I’ve been trying to go to weekday Mass at least once a week, usually on Fridays, during Lent. I usually go to the parish down the street, which – like the others in our town – is a bit more casual and less observant than the parish where we’re registered. (This is the same parish that emptied halfway through an Ash Wednesday service we attended once people got their ashes and bailed.)
After Wednesday Mass at St. Casual, I was able to attend the 7:30 a.m. liturgy yesterday and today at our usual parish. It felt good to be “home” – where I can receive the Eucharist kneeling and on the tongue and not draw weird looks when I linger to pray after the service is over, and where the lights aren’t shut off 5 minutes after the end of Mass – especially when we were able to pray the pope’s prayer consecrating Ukraine and Russia to Mary’s Immaculate Heart. (Honestly, I didn’t feel confident that the parish down the street would even bother with that.)
I figure on continuing to attend periodic weekday Mass at St. Casual as long as I’m able. It’s all the same Jesus, no matter which Roman Catholic parish is offering the Eucharist. Maybe being reverent amid the lax culture there is an opportunity to be an example, I don’t know. At the very least, maybe it’s an opportunity for mortification, or a chance – another chance, because I’ve had plenty lately in my personal life – to be charitable where it might be extremely challenging.