We’re now in the middle of the summer
vacation season, and one of the great things about being Catholic is that no
matter where you go on vacation, you can attend Mass. What’s that? You don’t go
to Mass on vacation? Really? Oh, that’s not good. Vacation is an opportunity to
get away from work for a while, but you’re not supposed to get away from Church
for a while, too. I think we need to have a little private talk afterward.
Well, for the rest of us who DO attend
Mass on vacation, it’s interesting that regardless of where we are, the Mass is
the same. It really reminds us that our Church is indeed Universal. The basic
structure of the Mass doesn’t change from region to region, or from country to
country. The Mass is the same whether you are visiting a vacation spot in the
U.S., such as Miami, San Francisco, or New York; or whether you are visiting a
foreign culture, such as Miami, San Francisco, or New York.
About a decade ago, my wife and I had
the opportunity to travel to Austria. No, not the place with the kangaroos; I
mean the place in Europe, with Vienna, and Mozart, and where everybody speaks
German, except for the shop owners in the tourist areas who speak perfect
English and can instantly covert dollars to euros in their heads, and can, for
example, convince a naïve bumpkin from Connecticut that paying 50 euros for a
commemorative “Sound of Music” coffee mug is a real bargain. Even though Julie
Andrews’ face is kind of faded now, I still use that mug.
When we went to Mass in Vienna, we
recognized all the parts of the Mass, even though everything was in German. The
sound system was lousy, so even if we knew German we probably still would not
have understood everything—and this made us feel even more at home.
By the way, any chance we can have a few
second collections in our parishes dedicated to purchasing 21st century sound
systems? Just sayin’.
There is really no excuse for not going
to Mass while on vacation. Of course, there’s no excuse for not going to Mass
when we’re home either, but that doesn’t stop many Catholics from coming up
with very creative excuses. The most common excuse for not going to Mass while
on vacation is: “I don’t know where a church is, or when the Mass times are.”
Actually, the most common excuse is: “Oh, my head! How many Peña Coladas did I
have last night?”
But nowadays we can’t use the ol’ excuse,
“I don’t know what time Mass is!” There are websites that can instantly tell us
the church locations and the Mass times. One website is called simply,
Masstimes.org. You just type in the city and state, or the zip code, and it
lists all the Catholic churches in the area and the Mass times. It even tells
you what language will be used. Although the website does not describe the
quality of the sound system.
So, during your summer vacation this
year, take time to relax and get away from the stress of work for a while. But
don’t get away from God. Make sure you go to Mass. You’ll have a chance to be
in Communion with the Creator of the Universe. You’ll also be able to thank Him
for the blessing of being able to go on vacation in the first place all. You
know, a lot of people can’t afford that luxury. And going to Mass still will be
worthwhile even if the sound system is lousy.
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