Clean and Refreshed
Posted on: August 10, 2015
- In: Everyday Life | Faith | Sacraments
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How kind is our sacramental Jesus! He welcomes you at any hour of the day or night. His love never knows rest…By the reception He gives to you, one would think He has need of you to make Him happy.
~ St. Peter Julian Eymard, quoted in “Celebrate August 2015,” Catholic Digest, June / July / August 2015
Over the past couple of weeks, the three of us have worked hard to clean up the weeds in our yard—no mean feat, since the front and back gardens haven’t had enough attention this year.
Even on a cooler day, all that weeding and mulching leaves me feeling grubby. Somehow a shower never feels as good as when I’ve been working in the yard; it washes away the grime, soothes any sore muscles, and leaves me feeling clean and refreshed.
When I’d cleaned up after finishing my yard work on Saturday, I thought to myself that we should leave Mass feeling cleaner and refreshed in the spiritual sense.
When we come to Mass, do we lay our worries and cares before God? Really think about the reasons we need to ask God for his mercy? Mean it when we say that our soul will be healed if only Jesus says the word? Or are we just going through the motions?
Yes, the church might be very warm in the summer, and we might have weekend plans, but our focus should be on spending time with God. If we’re only warming the pew (or sitting in it, feeling warm), aren’t we missing the point?
We’re only human, and our minds might wander during the service, but we need to keep calling our attention back and be present or we’ll miss out on the joys the Mass holds for us: the blessing of God’s mercy and forgiveness, the truths in the homily, the wonder of Jesus’ coming to us in the bread and wine, the beauty of worshipping and serving as part of a community of faith.
I pray that, on these warm and humid days, we would be spiritually refreshed by our time spent in worship at Mass.
Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way which he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
~ Hebrews 10:19-22*
(*Scripture quote taken from the Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition.)
A Catholic Convert in Ottawa 