Monday, May 18, 2015

Let's play Mass ...

In his book, The Spirit of the Liturgy, Pope Benedict refers to worship as play. This sounds a little strange at first but when you consider what children are doing when they play it all becomes clearer.

Watch any little boy or girl playing. He has his toy truck, his model aeroplane or his tool set and she has her doll or her teaset, or some other toy. What are they really doing? They are playing at real life, adult life. They are practising for a life which is still to come, which will come when they are adults.

That's what we do at Mass. Aren't we rehearsing for heaven? Aren't we practising for that time which lies in the future, when we all gather for the heavenly banquet, the real Mass?

Playing is an activity of little children, adults move on to more serious things but to those who are too adult to play Mass Jesus might say: Unless you become like little children ....

2 comments:

  1. My brother and I really did "play Mass" when we were growing up. We would have an altar and he would dress up like a prist. I would think it would be a good way to foster vocations (didn't work with my brother, though)

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  2. Good point!
    I like it, I've never thought of that before!
    'Unless you become like little children...' that comment has always rang in my ear, and even more so, now that I have children of my own.
    As I see things they 'say' and 'do' and 'unless you become like little children' makes even more sense to me now as I observe my children.

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