our daily bread

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Jul 19, 2005

Taking a step back from the liturgy wars, Amy Welborn makes a penetrating observation about the markedly different spiritual quality of the weekday Mass.

The point is that people yearn to go to Mass and not be assaulted by ego and its fruits. Period.

Further, the "it costs so much" argument is derailed by another comment frequently offered here -- that a lot of people keep their liturgically-centered piety alive through attendance at daily Mass. Parish liturgies may be a riot of activity, from intense, artificial efforts to "make" community, to Scouts, catechists and Tupperware salespeople being blessed and honored, to a senseless variety of music to general banality, but you can usually count on a weekday Mass to get you grounded again.

And what do you experience there -- little or no music, a homily that is generally very focused, and yes, community. In general, you get what's more clearly prayer.

Strange, but true. For whatever reason, that "recollectedness" (recueillement) which the Catechism speaks about as necessary to eucharistic worship has managed in large measure to survive in ordinary weekday Masses in ordinary parishes. Let's pray the fact never attracts the attention of the professionals.