Last Sunday after Mass, while standing in line at a coffee shop, the woman in front of me and the woman serving her were not on the same wavelength, and each was losing patience. The customer and the server individually shared their frustration with me, and I felt bad, especially for the server whom I told I’d say a prayer for her. She told me that she’d be at Mass if she weren’t working there.
From behind me, I heard a voice say, well, maybe this counts like going to Mass. As I turned, I saw her looking at me for reassurance. Now the line of people was looking at me, and I said in my most compassionate priest voice, well, prayer at work is good, but there’s no substitute for Mass, especially on Sunday … and you’re all invited next Sunday.
I have no idea whether the people behind me had gone to Mass last weekend or not, but hopefully, they either had or will go next week; and the woman working at the coffee shop will have the chance to be there too. I could tell she really wanted to be there.
Place God First
I thought of this three-person drama after I read and prayed over today’s first reading from Exodus. For in it, God tells the Israelites and us that, “I, the Lord, am your God … you shall not have other gods besides me.”
Later on, God says, “Remember to keep holy the sabbath day …” Now, I know some people have to work on Sundays; I had paper routes and my job at Fenway Park, where I did too. Some might even say, you priests work on Sundays! The answer to all of this is:
- Do we recognize that God comes first?
- If we do need to work on Sunday, have we made the effort to go to Mass on Saturday evening or on Sunday outside of our work hours … even if it means traveling to another parish church?
The Top Three
You know, as I reflected some more about this reading and our society and our families, I realized how we need to reexamine the first three commandments, which God placed first for a reason; He gave them a priority.
- Not letting anything come before our relationship with God.
- Not taking the Lord’s Name in vain, even casually.
- Keeping the Sabbath holy by going to Mass every Sunday and doing some good for our families, friends, and especially those in need and without others to help them.
My brothers and sisters, if we can keep those first three commandments, you’d be surprised at how well we can do with numbers four through ten.
May God bless you and your families this holy day as we place God first in our lives, so we can better love our family members and all those God brings into our lives. See you at Mass!
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