Ruth: Chapter 4 Taste and See (part 1)

Most of the time we think of routine as boring but Dr. Hahn addresses the issue of routine in the Mass by stating “Real loves are loves we live with constancy, and that constancy shows itself in routine… ...routines let good habits take over, freeing the mind and heart to move onward and upward.” I think that often I carry too much into the church with me …busyness that is hard to leave at the door. But later in the chapter I am reminded that I bring all this to be transformed …. the total gift of who I am coming to worship my Lord……………… When I read, “Some writers … describe Christians tracing the cross on the forehead, then the lips, and then the heart……Great saints also testify to the tremendous power of the sign.” Can you imagine that we are making the same gestures that our forefathers in faith made back just after the time of Christ. That connective ness is powerful in my mind and heart. (When I make the cross on my forehead, lips and heart I always say, “Lord open my mind to understand your word, my lips to share it with others and my heart to love you more.” I love that prayer but now the historical acts itself takes on greater meaning. … The sign of the Cross is OUR sign. “Satan is powerless before this sign.” The rest of the section beginning with the last sentence on page 43 should be read before Mass for all to hear. We need to know more of why we do what we do. ……………. In the next section it states, “The beautiful thing about the Mass, though, is that no one rises to accuse us but we ourselves.” Here we are all standing there declaring we are sinners. “I confess” “I have sinned” We are publicly stating our weaknesses, our sinfulness. …… (Lord, help me to really understand and remember what we are doing, saying and enacting at each part of this glorious Mass you have gifted us with.) Nothing is new in all this but with routine, we can be present yet so distant. I’ll sign off for now…more reflections on this chapter later. Your “Bible Christian”(p. 47) friend…Ruth