Friday, September 2, 2011

Spiritual Aridity Has Me In Its Grips...

...And it's just not a good feeling. In fact, it's no feeling at all.  Perhaps a test?  I don't know, but I'm ready to yell "uncle".

It sounds crazy, but I was really worried that if I went to a work in a Catholic hospital, I might lose some of my spiritual life.  That's not exactly the case, but I think of St. Therese lamenting about the times when she could not muster a single thought to unite her to God.  In those instances, she would say over and over how much she loved Him, or would try to perform some other simple act of kindness.

Today is First Friday.  I was informed that every first Friday at 6:15 am we have a meeting with some of the surgeons.  Fortunately, there is a later Mass I can get to, but I find if I don't go first thing in the morning, many situations can arise that prevent me getting there at all.  My boss is not Catholic, but I took a chance explained the Devotion to the Sacred Heart.

"No problem.  Just come to the meeting when Mass is over."

Sadly, no mention at Mass today of the Sacred Heart, green vestments instead of red and a priest who ad libs the words of the offertory and grins about it.  Better than no Mass and no priest at all.   The priest is still standing at the altar, bowing to the tabernacle, and the crowd gets up to leave and starts carrying on a conversation at a volume not appropriate in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament.

And I wonder why I'm in a state of spiritual dryness.

7 comments:

  1. I hate when I get that way too. I always attribute it to routine and time for a little shake up. Plus that's why I always need a really good homily from a well spoken priest. That always inspires me.

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  2. Spiritual dryness is awful, Joyce..Do you have any good praise music to listen to on the way to work? And I echo Manny..a good homily is a blessing too. +

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  3. That sounds exactly like the mass I attended...

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  4. There are supposed to be red vestments for the first Friday? At the seminary we did the votive Mass of the Sacred Heart, and we used white vestments.

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  5. Aridity occurs when spiritual grace dries up. A Mass such as you describe Joyce cannot be very pleasing to Almighty God and the spiritual grace, therefore, is thin on the ground.
    Hang on in there until an EF Mass comes your way.

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  6. It's also quite possible that you are simply tired, Joyce. You've got a rather taxing schedule.:)

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  7. All very good and helpful observations/suggestions. Thank you. Daniel, I may be wrong about the color, but I am thinking of the very orthodox priest who made a point of making us aware that First Friday is devoted to the Sacred Heart. He wore red vestments and he always used the Roman canon on First Friday. Two of the priests who celebrate morning Mass do not take liberties with the liturgy and despite some language differences, they manage to give a decent homily. One of those priests, despite English not being his first language, gives a better homily than many priests I've encountered and his reverence and love for the Eucharist is first and foremost in his gestures and homily. There is really only one who presents a problem and unfortunately, he said most of the Masses I attended this week.

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