Hopefully last week’s article about doing an attitude check with regards to how we see going to Mass was helpful.  Even as somebody who loves to celebrate Mass everyday, I found myself asking the Lord to continue to purify my attitude and renew my heart with a deeper love for the Mass.

As promised last week, my goal for this week’s article is to touch briefly on the external preparations we should undergo as we get ready to encounter the Lord at Mass.  The first thing to consider is the Eucharistic fast.  Here is what the law says concerning this fast: “One who is to receive the Most Holy Eucharist is to abstain from any food or drink, with the exception of water and medicine, for at least the period of one hour before Holy Communion.”

I am surprised at how many people are unaware of this obligation, so it is worth bringing up.  There are a few things to explain here.  There may be a person with a medical condition or advanced age where a fast is not possible.  But in general, one hour before communion (not before the beginning of Mass, but before the reception of Holy Communion) is not that much of a burden.  Notice also that the law says “at least” one hour.  One can choose to make the fast before Holy Communion longer.  The point of fasting before Holy Communion is to increase our hunger and thirst for the Lord, both physically and spiritually.  So although this form or preparation is external, it is also necessarily connected to our internal preparation.

Another form of external preparation that is at the service of our internal preparation is the timeliness of our arrival to Mass.  As I stand in the back of the church before the Entrance Procession, noticing the many empty spaces in the church, I sometimes half-jokingly comment: “The 4:02 pm bus must have not arrived yet.”  By the time I process in, kiss the altar, and look out after the Sign of the Cross, the number of people in the pews has increased significantly!  I get that our lives can be hectic and we often catch ourselves coming and going.  But I hope we can all appreciate how arriving at the last minute makes it hard to transition to a prayerful state.  Why not try to make an effort to leave a little earlier from home so that you can have a few minutes of silence during which you set your distractions aside so as to enter more fully into this great prayer that is the Mass?

Finally, I would like to reflect on our dress as we come to Mass.  As you read this, you might be thinking: “Here we go, Father is going to complain about how we dress!”  I just want for us to consider one point as it applies to our dress.  I have heard people say: “God does not care what I wear to Mass, He’s just happy I am there.”  There is truth in this.  God loves us unconditionally and He does delight when we come to Mass.  But the question is not so much about what God thinks of us, but I would suggest it is more of a reflection on what we think of God and about the importance of the Mass.  We are usually very attentive to dressing nicely if we plan to come to a funeral or a wedding.  We do that out of respect for others, to some extent.  If we can be motivated to step it up as a sign of human respect, how much more should our externals also respect the internal gratitude we have for the God who created us, continues to hold us in existence, and who will love us and bless us more than any human being ever has or could?

Feast Day: July 11^th | Patronage: European Civilization, Members of Religious Orders, Monks, Schoolchildren, Spelunkers, Farmers, Civil Engineers, those with fevers, gall stones, kidney disease, inflammation, and the dying | Iconography: White hair, Black robe (as Benedictine) with cup, bread, and raven (hearkening to the attempt to poison him), or book, crosier or cross (as abbot)

I want to embarrass St. Benedict a bit this week – as if that were possible – by drawing from a story that casts his twin sister in far better light. 

Scholastica, the sister of Saint Benedict, had been consecrated to God from her earliest years. She was accustomed to visiting her brother once a year. He would come down to meet her at a place on the monastery property, not far outside the gate. One day she came as usual and her saintly brother went with some of his disciples; they spent the whole day praising God and talking of sacred things. As night fell they had supper together. Their spiritual conversation went on and the hour grew late. The holy nun said to her brother: “Please do not leave me tonight; let us go on until morning talking about the delights of the spiritual life.” “Sister,” he replied, “what are you saying? I simply cannot stay outside my cell.” When she heard her brother refuse her request, the holy woman joined her hands on the table, laid her head on them and began to pray. As she raised her head from the table, there were such brilliant flashes of lightning, such great peals of thunder and such a heavy downpour of rain that neither Benedict nor his brethren could stir across the threshold of the place where they had been seated. Sadly he began to complain: “May God forgive you, sister. What have you done?” “Well,” she answered, “I asked you and you would not listen; so I asked my God and he did listen. So now go off, if you can, leave me and return to your monastery.” Reluctant as he was to stay of his own will, he remained against his will. So it came about that they stayed awake the whole night, engrossed in their conversation about the spiritual life. It is not surprising that she was more effective than he, since as John says, God is love, it was absolutely right that she could do more, as she loved more.

St. Benedict has one of those amazing titles that sometimes saints get after we look back at their life: Patron of Europe, or Patron of European Culture. There are six saints who have been given this same title – St. Benedict, Ss. Cyril and Methodius, St. Bridget of Sweden, St. Catherine of Sienna, and St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross. Now, I suspect most of us will not receive such a title when we become saints, but we are all called, like these saints, to build up authentic Christian culture. 

Culture goes wrong when our lives, and then our society, are ordered around the wrong thing. (Think of any number of horrific cults. They went bad because they were centered on a bad character or evil purpose). True culture sustains and helps us thrive, and this happens when we are grounded and centered on that which is true and good (consider words like “cultivation” or that Latin word, cultus, that simply meant right-worship.)  The little anecdote from St. Benedict’s life – and truly his life in general – teaches us one simple way to build up culture in our homes,  families, and surroundings: converse about beautiful things. 

When is the last time you shared something beautiful in conversation with your spouse or child, and then you marveled in it together? We don’t often give time to that sort of thing. We just hit the like button and keep scrolling, or slurp down our delicious cup of coffee and speed into the day, or take a picture of the sunset and then drive on. If God thought it important enough to force St. Benedict and St. Scholastica to spend the night talking together do you think He might have provided beautiful, lovely, profound, awe-some things for you to enjoy, and want you to share them with those you love? I suspect He has!

– Fr. Dominic is actually visiting his own twin sister, also a nun (Sr. Mary Thomas of the Holy Name of Jesus is her name) this very weekend. He prays to be humbled as was St. Benedict, and to share with her and his family so many beautiful things that God has placed within his life.