Too Casual...

On Friday night I had the privilege of going to Tunica, MS, to see Steve Azar perform. Steve is a country music star from Greenville, MS, and is a Lebanese Catholic. But during his performance, I noticed something. On stage, only one person was wearing a collared shirt—the drummer. Everyone else, including Steve, was wearing a t-shirt and jeans. Those of us who were observing were dressed better than the group performing. But if you look back at pictures of Elvis Pressley, Buddy Holly, or the Beatles, they all dressed nicely to perform.

I then recalled other areas where this is now true. I grew up a huge World Wrestling Federation fan. Whenever a wrestler (especially a champion) was on a TV show as a guest, he almost always wore a collared shirt. But today, they show up wearing a t-shirt, jeans shorts, and a baseball cap.

We live in a much more casual world today. It is so casual that people will show up for Sunday Mass wearing a loose t-shirt, soccer shorts, and flip flops. Whatever happened to dressing up and looking your best for a special occasion? We dress better to go clubbing than we do for Mass. We dress better for ourselves than we do for God, our Creator and Redeemer!

But this isn’t all of it. How easily does this move into our morality! Believe it or not, it’s all connected. The sloppier we dress for Mass, the less it means to our daily schedule. And the more casual we dress in more situations, the more casual we treat morality. And the more relaxed we become with morality, the more relativism is allowed to grow. It’s not supposed to be about what I feel like doing, but instead about what I ought to do. In the same way, it should not be about what I feel like wearing, but instead about what I ought to wear.

Jesus on the go!!!

Today I had the privilege of going out with a wonderful group of ladies taking communion to parishioners all over town who cannot make it to daily Mass for various reasons. Most of the people we visited live in a nursing home or assisted-living facility. Only one couple was at home. But as we went around today, and Jesus rode in his little case in someone’s purse, I couldn’t help but realize just what we were doing and how privileged we were to be doing it! We were literally carrying Jesus around with us, taking him to people who could not go to him on their own means! We truly were being missionaries. This is exactly what we are called to do as Christians. And as Catholics, we recognize the gift that makes this literally and physically possible—The Eucharist. When Christ left this earth in his glorified body, he stayed with us in the Eucharist—bread and wine truly become the Body and Blood of Christ.

But at the same time, I was saddened through this whole experience. The hardest, saddest part was the separation of the Body of Christ that I was experiencing. We were taking Jesus around to others, but could not give him to everyone we encountered. I truly did experience how fractioned the Body of Christ is today. And it is sad that we cannot all agree and believe the same thing. I truly hope, pray, and wait for the day when ALL people in the world truly accept and believe the AWESOME gift of the Eucharist—our God literally on the tips of our fingers and tongues!!