At a discussion site, I was asked the following:
I never understood the people who go to church merely for the fact that they believe if they do not go then they will go to hell.
I go to hear an informational, maybe uplifing, homily and to listen to the readings.
I usually try and take the message of the week and apply it in my world.
Never do I feel bd when I do not go.
What's your take??
I responded:
I go to Mass not because it's an obligation, or a rule, or a sin if I don't go. I go to be with the one I love and the one who so loved me He created me and was willing to die for me. I WANT to be there, just as I wanted to be with a girlfriend or my wife - only more so! I want to spend time with Him, to thank Him, to talk to Him, just to be with Him. Yes, I can be with Him in the woods, or on a mountainside, or while walking the dog, but Mass is a special time - a "date" of sorts. I go to hear a homily, to be with like-minded people, to feel a sense of community, to sing, true. But even more I go to be with my Lord, and so even a lousy homily, terrible music, irreverent people can't ruin it. I'm with HIm. When I miss Mass, I feel a sense of loss, just I have in the past when away from my family, my wife, my loved ones.
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My response was hurried, and perhaps not worded in the best way. Someone said some positive things about it, noting though that it was a bit "over the top."
I replied:
Over the top? Perhaps - but then, don't we celebrate passionate love?
Litany of the Love of God
His Holiness, Pope Pius VI, for private use
- Lord, have mercy on us.
- Christ, have mercy on us.
- Lord, have mercy on us.
- Christ, hear us. Christ graciously hear us.
- God, the Father of heaven,
- Have mercy on us.
- God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
- Have mercy on us.
- God, the Holy Ghost,
- Have mercy on us.
- Holy Trinity, one God,
- Have mercy on us.
- Thou Who art Infinite Love,
- Have mercy on us.
- Thou Who didst first love me,
- Have mercy on us.
- Thou Who commandest me to love Thee,
- Have mercy on us.
- With all my heart,
- I Love Thee, O My God
- With all my soul,
- I Love Thee, O My God
- With all my mind,
- I Love Thee, O My God
- With all my strength,
- I Love Thee, O My God
- Above all possessions and honors,
- I Love Thee, O My God
- Above all pleasures and enjoyments,
- I Love Thee, O My God
- More than myself, and everything belonging to me,
- I Love Thee, O My God
- More than all my relatives and friends,
- I Love Thee, O My God
- More than all men and angels,
- I Love Thee, O My God
- Above all created things in heaven or on earth,
- I Love Thee, O My God
- Only for Thyself,
- I Love Thee, O My God
- Because Thou art the sovereign Good,
- I Love Thee, O My God
- Because Thou art infinitely worthy of being loved,
- I Love Thee, O My God
- Because Thou art infinitely perfect,
- I Love Thee, O My God
- Even hadst Thou not promised me heaven,
- I Love Thee, O My God
- Even hadst Thou not menaced me with hell,
- I Love Thee, O My God
- Even shouldst Thou try me by want and misfortune,
- I Love Thee, O My God
- In wealth and in poverty,
- I Love Thee, O My God
- In prosperity and in adversity,
- I Love Thee, O My God
- In health and in sickness,
- I Love Thee, O My God
- In life and in death,
- I Love Thee, O My God
- In time and in eternity,
- I Love Thee, O My God
- In union with that love wherewith all the saints and all the angels love Thee in heaven,
- I Love Thee, O My God
- In union with that love wherewith the Blessed Virgin Mary loveth Thee,
- I Love Thee, O My God
- In union with that infinite love wherewith Thou lovest Thyself eternally,
- I Love Thee, O My God
His Holiness, Pope Pius VI, for private use
And then I cited:
| How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43) | ||
| by Elizabeth Barrett Browning | ||
|
| ||
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of being and ideal grace. I love thee to the level of every day's Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for right. I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. I love thee with the passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death. | ||
Ah, but I only wish I could be conscious of that love every time I go to Mass!
Pax et bonum
1 comment:
sounds good to me. That isn't over the top in the slightest. From an interesting post I read today:
If one is loved by one and all, I question whether they are vigorously defending Holy Mother Church, because many people get offended when you disagree with them (believe me, I know, after 30 years of apologetics in both the Protestant and Catholic worlds). This is a dynamic that hold true in all times and places because it is the perpetual struggle of truth over falsehood; right over wrong. We don’t want to be despised because we are truly jerks and uncharitable (because of our own poor behavior), but if we are loathed because we proclaim Catholic truth, then that is exactly what our Lord predicted would happen. It does not necessarily reflect badly upon how well we did our job, at all.
The only thing I'd add to what you said is that going merely out of obligation while not perfect love is at least something. It's still shows faith. It's a faith that should be matured and with proper spiritual nourishment it will be. None of us love God perfectly as we ought to. We shouldn't judge the motives of others.
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