Saturday 10 September 2011

Pyjama Mass

If you're going out to a fancy dinner, or to a fancy party, you wouldn't normally go ABC (anything but clothes). A nice evening suit for the gentlemen and the lads, and a nice pretty dress for the ladies and lasses. Right? You wouldn't go in just your bare essentials, or your pyjamas. You wouldn't go to the supermarket in those either. So why would you go to Mass in them!

I am so sad at the state of attire that people come to Mass in. I have seen young ladies and lads wearing pyjama-pants and a t-shirt. Then, going up to receive Our Lord, they text the whole way up, and then they just take Him in one hand and throw him in their mouth, and continue to text. I honestly can't figure out how fast they can move their fingers.

In the summer months especially, I have seen young ladies, wearing the most awful short-shorts and those tops without sleeves, and just strings. I have seen young men wearing  straggly-looking tore jeans, which are half-way down their legs, with a sleeveless t-shirt.

Who do I blame? Their parents. In most cases, children come to Mass with their parents, (because if they go on their own, in most cases they are dressed properly and know why they're there.). If parents let their children come before God himself veiled in that glorious host, what does that say about that family's understanding of the Holy Eucharist. What does that say for the family's catechesis? A lot. It says they have none.

Parents ARE in charge of what their children wear, they are the ones who buy them. Even if children buy their own clothes, a Mother of Father should be with them to make sure the clothes they choose are proper and modest. That they cover up the body, and aren't too flashy.

But, we must remember the Mass is the Mass. It's not a social interaction time, or time to dance. Nor is it a party. It's the greatest form of prayer upon Earth. It's when we receive the most glorious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our dear a blessed Saviour, Jesus Christ. It's a solemn (or should be) occasion (could it be called that.) It's the unbloody re-enactment of Calvary! Why wouldn't we dress in our best for that! If you were to meed God face-to-face, would you wear pyjamas? No, so why would you when you meet him in the Eucharist, which is his very flesh and body.

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