If this is the first article you are reading\non my blog, please allow to begin by saying this is the fourth article in a\nseries on \u201chow do you evangelize a culture that used to be Christian?\u201d In order my three previous articles in this\nseries were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, in this blog article, I turn to the topic\nof those who say they don\u2019t get much out of Mass. This includes both those who have stopped coming\nto church at all, those who only come sporadically, as well as some who might\ncome regularly but might come more out of obligation than appreciation of what\nour faith offers us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are various reasons why people feel\nthey don\u2019t get much out of Mass. I offer\nsome of them now with some suggestions on what to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, to those who say they feel they don\u2019t\nget much out of Mass, we should realize that the primary purpose of Mass is to\npraise God. That doesn\u2019t mean we don\u2019t get\nsomething out of it. We hear God\u2019s Word\nand celebrate the Eucharist. We receive grace<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How do we open ourselves to the grace God\noffers? I think the phrase you get out\nof something what you put into it applies (actually God will multiple what we put\ninto it). How much effort do you put\ninto Mass? <\/p>\n\n\n\n I refer to the effort we put into Mass in\ntwo ways. First, ask yourself when do\nyou get to Mass. Do you arrive at the\nlast possible minute, maybe even missing the beginning? I think we get more out of Mass when we put\nmore into it. Try arriving a couple of\nminutes early. Then use the time to\npray, to hand your problems over to God. \nMost churches have missalettes with the readings in them. You might take a couple of minutes before\nMass to begin reflecting on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Catholics, there is a lot of ritual and\ncustom to what we do. Do you know why we\ndo it? Why do we kneel at some times and\nstand at orders? Where do the words come\nfrom? How do I learn more? Here I offer two resources:<\/p>\n\n\n\n I said above that those what say they don\u2019t\nget much of Mass can include those who do come to Mass regularly as well as\nthose who don\u2019t. Now, I want to mention\nanother category, those who have left the Catholic Church for other denominations. Why do they leave? I think not understanding what we do at Mass so\nthat they don\u2019t get much out of it is part of this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Another reason can be that some of these other\nchurches, often non-denominational are better at \u201ccommunity\u201d, meaning they are\nthere for one another. People feel like\nthey matter. We need to help better feel\nwelcome in our churches. This starts\nwith greeters with a warm smile and a friendly voice at the door but it\ncontinues in the pews. It continues\noutside the church. When was the last\ntime you talked to a person who sits near you in church who isn\u2019t your friend\nor family?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes the other churches have what I\ncall \u201cfeel good liturgies\u201d. Because of\nlively music and charismatic preaching people feel \u201chappier.\u201d Does that mean our Catholic Mass can\u2019t help\nus \u201cfeel good\u201d? Of course not! However, to appreciate what our Catholic Mass\noffers, we need to understand it (see resources I mentioned above).<\/p>\n\n\n\n These other churches also sometimes offer\nmore \u201cafter the service.\u201d It might be community\n(social) events. It might be opportunities\nto learn more about faith, both for adults as well as children. People want to be fed. We need to feed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I hope this series of blog articles is\nhelping you reflect on ways that you might be able to evangelize others as well\nas learn more about our faith yourself. I\nhave at least one more article I think I will write in this series. If you have questions about evangelization,\nplease feel free to offer a comment by clicking on \u201ccomment.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you would like to learn more about evangelization, please check out the evangelization section<\/a> on my website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peace,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fr. Jeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If this is the first article you are reading on my blog, please allow to begin by saying this is the fourth article in a series on \u201chow do you evangelize a culture that used to be Christian?\u201d In order my three previous articles in this series were: “The Quest for Fulfillment in the Modern …<\/p>\n