For many of us, the idea of making Daily Mass is a luxurious thought. We so quickly dismiss the idea without truly contemplating the real benefits of ‘sacrificing’ a portion of our day. I was one of those people… until I started going to Daily Mass.
1. 30 Minutes of Peace
Whether you’re a stay-at-home parent or a 9-to-5er, a college student or a retired veteran, no matter your stage in life you could probably use an extra half hour each day to recharge. Many of us accomplish this with a mid-day nap or a lunch break at work, but what better way to spend our (limited) free time than to pay a visit to the nearby parish? Our lives are noisy and not because they always have to be, but because we have been conditioned to need constant stimulation. Our phones, iPads, and televisions usually win the battle for our eyes at the dinner table and just about everywhere else. Even when we ‘get a break’ we hardly ever take a moment to just unplug. Go to Mass and leave your phone in the car, you won’t regret it.
2. Moves the Focus AWAY from Ourselves
Our busy schedules, our bills, our lives are always overrun with our problems. Continuing from my first point, we ought to recognize how little we actually consider something or someone beyond ourselves. Going to Mass, and making it a daily habit, causes us to focus on something else for one half hour and it’s not something that needs fixing or something we need to work for, it’s just the greatest act of worship man could experience this side of heaven. Every time a mass is offered, whether you’re there or not, it’s a sacrifice offered on YOUR BEHALF. Christ invites us to receive Him in this sacrifice as often as we are able; it is precisely why Christ makes himself continually available in the sacrifice of the Mass. He doesn’t have to, He wants to. The Mass is for you. Give part of each day for Him.
3. Making an Act of Faith
This is a moment of personal testimony. Recently, ‘life’ in general has been getting me down; I guess you could say I’ve been having trouble seeing the forest through the trees. My family and I are definitely going through a moment where God is simply asking us to trust him. And you know what? You, either now or at some point in your life, have gone through moments like this too. It’s extremely convenient to put on the ‘woe is me’ attitude when life doesn’t seem to go ‘our way.’ In the difficulties our faith becomes fickle when, in reality, the difficult times show us what our faith is really made of. Recently, after leaving confession, the priest told me I needed to start going to daily mass. He told me that if I made acts of faith, despite my current situation, my faith would increase. Faith in the hard times… there’s a funny thought, huh? So I listened, my family and I have been attending daily mass and spending more time in the adoration chapel and guess what?! It worked. Things may not be where they should be yet, but God is faithful and going to Daily Mass allowed me to see that more clearly.
4. Dedicated Time for Prayer
Pray daily. Sounds simple enough but give it a try. In an ideal world I would say that we all aspire to pray regularly, but how often do we remember? The number one cause of neglected prayer isn’t the busy-ness of life (that’s the 2nd cause), it’s actually the ‘lack of response’ most of us feel as though we suffer from. More people actually avoid prayer altogether because they don’t believe it actually works. Daily Mass gives us ample opportunity to restructure our prayer life. I think many of us can call ourselves ‘guilty’ of the Christmas-list prayer style. “Dear God, I want this, that, and the other thing. Amen” Going to Mass regularly exposes us to new forms and focuses of prayer. The best piece of wisdom I can impart here is this: Prayer doesn’t change God’s point of view; it changes ours. Chances are our prayers aren’t ‘getting answered’ because we are going about it the wrong way. Not that we’re praying wrong, because God delights in an honest prayer… BUT Mass can teach us that prayer has a lot to do with being thankful, with making penance, and with praying for others. Daily Mass can and will improve our prayer habits if we let it. I’m fairly confident you’ll notice a significant change in how your prayers are being answered.
5. Jesus
I feel like I don’t have to write a great deal here. This one is obvious. In fact, this reason is infinitely more important than the previous four. If you, for no other reason, choose to go to Daily Mass let it be for the genuine encounter with Christ. And I don’t mean genuine as some sort of euphemism, you will LITERALLY encounter Christ in the Mass. Your flesh and His will unite in a way unachievable anywhere else in our existence.
So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. – John 6:53-56