“Respect in God’s House”
theophilus June 26th, 2008
I went to weekday Mass the other day. As it wasn’t my parish, I picked up a bulletin on my out to find out what was going on in this particular parish. I found the following treatise written by the music director. It’s some pretty good stuff. Keep in mind that St. Gabriel’s has a traditional layout with the organ in a choir loft, so he has probably seen it all from his perch on high.
“Respect in God’s House
“Most of us, (at least I would hope), tend to respect other’s ways when we visit their homes. As we probably all know, some poeple have different customs than we may have. For example, there are those who may request that you remove your shoes before you enter their home. Or who may prefer you not to smoke in their house. Or who may ask you not to lean back in their kitchen chairs or not put your feet on their furniture or demand you set your drink on a coaster. And as guests, we respect these rules, even when they may differ greatly from what we might do in our own homes. And we also expect guests in our homes to respect whatever customs we might have.
“There are certain customs we are expected to follow in God’s house, church, too. For example, it is customary in Catholic churches with a visible tabernacle (such as Saint Gabriel Church) to genuflect to the tabernacle before taking our seat in the pew before Mass and also before leaving church after Mass. Those who are physically unable to genuflect should at least humbly bow. This shows respect to the Presence of God in the reserved Eucharist.
“In Catholic churches without a visible tabernacle it is customary to bow in reverence to the altar. So why do so many not do this? We often greet one another whole-heartedly before Mass yet fail to greet God with a simple genuflect or humble bow.
“Remember that we are coming together to pray. Mass is not a social event. It is indeed a celebration, but it is not a party. There are some who come early or stay after Mass to pray privately. We should respect this by not carrying on loudly in our conversations before or after Mass. I suggest you take these social encounters outside of church. Yes, community and fellowship is a good thing, but God’s house is a place for worship, and is not a social hall.
“Just as it may be considered rude to arrive to a host’s home late for an engagement, or to ‘eat and run,’ so too one should arrive to church on time for Mass and not rush out right after Communion. The prayers after Communion are not that long. And don’t forget that just before the end of Mass, we are given a Blessing. And some of us need all the Blessings we can get. If you leave early you miss out on this. Give God this time and don’t be in such a hurry to rush off to breakfast or home to TV or wherever it is you go after Mass. Even our longest Masses at Saint Gabriel Church (i.e. Palm Sunday) are no longer than 1 hour 15 minutes. Plan to be present for the entire experience.
“This is a sensitive subject, but it too should be addressed. Be mindful in the way you dress for church. I realize it is hot outside, but our church is air-conditioned. Perhaps short-shorts or halter tops or cut-off jeans or tank tops or tee-shirts with crude messages or pictures across the front or back are not really appropriate.
“We should dress in a way that says we are gathering together to pray, not coming to a picnic. Our clothes should not draw special attention to ourselves. God should be our focus, not the sloppy or ‘half-dressed’ young lady or man in the pew in front of us. That’s not to say you are expected to wear suits and ties and beautiful dresses every time you come to church. But it really doesn’t take all that much effort to just look nice.
“When we gather for Mass, we come to worship God TOGETHER. It is not appropriate to pray the rosary or read prayers from a prayer-book or silently pray your own private prayers. And it is most certainly not the time to balance your checkbook or ‘text’ your best buddy or listen to your iPod.
“Private prayers may be prayed before or after Mass. Mass, however, is a community prayer. We pray it together. It is not something the Priest does. Rather, the Priest leads all of us in the this prayer TOGETHER. And so we are expected to sing the hymns and acclamations as best we can. And join in the spoken (or sung) congregational responses and prayers., which all Catholics SHOULD know by heart, however, for those who don’t know them, these texts are printed in the hymnals.
“We are also expected to sit or stand or kneel at different times throughout the Liturgy. (Exceptions are made for those who can’t.)
“And we are not supposed to be chewing gum or munching on snacks during Mass. (Exceptions are made for small children.) I recently saw someone (definitely old enough to certainly know better!) blowing bubbles with bubble-gum during Mass. (We no longer have Sisters patrolling up and down the aisles!)
“And PLEASE turn off your cell-phones! It is impolite to interrupt the worship of God, and a ringing cell-phone (even one that rings a fanciful musical melody – of which I have been blamed by certain naive parishioners) is always a distraction and annoyance. And it is even worse when one ANSWERS the phone (always out loud, of course). ‘Hi . . . I’m in church . . . yeah, I’m about to take Communion . . . hold on . . . ‘Amen’ . . . okay, I’m back . . . ‘
“We really must try harder to show proper respect to God and to our fellow church-goers when we gather to worship. Respect the Liturgy of the Church too, even if we would prefer it was another way. Let’s make our worship experience something special, something holy, something unlike the rest of our week. And we’ll all feel great about it.
-Gene M. Osterkamp, Music Director”
Thank you for typing this up. These are some great thoughts!
Amen!