“A daily Mass gives you thirty
minutes of peace.”
– Fr. Bill
Come to One of Our Daily Masses
One Sunday, a little child asked me what I did during the week since the church was open only on Sundays. She was a little surprised to discover there is Mass or prayer in the church every day of the week. I also do a few more things than just preside at Mass, though that might be the most important thing I do.
Did you know that St. John the Baptist Parish has an evening Mass at 6:30 PM on Thursday? I am presuming it is not in the forefront of most parishioners’ minds since only a handful of parishioners attend. I did an informal survey of evening weekday Masses in our South King County Deanery. In our Deanery, there is an evening Mass every weekday. At those other parishes, the lowest attendance was 35; the highest attendance was 200 (that was a Mass in Spanish). We get an average of five to eight at our Thursday evening Mass.
An evening Mass makes it possible for many who are still working to attend a weekday Mass. The majority of those attending our morning weekday Mass at 9:00 AM are retired, though we do get some stay at home parents as well as those who work a swing shift.
A daily Mass gives you thirty minutes of peace. Our lives are noisy and not because they always have to be, but because we have been conditioned to need constant stimulation. Our phones, iPads, and televisions usually win the battle for our eyes just about everywhere we go, even at the dinner table. A weekday Mass is a chance to unplug. Go to Mass and leave your phone in the car, you won’t regret it.
Daily Mass gives us an opportunity to restructure our prayer life. Going to Mass during the week regularly exposes us to new forms and focuses of prayer. The Mass can teach us that prayer has a lot to do with being thankful, with celebrating God’s merciful love, and with praying for others. Daily Mass can and will improve our prayer habits if we let it.