Is Mass boring?

St Thomas Aquinas taught that, in heaven, we will never exhaust the mystery and beauty of God [Summa Theologiae q12 a6]. That is a delightful thought. We may think of heaven, therefore, is not a static existence but an eternal participation in the inexhaustible richness of divine truth and love.

In the Eucharist we receive a foretaste of heaven as we join the heavenly assembly.  Could anything be more true, beautiful and better than the Mass on this side of eternity?

Not only is life always (for me, at least) interesting and exciting, if sometimes challenging and painful, but we can also look forward in Christian hope to an eternity of ever-deeper wonder, joy, and communion with God. As St Paul writes:

What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him (1 Corinthians 2:9).

What does the word Eucharist mean?

The Greek noun εὐχαριστία (eucharistia) comes from two words:

eu (εὖ), meaning 'well' or 'good';

charis (χάρις), meaning 'grace', 'favour', 'gratitude', or 'thanks'.

Together, they convey the meaning of grateful thanksgiving for God's gifts.

The psalmist declares (Ps 116):

A thanksgiving cup I will raise; I will call on the Lord's name.

To participate in Mass is to participate in a feast of joy. Behind the grey walls of distraction, doubt, and discouragement, there is the joy of the risen Christ, who comes to us under the appearances of bread and wine.

It is well to be here. We are truly blessed.

'....and around you thousands will be saved'

St Seraphim of Sarov

According to St Seraphim of Sarov, a Saint of the Russian Orthodox Church (1754-1833):

‘Acquire a peaceful spirit, and around you thousands will be saved’.

In his monastic life he touched the lives of many though he lived much of his life as a hermit. He lived in communion with the Church and by all accounts the gifts of Holy Spirit were showered on him in abundance.  Seventy years after his death he was canonised by the Russian Orthodox Church. His relics were confiscated by the Bolsheviks after the 1917 revolution but rediscovered in 1991 having been hidden in an anti-religious museum during the Soviet era.

Behold the Lamb!

Saint John the Baptist,
Painting by Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519),
Painted between 1513 until 1516,
Oil on Panel
© Musée du Louvre, Paris

We are more or less at mid-summer here in the Northern hemisphere. There used to be a custom of lighting a fire on ‘St John’s night’ on the 23^rd of June – the vigil of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist.  The custom seemed to mirror ancient pagan customs associated with the worship of the sun and the significance of this moment in the seasonal calendar for primitive peoples across Europe.

Whom do I seek?

 

The Bread of Life is a painting by Michael Torevell 

Three serious questions are asked here.

What is it that I seek in life?

Where do I  find joy in my life right now?

Do I find joy in what I seek?

When, as we read in John 6:22-37, Jesus and his disciples saw the crowds looking for them on the other side of sea in the area of Capernaum they knew that the miraculous and the extraordinary had drawn them.  The people were seeking the miracle more than the sign that the evangelist, John, wishes to highlight.

Like the people who followed Jesus to the other side of the lake we can miss the Signs of God in our chaotic, broken but beautiful and mystery-laden world. We seek the wrong type of bread in the wrong sorts of places when the real bread of God’s word and loving sacramental presence is freely on offer. This is the true bread ‘come down from heaven’ and it is also freely available to those who seek and come to be nourished in the Sacrament.   Nobody can take this gift from us.

Eucharistic joy at Pentecost

The cultural and ethnic diversity of Ireland is most welcome and has greatly enriched our society. Yesterday, I attended an African cultural evening in Carlow Town. It was noisy, colourful, busy, and above all joyful. The dancing, the food, the music, and the lively chatter made it a truly memorable occasion.

There is something about African culture, as we experience it here in Ireland, that is uplifting, joyful, and community-oriented. Perhaps we have lost some of that spirit in recent years?

How do we know that the Holy Spirit has come?

Sunday 24 May 2026

Lectio Divina:*

Acts 2:1-11 Psalm 104(103)

1 Corinthians 12:3-7 John 20:19-23

Meditatio:

‘..the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord’   (John 20:20)

 

Commentary:

---

The scene is set by John. The disciples are afraid - very afraid. They might well be like a small congregation in a tense situation today, glancing nervously at every uncertain movement, imagining the worst. Fear grips them at a deep, almost physical level. You can feel it in the gut.

Then, something extraordinary happens. Jesus stands among them again. As he does each time he appears after the Resurrection—and as he still does today in the life of the Church – he says: “Peace be with you.”

We are not alone

 

Sunday 10 May 2026

Lectio Divina:*

Acts 8:5-17 Psalm 66(65)

1 Peter 3:15-18 John 14:15-21

Meditatio:

‘ You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you’.   (John 14:17)

 Commentary:

We are drawing ever closer to that most wonderful of celebrations: Pentecost Sunday—the feast on which, once again and anew, the Holy Spirit comes among us in a special way, even as the Spirit is at work in our broken and wounded world day by day. As we remember the first great outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples and apostles shortly after the death and resurrection of Jesus—events that are inextricably bound together—we open ourselves to a fresh gift of the Spirit’s peace, joy, and freedom.

Mass crawling

 

A particular item screened on RTE television caught my attention the other day.  It featured three ‘lads’ who, instead of the traditional pub crawl at Christmas, went on a ‘Mass crawl’ beginning in November 2024.  They have managed to visit and attend the Holy Mass in over 50 places across counties Wicklow, Kildare, Carlow and further afield.  Make you want you wish from the item here. In the telling of the story I thought that were something decisively Emmaus-like (Luke 24:13-35) about this Eucharistic journey. They went as ‘two or three’ (Matthew 18:20) and not three separate individuals.  Was it a case of their thinking ‘Were not our hearts burning within us?’. 

Where O death is your sting?

Holy Saturday

Yesterday, there was a funeral in a local church. Someone remarked of the deceased, “It was nice to be buried on the same day as Jesus was.” True. And, death comes for each of us. But it is not the end. What marks us out as a people set apart is our conviction that Jesus truly rose from the dead and is risen still. We believe what the world often dismisses as fanciful. We hope for what many have long abandoned. Even now, in this “valley of tears,” we live in the gift of eternal light. The darkness is overcome by the Light of Christ.

As we reflect today on the Lord’s Passion, we wait with joyful expectation for the spark that will be lit at the Easter Vigil this evening. We can hardly wait for sunset, when we will taste and sense the joy of the Risen One on this holiest of nights. From a single flame, light will spread from candle to candle. We hear the Deacon or priest sing out the  great Exsultet which includes the following verses:

This is the night when Jesus Christ
broke the chains of death
and rose triumphant from the grave.

And again:

Accept this Easter candle,
a flame divided but undimmed,
a pillar of fire that glows to the honour of God.
Let it mingle with the lights of heaven
and continue bravely burning
to dispel the darkness of this night.

Whether just after sunset or just before, this is the moment we have been waiting for. Our song is one of triumph over death. Death does not have the last word. In our Easter Eucharist we proclaim Christ crucified and risen. He is in our midst, and we rejoice.

Some day the Easter candle lit on the previous Easter will be lit for our passing from this world.

Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting? (1 Corinthians 15:55)

Until He comes again

 

A great plague has infected the world: sadness, anxiety, division, hatred and despair have invaded many minds and hearts.  Atheism has taken hold. There is no God, it is claimed and there is no life after death.  Ultimately, our lives are deemed meaningless except in so far as we subjectively give it meaning, so they say.  And this stance means that for us there is no absolute right or wrong except what I think or what we think;  there is no ultimate reality or truth outside opinions, interpretations and self-determination.