.