Have you ever been to a theater, watching a really good
movie and right before the climactic scene you got up to leave and miss the
conclusion? I doubt it, especially if it’s a thriller, where the bad guy is
just about to get caught or killed, or a “chick flick” where the couple is
about to be reunited with their one true love, or a hundred other formula
movies where you know a great ending is coming that will wrap up a story that you
just invested 2 hours of your time in.
Well it never fails, every Sunday at Mass, I will inevitably
see someone head out the door right after receiving the Eucharist at Communion.
I think at some point in our lives, we are probably all guilty of doing this,
but hopefully if we did it was for a darn good reason, like maybe your kids had
a game they had to get to buy a certain time or they wouldn’t get to play, or
maybe you started feeling ill and needed to get home.
But what about the people who always leave right after
Communion, (which I refer to as “Dine And Dash”)? What are they thinking? Is
it, “well, I’ve been here long enough” or “I fulfilled my obligation”? Whatever
the reason is, those people don’t know what they’re missing. I could say that
they’re missing the best part of Mass, but the truth is that there’s lots of
“best parts” of Mass. Maybe they are not missing the best part, but they are
certainly missing an important part and maybe not even realize it.
Something happens at the end of Mass that isn’t just a
wrap-up of a weekly service. No, it’s so much more. What do we get at the end
of Mass? We receive a blessing, right? But it’s not just an ordinary blessing. No,
this blessing is more like our final training instructions before we leave to
face a battle.
I recently read an incredible book by Mark Hart, who is
executive vice president for Life Teen International, called BeholdThe Mystery: A Deeper Understanding Of The Catholic Mass. I highly
recommend this book to anyone who wants to have a deeper understanding of our
Mass. The book covers every part of the Mass and explains it in a way that
helps anyone understand what’s happening throughout the entire Mass from
beginning to end.
Getting back to that final blessing we receive at the end of
Mass, I want to share with you how Mark Hart describes that blessing as “a reminder of our mission as Christians…blessed
for battle before we are led out by Christ into the world like an army of
grace-filled soldiers armed only with love.” He continues, “…we declare war on sin and selfishness. We
enter the Church as many souls, fractured, tired, broken, and hungry, but we
exit as one body in Christ, rejuvenated, healed, and fulfilled.” But
there’s more, and this is the part that really stuck out for me. He goes on to
write this; “Incidentally, this is yet
one more reason not to leave Mass right after Communion. Those who do so break
from the community, miss the final blessing and deny themselves of the graces
associated with both.”
That, my friends, is precisely why we ALL should be staying
until the end of Mass. Not because it’s just some little formality, but because
it is one more way that we are provide with God’s grace. How awesome is
that? So, if you don’t want to miss out
on that, in the same way you wouldn’t want to miss the end of the movie, then
give God just 5 more minutes of your time to receive a simple blessing, yet
such powerful weapon to do good, in a world where we are up against a daily
battle zone against so much evil. That may sound a bit extreme, but it’s true.
I know there will always be those few individuals who will
always duck out of Mass a little early simply because they think that it’s OK.
And when you do see them, say a little prayer for them and think to yourself,
“you don’t know what you’re missing”.
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