Being a mother, unexpected blessings from God come at times in your life, in events, you would and could never expect. Today I am the mom of two sick children and the wife of a husband that works on Sundays. It looked as if getting to Mass today, was going to be impossible. “For with God nothing shall be impossible”.
As the hours of this morning ticked away, I realized Mass after Mass was ending and I had not gone. I thought about how I was going to get to confession, although I knew being the caretaker in the family, I had an excuse not to go. But it just didn’t sit right with me. I couldn’t bring my little one with a 104 temperature to Mass let alone anywhere without knowing the only place she belonged was in bed. My seven year old wasn’t feeling well either. The night before, I had asked my husband if he could get off work an hour earlier so I could go to Mass and he said it was out of the question. I was a little upset with him because that hour less of work I was asking for was on overtime. He opens on Sundays and on a normal day, would be home by four o’clock. Mass didn’t start until 5:30.
Later this afternoon, I looked up the readings for the day and pondered them. I read the Gospel and pondered it and thought about how I had been going to Latin Masses and didn’t speak Latin. How hard could it be for me to attend the Spanish Mass when I don’t know any Spanish? Besides, I could offer up this Mass in reparation for those who place work first. I thought maybe by attending, I could somehow stop a sin that might have been caused. The Spanish Mass was at 7:00 PM and I had plenty of time to feed the family and attend after my husband got home.
I got to Mass and went directly to the Adoration Chapel to thank our Lord for the grace and drive to attend this particular Mass and went into the main Church and prayed until just before it began. I heard the Voice in my heart to check my purse for my prayer book. I did and knew then, to follow along in English. I also noticed I had a copy of Magnificat and could use that for the English translation of the Liturgy. I was set and ready for Mass. It began and I was in awe. I didn’t notice at the time that I had sat down that I was sitting right next to the statue of St. Therese of Lisieux. I giggled a bit and was (jokingly) glad I sat down next to someone else who did not speak the language, but thanked her in prayer for being there with me. I tried to sing in Spanish and the key word is tried. It was so enjoyable! I loved it. Attending this Mass opened up an entirely new door and I can not thank our Lord enough for inspiring me to go. We can have a thousand excuses not to attend mass but when we use the ten thousand excuses to go, it changes everything and is a fast furious blow to the head of the evil one.
The Homily came and I sat and watched. I had attended many Masses in English with this particular priest and was never as moved as today. I always thought maybe he had some spiritual issues and didn’t enjoy his calling. It never dawned on me that it was nothing more then a language barrier I was seeing. I had never seen him so much in love with our Lord. His movements, hand gestures and facial expressions were coming from is heart without any trace of stumbling over the correct translation into English. I slowly understood my ideas of him were completely wrong. Although I couldn’t understand a word of his Homily, our Lord was teaching me Homily I needed to see for myself. No matter what language the mass is in, its always presented and performed in the dialect of Love. I had the books to translate, I know the Mass in English. There is no barrier in language. There is no excuse not to attend anymore when I have sick children. Our Lord has opened up a new door for me. Breaking down language barriers along with the ethnic ones united us completely through His Love. Everywhere in the world, no matter what country, the Catholic Mass is always and has always been presented in a language understood simply as love.
¡Viva Cristo Rey!