A Sunday Thought About Real Fervor at Mass

One of our favorite spiritual guides, Father Willie Doyle, wrote a simple few sentences during his World War I service about real fervor at Mass. We'll read this with our own Sunday Mass in mind.

Before we get to Father Willie, a quick note. It seems fewer and fewer Catholics take the obligation to attend Mass on Sunday seriously these days. We could write a year's worth of posts addressing the causes for this sad state of affairs. But for now, I think most of us have some familiarity with this phenomenon. 

A question: When was the last time you heard a priest, or even a bishop for that matter, address this issue? In our own parish, there have been occasional attempts to encourage Mass attendance. Naturally, these are addressed to the congregation already sitting in the pews. And at Masses I attend, the "usual suspects" are typically in attendance; so it's a case of "preaching to the choir." I suppose it's better than silence. But does it ever reach the folks who don't go to Mass at all? 

In addition, there's never been a single time that I remember where the priest simply said we are obliged to attend Mass under pain of sin - mortal sin at that. I guess that's too heavy-handed for a church leadership that pushed celebration of the Epiphany from January 6th to the nearest Sunday to avoid the "burden" of folks having to...well, to what? Get to Mass on more than a Sunday? Make time on a day other than Sunday to celebrate the manifestation of Christ, Our Savior to the Three Wise Men - and the world - as a little baby? It's a logic that makes you wonder when they'll tell us we don't need to attend Mass on the few Holy Days of Obligation left. Oh, that's right, fewer and fewer folks do that anyway.

Sorry for the distraction from our subject today. Back to those of us who actually do attend Mass regularly.

It can be oh-so-easy to make Sunday Mass a kind of rote action, something we do out of habit of obligation. I've caught myself on more than one occasion. Perhaps you have as well. Today's passage written by Father Doyle should serve as both a wake up and a tonic to treating Mass strictly as an obligation, or just something we do because we always have. 

The background: Father was a chaplain who worked in the trenches during World War I. As we've noted before, he was killed in the line of duty. But before his sudden death during an enemy attack, he served bravely. Those who witnessed his service - both Catholic and non-Catholic - have testified to his remarkable service. Indeed, if you take the trouble to read such accounts, you'll find that his presence among the troops helped those who fought - and those who died - in a way we can hardly imagine.

Anyway, just read what he has to say here about a particular Mass he celebrated:

I have celebrated Mass in some strange places and under extraordinary conditions but somehow I was more than usually impressed this morning. The men had gathered in what was once a small convent. For with all their faults, their devil-may-care recklessness, they love the Mass and regret when they cannot come. It was a poor miserable place, cold and wet, the only light being two small candles. Yet they knelt there and prayed as only our own Irish poor can pray, with a fervour and faith which would touch the heart of any unbeliever. They are as shy as children, and men of few words; but I know they are grateful when one tries to be kind to them and warmly appreciate all that is done for their soul’s interest.

When I read this I thought of all those take-it-for-granted, just-something-I-do-on-Sunday Masses. Sure, I understand that in Father Willie's day people took their religion a tad more seriously than folks do these days. And I understand that men who stood to die and face Jesus in their Particular Judgment had a bit of motivation to get to Mass and confession. Still, we who don't face similar circumstances can learn a lesson from those soldiers.

Mass is not a trifling matter. It's a privilege to be able to attend the Sacrifice of Our Lord at Calvary - albeit in an unbloody manner - and to receive His Body and Blood in Holy Communion (assuming we are in the state of grace).

Can you think of anything we do that's more important, that deserves as much attention and devotion?

With thanks to Father Willie, I hope we can, on this Sunday, capture even an ounce of the attention, devotion, and fervor of those Irish lads during World War I.

Happy Sunday!