Yesterday was the feast of St. Dominic, working at a Catholic Dominican college means we not only had a lovely mass, but also a delicious feast day feast. In all honestly, it's been awhile since I'd been to mass on campus. In part because of complicated schedules and in part because I've been pretty pissed at the church lately and haven't made mass attendance a priority. However, as I sat in the pew, listened to the music, sang along to some of the songs, heard scripture, and reflected during the homily I was surprised by the experience of both great calm and motivation. As I was able to sit in the pew I was able to simply sit and relax. Much of the time was spent thinking about a number of non-mass related realities.
Yet after mass I left feeling refreshed and recharged. The reality for me is that I don't often enough take this time in my life to sit and simply be. Sure I take plenty of time to watch movies and Netflix, spend time with friends talking, and every couple weeks find time for catching up on sleep, but I know these moments of relaxation just aren't the same. From the music, the space itself, and the subject matter mass for me becomes a space for relaxing and recharging and honestly that's why I go. That's why I need to recommit to taking time to go to mass.
There is nothing profound about this. There is nothing overly special or insightful about this, I really don't know why I'm writing this as a blog post, perhaps I just needed to share it in a way that was indirect, perhaps these words will help someone else find their way to realizing why they go to mass.
