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Tuesday, April 26, 2016

One More Reason Not to be the Last to Leave Mass

This morning I was reading an article, "5 Reasons to Stay Until the End of Mass," by Sister Theresa Aletheia Noble.  Her reasons include:

(1)     Community
          Stay awhile after the Mass concludes and catch up on neighbors' news.  Greet and welcome
           newcomers.
(2)     It's rude
          I'll say!!!  Although I never noticed this until I had children singing in the choir.  I couldn't get
          over that the people in the choir are looking at you, eyeball to eyeball, and you turn around and
          leave!  How rude!  Stay and sing. Stay, tell Father, "good homily," tell the Lector, "good job,"
          tell the altar servers, "excellent job," -- you get the idea.  You're in church; you should be
          concerned about your neighbors, not self absorbed.
(3)     Mass is not just an activity
          Mass is not on a "To Do List."  Is kiss your family on a "To Do List"?  Mass is an act of love,
         not a chore.
(4)     There's a final blessing
          Yes, the priest blesses everyone at the end of Mass.  And!  these blessings are very beautiful.
          Listen to it.
(5)     You get more grace
          There's a story told about St. Philip Neri.  He would have the altar server chase after those
          who left before the final blessing.  And the altar server was holding the processional candle.
           So everywhere the parishioner went, he was was followed by a candle bearing altar server.
(6)     You need to wait for the priest to recess out.
           Once the priest has left, kneel down and thank God for the Mass.  You have received a great
          grace.  You are Catholic and have received the precious Body and Blood of Jesus.  Not every-
           body is so blessed.


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