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On Ash Wednesday a little over a week ago, I tweeted, “If you’re more excited about receiving ashes than the Eucharist, you might be doing it wrong.”
As I thought about this more, I recognized something – there was a time (and still are times) when I was more excited about a lot of things other than receiving the Eucharist. But if I really believed that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist, then why wasn’t I more (reverently) pumped walking up the aisle?
Here a few things I have been more excited about than the Eucharist:
I’m So Excited?
Playing with my kids – it’s easy to not be excited around my kids when I’m thinking about all the things I have to do. But when I focus on them and spending time with them and being present to them, I find lot more joy in them.
Watching movies – when there’s a lot of build up and hype around a movie, there’s an excitement about it everywhere.
Drinks with my wife – I know it’s going to be a time of relaxation and fun – not talking about serious issues like the Bachelor.
New gadgets – I get really excited about them because I learn all that I can about it.
Bacon – I’m not even going to explain that one.
But in contrast
I wouldn’t even try to focus or be present at Mass.
I’d look at Mass as something to get through, something that I needed to be serious during.
Sorry Jesus, but bacon tastes better than You do.
I’ve (ever so slowly) gotten better at my focus and enthusiasm for the Eucharist be doing all the things I do for other things, but for my faith. But how much time should be given to those things that can form our faith? Although anything more than what you’re currently doing is the perfect place to start, maybe a goal could be 10%. We are supposed to give (at least) 10% of our income to the Church, why not give 10% of everything else? Because if you think going to Mass once a week is enough—that’s not even 10% of 1% of the week (and that’s taking out 8 hours for sleep!).
If you spend an hour reading a day, that would only be 6 minutes reading Scripture (if you want to include reading Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. in what you read, then that’s like an hour of Scripture).
If we give 10% of our day directly to learning about our faith (not including sleep time), that’s about 1.5 hours. Spend more time listening to Catholic podcasts, Christian music, praying, reading Scripture, talking to your family about faith, etc. Although it can be hard to find (near-impossible for parents) an hour and a half, can be done while doing other things—listening to podcasts or Christian music while driving, working out, cooking, cleaning, etc. The time you have with your kids in the car, spend talking about their faith—not trying to tell them what to believe and how they should act, but asking them what they do believe, what their relationship with God is like, and sharing what your relationship with God is like.
And, as with anything you want to really commit to, start small. Throw in a podcast a week. That’s what I did—now I try to get in at least 3 a week. Before I was reading Scripture for maybe a minute. Now I spend at least ten. It’s not easy—there are many other things that distract us. But when we know more about something – when we understand what the Eucharist is, why we say specific words and sing specific songs – we are more invested, more engaged, and hopefully more excited. We realize that Mass is something to be reverently joyful in, instead of serious. And that allows us to celebrate with more excitement that can be contagious with those we share the pew with.
Who knows? Maybe the taste of Jesus will excite me more than the taste of bacon (although, I must say, the Blood of Christ at my parish is pretty delicious).
