I went to see a Broadway show with some friends in college, but my hearing aids didn't work very well. I didn't really understand the premise of the show, and I could barely hear the dialogue. But the instrumental music was amazing. I looked around and saw everyone trying to follow and react to what was going on, but I was totally confused, so I gave up and just enjoyed the beautiful music in the beautiful theater. When the show ended and I left the theater, I didn't want to go see another show. Now I'm grateful to be able to look back on that experience and know that Jesus was with me.
I bring this up because I thought many Catholics may have similar experiences to my Broadway experience when attending Mass. Perhaps it is not a problem to “hear” the conversation, but rather a struggle to understand the context of what is going on in the Mass readings and prayers. Sometimes I look around the church and imagine that everyone else is engaged in what is going on, but I cannot concentrate on what the priest is saying or doing. I do not bring these things up to make us feel bad, but rather as motivation to enrich our ability to experience what God is doing through the priest in the Mass and what he wants to do in each of our hearts.
So if you or someone you know is feeling less than enthusiastic about going to Mass, we have to ask ourselves: Why is that? If someone has a hard time understanding the context of the Mass readings and prayers, I encourage them to read them thoroughly beforehand. The Mass readings are easy to find at bible.usccb.org, and there are also excellent explanations of the different parts and prayers of the Mass available online. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops provides the General Instruction of the Roman Missal online. At first, it may not seem like a very interesting document, but it is chock full of excellent explanations, Scripture quotations, and catechesis for each part of the Mass. In other words, why we do the things we do at Mass as Catholics.
The more we learn about the different parts of the Mass, the deeper we can enter into this Holy Sacrifice that Jesus offers us. We will see ourselves less as mere spectators and better understand our role as participants in the Mass. The greater our understanding that the Mass is the place where heaven and earth meet in the Eucharist, the source and summit of our faith, the greater the possibility of sharing the truths of the Catholic faith with our brothers and sisters. It is this call to conversion of heart and evangelization that is given to each of us through Baptism.
If you leave Mass feeling apathetic and confused, as I did after the Broadway show, I invite you to pray sincerely to the Lord that He would help your heart to be ablaze with God's love through a deeper understanding of our call to be active participants in Mass.
Father Dan Kavanagh is director of Catholic Deaf Ministry for the Archdiocese of St. Louis.