I had originally written this last Saturday morning. And then Saturday afternoon happened in Butler, Pa. I would suggest this is an astoundingly timely passage for the Church in our country and for each of us personally. 

The celebration of Mass has a “pace” to it. I once read it described as “ritualized play,” meaning that it is not a time so much for personal devotion as it is for communal worship – a worship for which God Himself has given us the instructions.

I can, much to my chagrin, quickly fall into a sort of spiritual temper tantrum with the Lord when things don’t go as I would like them to, or imagine they should.

What we might not realize, given how often many parishes take up such “special collections” is that while we have become accustomed to such things, nobody ever did this in times long past.