I had a bit better luck today than Friday and
Saturday-- or perhaps just dogged determination won the day. I
had to stop just short of the Colorado border for the night, and
unfortunately, the location I chose was not an optimum location
for finding a morning Mass. I started heading for the largest
town on my way to where I'm going, but getting there took all
day. I stopped at probably half a dozen churches along the way,
hoping for perhaps a 9 AM Mass or a noon Mass, but it was not to
be. It was a shame too-- some of them looked rather nice.
Finally, I reached the first of two large towns around 3:30 PM.
Mass Times said that the church there had a 6 PM Mass on Mondays,
but the sign disagreed.
Not wanting to take any chances, I headed for the next large town
and checked things there with Mass Times. One parish had a 5:15
PM Mass on Mondays, so I started looking for that one but had
difficulty finding it partly on account of the synthesized
voice's odd pronuciation of the street name (although the
directions were otherwise good). Nevertheless, after 45 minutes
of driving around town, and a second call to Mass Times, I
managed to locate it at 5:00 PM. I saw people entering, so that
was a good sign.
The building has a 1990 cornerstone and is somewhat modern, with
an "in-the round" arrangement (it might have been
theatre-style too, but it was darkened and hard to tell). I did
manage to see lots of trusswork on the high ceiling, and an
organist was practicing at the far left of the sanctuary.
Adjacent to the main church is a small daily Mass chapel; that is
where Mass would be offered. It is very simple, with a flat
ceiling of white acoustical tile. A window allows a view (I
think-- it was darkened inside) into the main area; this may be
the cry room on Sundays. A small wooden altar partly covered with
a green cloth was at the front, not elevated. A table for the
cruets was immediately adjacent to the altar. The room had white
walls adorned only with the Stations of the Cross and a small
bedroom-size crucifix on a short section of wall to the left of
the window. An entrance from the main vestibule was in the rear;
to the right of that was a pigeon-hole style rack with the names
of individuals on it; it appeared to be filled with missals. I
guess the regulars here leave their missals in the chapel rather
than drag them to and from home every day. The chapel has about
four rows of wooden pews with kneelers and two additional rows of
individual seats with kneelers in the rear.
After I entered and took a seat in the very last row, hoping not
to be noticed, I saw someone else enter after me and go to the
table with the gifts at the rear. He moved a host from a glass
dish to the paten (although, watching this from the corner of my
eye, I did not see the critical detail of the direction of
the movement). I immediately got nervous; would I foul things by
not moving a host for myself? What if I moved one in the wrong
direction? Do they have them counted exactly? (I had heard of
this practice and was told that some extras are usually there in
case someone neglects his duty, but what if...) My hands were
dirty too from looking under the hood of the car a bit, and I
didn't have a chance to wash them first, so I really didn't want
to handle a host that might not be mine. Anyway, it was too late;
the fellow who entered after me was behind me, and attempting to
move one then would look awkward (another city slicker who
doesn't know what he's doing). So I just worried about that all
through the Mass. In fact, this Mass was actually decent; the
worst thing about it was my own anxiety about what would happen,
since I had no place to hide. Hand-holding? Altar-circling?
Dialogue homily? Nonetheless, at 5 PM on a Monday far from home,
a beggar can't be a chooser, so I just remained and hoped for the
best.
The Mass began as the celebrant and a concelebrant entered the
chapel from the rear. He looked a bit like a priest from my old
parish, and he enunciated everything very precisely. He did,
however, say, "The Lord IS with you" (emphasized just
like that). Usually, this is something foreign priests seem to do
for some reason, but this priest looked 100% American. He used
Form C of the penitential rite without invocations. During the
readings, he and the concelebrant sat in the front row while a
reader gave the reading and recited the psalm from a small ambo.
He proclaimed the Gospel and gave the homily from the center of
the room, in front of the altar (I think). It was fairly brief
and mentioned that the Pharisees were the
"traditionalists" of their time. Also important is that
God does not need our adherence to His laws or any of our worship
or adoration; those things are for our good, not His. The
message is that we must be careful to separate God's laws from
our implementation of those laws.
The celebrant combined the two "Blessed are you, Lord God of
all creation..." prayers as he held the metal paten and
chalice together. I breathed a sigh of relief as everyone
remained in the pews for the consecration. He used the second
Eucharistic Prayer. Only a few people joined hands at the Our
Father; it was far from expected, although we numbered only about
a dozen anyway. At least I didn't see anyone crossing the aisle
or reaching across rows, and the reader (who sat two places to my
left at the rear) did not seem to care one way or the other. The
sign of peace was omitted.
At Communion, a lay minister offered the chalice while the
concelebrant sat. The celebrant distributed the sacred Hosts at
the head of the center aisle; those on the right received first,
and those on the left followed. I heard no cries of "All
right, who forgot?" so I guess some provision was made for
naive visitors from New York (or the last Host or two was simply
broken in half). I just wish I didn't have to concern myself with
these details at Mass.
After a short period of silence, the celebrant gave the closing
prayer and final blessing, and we left. I went to the vestibule
to obtain a bulletin; the celebrant spotted this and came over to
show me that it had an error that he thought I probably wouldn't
have noticed: the list of Mass intentions for the week had the
wrong dates alongside them (they were last week's dates). He's
right: I'd not have noticed. What's worse is that I had the
perfect opportunity to strike up a conversation with him and
muffed it. I could have told him I was from New York and found
his church through Mass Times; that may have been of interest. Oh
well, maybe when I get home I'll send him an e-mail.
After that, I decided that I would try to return to the parish in
the first town for the folks back home. I had also noticed a
pizza parlor there that advertised pizza by the slice, so I
figured I'd buy that too while there. Upon my return at 6:05 PM,
I discovered a darkened church; the sign was right, and Mass
Times was wrong. I'm still thankful for Mass Times, though; it
surely beats nothing at all, which is what someone like me would
have had before. Anyway, I went to the pizza parlor; I was going
to order one slice but decided upon two. It is a vacation, after
all!