going to church...

Raised as a catholic, you would think I take upon the tradition of going to church every Sunday. But unfortunately, I don’t. I guess you can say I’m a “non-practicing catholic”. I must admit I am a little ashamed to say it. But certain things that have happened, have been said and done about the Catholic Church have not encouraged me to attend mass every Sunday. That’s not to say that I don’t pray, because I do. Whether I’m feeling blue, worried about something, or even when I’m in high spirits I find myself talking to HIM and that makes me feel better.

I believe it’s been about a year since I’ve gone to church. My hubby and I decided it’s about time we attended mass to receive some kind of spiritual healing as well as to give us a chance to thank HIM.

We attended the Saturday evening mass. As we arrived, the mass was about to begin. I noticed that not too many people attended. In fact, there were a few elderly folk and only two younger couples (my hubby and I being one of them).

We sat at one of the last rows. As the mass proceeded, I realized that I had forgotten most of the prayers. I didn’t pick up a book of hymns and prayers, so I just mumbled and pretended to know the words. In fact, the prayers I learned as a kid were in Spanish and even then, I had forgotten them too. I know… I should be ashamed. But, I really do pray everyday. Maybe I don’t go to church every Sunday, but I pray and talk to HIM everyday, whether it’s when I’m riding the train, as I’m walking by myself, or just sitting on the couch watching t.v. That should count for something.

Here I was trying to receive some spiritual guidance and as I sat there trying to listen to one of the readings, I almost choked! The lady was reading a passage from the bible (to which I was not paying much attention to as my mind kept thinking of other things) that read something like this, “and the wife shall be (in subordination or) subordinated to the husband…” Whoa man! Stop right there! The wife has to be “subordinated” to her husband? My hubby kept tapping me with his hand on my leg and smiling and I wanted to punch him! “… and the husband has to love and cherish his wife…” I was still trying to analyze that piece of information in my brain… Sorry, she just lost my attention. I didn’t even want to hear the rest!

During the mass, we had the usual collection of the daily offering. An elderly gentleman was collecting the donations. He put the basket in front of two elderly ladies that were sitting next to my hubby and, just as my hubby reached over to put his offering in the basket, the man immediatley pulled the basket away and continued on to the next row. My hubby and I just looked each other. Did he really not see him reaching for the basket? I mean, he clearly was reaching for the basket. I don’t want to assume anything, but it seemed kind of odd… gave me something to think about. I don’t know.

As I took another look around the room, I noticed the majority of the people attending the mass were elderly “white” folk. I for one wanted to find out if it was just a matter of the man not “noticing”. We would soon have another opportunity to find out. They were going to have a second collection. I told my hubby he should try again. But, of course, my hubby did not want to. Maybe it’s just me, but I wanted to have the benefit of the doubt. My hubby refused. Oh well, I guess we’ll never know.

We came to the part of the mass where we give the “peace” handshake to our neighbors. After everyone gave their sign of “peace”, I turned to see the two little old ladies sitting next to my hubby, pull out from their purses, an anti-bacterial hand soap which they rubbed in their hands to kill the germs they just acquired from shaking the hands of strangers. Hey, I don’t blame them, with all the germs that are going around these days! I can understand that. Especially for the elderly since they have to watch out for their health even more so. I just got a chuckle out of it.

What I can’t understand, and maybe that’s why I do not go up to drink the wine ("Blood of Christ") anymore, is that, when you think about it, drinking out of the one “cup” that many people have put their lips and drank out of, is pretty gross and disgusting to me! Especially, when I’ve seen a few people in front of the line coughing. Ugh! I’m sorry. They have to figure a better way of doing this. Sure, they do wipe the rim of the cup, but still…! Again, this is just me speaking here, but, I rather do the handshake and worry about washing my hands later.

We soon came to the conclusion of the mass. The visiting priest, who was giving the mass, gave us the final “blessing” and the second priest from that Parish immediately stepped up to the microphone and said, “Mass will not officially end until after the announcements”. Oops! Everyone laughed. And part of the announcement was that one of the parishioners was going to provide coffee for after the Sunday’s mass and the priest said jokingly, “And she will also bring some baked goodies for us too!” The lady, made a fist at the priest and said, “No sir, I’m not!” Everyone laughed again.

Once the announcements were made, the visiting priest, with a bit of humor said, “well, I guess I will have to give you a second blessing… the mass has ended, you may now go in peace”.