The Weight of a Mass . . .

Someone once shared with me their love of the story about the poor woman who bartered with the butcher for some meat in exchange for offering a Mass for him at her church. He laughed and said he would have to see that weighed up proper on his meat scale. She wrote down her promise of having a Mass said for him and set it on one side of the scale. He placed the pound of meat he promised her if it carried the same weight as the Mass she offered in exchange. Since most of you have probably heard this story, the scale immediately went all the way down . . . on the side of the slip of paper with the promised Mass. The weight of the Mass was 'heavier' than the butcher's piece of meat.

Interesting side note to this story. The person who told it to me later shared that she was very picky about when and where she went to Mass and, even more especially, who was celebrating the Mass. Needless to say, I didn't often see her at daily Mass. This has gone on for over ten years and I often wonder . . . Who are we, mere humans, to decide which Mass rates our attendance and which ones can we decide to avoid because they don't meet a personal criteria. If we truly believe in our Faith and the weight of a single Mass, wouldn't any Mass offered within the correct Rubrics be heavier than any materialistic thing or event? Wouldn't we be judging what only God can judge when we decide a Mass isn't worthy of our attendance?

It often makes me sad when it comes to mind. How does that provide an example to our children? If we pick and chose the Mass we will attend, our children might end up picking and chosing not to go at all . . . because we have minimized the majority of Masses in hopes of finding a perfect one each time. The heart of all Masses is perfect. The man made flaws and liberal antics don't take away from it. And doubting the validity of a Mass based on personal preference of the celebrant is surely a sin against God's Gift to us.

Over the years, we have run into some interesting celebrations of the Mass. Yes, my children have been exposed to these bumps in the liturgical road. It hasn't changed their mind about their Faith. It has given us a lot of good conversation starters and they have learned to overlook the 'stuff' and concentrate on what matters.