4 Things I’ve Learned from a Year (or So) of Daily Mass
A year of daily-ish Massgoing hasn't given me a halo, but it has taught me a few things about prayer, consistency, God's grace and the surprising ways he changes our lives.
Leaving the church after Confession, I genuflected as I exited my pew and spun around toward the main doors.
As I looked up, I noticed a friend in the doorway. It was a pleasant surprise; I hadn’t expected to see anyone.
I gave a quick hug hello and made my way outside. I had to get back to the grind! All told, the interaction lasted 20 seconds, tops.
But once I was back in my car, driving back to the office, I noticed that I could smell my friend’s cologne on me. I was surprised that, after such a short interaction, I’d carry that scent along with me.
Then it hit me: have I let my interactions with Jesus come along with me like this? Do I “smell” different after spending time with Jesus?
This column is not about how much cologne my friend wears. It’s about a year spent growing closer to God — imperfectly, with lots of failure — after a pretty direct invitation last fall.
I hope that I’ve come to “smell” more like Jesus over the last year, after spending more and more time with him. Either way, God has been good, and he’s shown me more than I could have imagined. Here are just four lessons I’ve learned in the past year as God has drawn me closer to himself.
Prayer isn’t convenient.
Maybe I’m just not holy enough yet, but boy, is making time for prayer tough.
I have meetings, work-work and homework. I have adult responsibilities and chores. I want to have a social life. I want to sleep. There are only 24 hours in a day!
In the face of competing priorities, a choice has to be made. What will I structure my day, week or life around?
Things really started to change for me when I had to rearrange my schedule to make time for prayer and daily Mass. When I had to ask that meetings be rescheduled to allow me to attend Mass. When I had to set that earlier alarm or postpone evening plans to make time for Mass.
I wasn’t perfect at that this year, and I missed plenty of days of daily Mass or prayer. But God met me in the inconvenience and called me further in faith. He might just be calling you to take the next right, inconvenient step, too.
Good habits build on each other.
Step one: go to daily Mass more. Step two: ???
When I committed to that next right step last fall, I had no idea where it would lead, but I’d received a direction from Jesus, and I started moving.
What I quickly began to see is that good habits build on each other.
By praying more, I began to see myself as God sees me, even if just in little glimpses. I started wanting to take better care of myself: eating healthier, moving more, going to bed earlier and waking up earlier.
Now, that’s not all on me. This author is not a morning person in the slightest. Some of these habits were definitely the work of grace.
But St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that grace builds on nature. When we make good choices and cooperate with God’s grace, he works in and through us, helping us to grow in virtue.
Consistency beats intensity.
One year in, shouldn’t I be levitating or bilocating by now??
I’ve prayed, most days. I’ve gone to daily Mass, most days… Where’s the halo??
This year of growing in prayer wasn’t so much about intensity as it was about consistency. There were lots of consolations — high points — in prayer this year, but there were far more bland, uninteresting, normal days.
There were also many days when prayer was hard, and I was uninterested. On those days, God invited me to “begin again,” as Ven. Bruno Lanteri is known for saying, to recommit and recalibrate.
The truth is that the only one expecting me to improve overnight was me. God was perfectly content walking with me slowly, gradually, step by step, just as he did with his apostles and disciples.
By showing up consistently, I became more open to what God was doing in my heart and in my life, gradually, not overnight. He’s worked miracles, both of the everyday variety and in bigger ways, too.
God is still speaking and moving today.
As I look back on this year, I’m flabbergasted at just how active God has been.
Answered prayers, big and small. Supernatural peace. Otherworldly clarity.
There are too many stories to recount here — like the time I prayed for a friend in need and knew in my bones that he would be fine — but I find myself feeling like Mary in the Gospels, pondering all these things in my heart.
It might seem too simple, too obvious to say that God is still speaking and working. But try to feel the weight of that reality with me: the God of the universe, who set the stars in orbit, who created everything visible and invisible, who knows the number of hairs on your head and mine, that God is working not only in the macro, but in the most minuscule pieces of your life and mine.
And he delights to do so.
He’s a good Father and he loves to love his children, you and me.
Take the Next Right Step
You didn’t ask for advice, but since you made it to the end of this column, I’ll offer some anyway.
Conveniently, my advice is the same as it was last year: consider taking the next right step in your spiritual journey today. If you’re not sure what that is, ask God to show you.
Now, I’m no St. John Paul II or St. Teresa of Calcutta. My halo is still not quite formed yet; I’ve still got a long way to go.
Do I “smell” more like Jesus after this year? I’m not really sure. Maybe that’s a question better answered by the people around me.
I do know that I feel different, that life looks different. It seems there’s a new scent wafting off of me — and it’s not just the one I picked up at Costco; thanks, Kirkland.
But now, a year into daily-ish Massgoing, last year’s conclusion rings all the more true: “I can tell you: there’s peace, security and joy in the arms of the Father. It won’t always be easy. It won’t always be fun. But it will be worth it.”
