WHAT DO YOU MISS ABOUT CHURCH THAT SURPRISES YOU?
“Everything I took for granted. Daily Mass after I drop my daughter off at school. Lighting candles for the sick (and sometimes paying for them!). Hearing a favorite hymn, and trying to sing it. Hearing Fathers Vince, Junior or Adam nailing a homily.
Seeing the same 99-year-old man, with cane, genuflecting until his right knee hits the floor – and seeing him painfully getting up. Going out of my way to shake a hand at the sign of peace. Seeing others at Mass, whether 20 or 300, and knowing that despite our doubts….we are part of a 2,000-year tradition.
The taste of a Communion wafer. Criticizing, in my head, the dude who leaves after Communion…..and then feeling like a jerk because I don’t know his story.”
Tom Brzozowski, Somerdale, New Jersey
“It surprises me how much I miss all of it. Even trying to find a seat, crying babies, unexciting homilies….Of course I miss the Mass and the Eucharist, but the others surprise me.”
Patty Amato, Claremont, California
“I really miss just being able to walk into church when I am feeling anxious or scared and sitting in silence during adoration or before Mass starts. I always feel Christ’s reassuring presence in sacred space and I have been missing that.”
Ursula Newcomb, Toledo, Ohio
“The Eucharist. I know it sounds obvious, but it hit me like a ton of bricks. I can hardly watch a streamed Mass without crying when the priest, and only the priest, is able to partake in the Eucharist. I don’t care how many times I say that ‘spiritual Communion’ prayer. It’s not the same.”
Nicole LeBlanc, Dallas, Texas
“Having Sunday to be a different experience than any other day. It has disrupted our lives in a way that feels something is terribly amiss. We had to do something about it. Even though we livestream Mass and keep Sunday holy, we had to change a routine in our family. We now bake homemade bread Saturday evening. We wake up to homemade bread, a different breakfast than every other day.”
Rose Kaser, Waukesha, Wisconsin
These appeared in AMERICA MAGAZINE, June 8, 2020
What do YOU MISS about church that surprises you? Why do you say that?
