From the Complaint Department: Gum Chewing at Mass and Other Signs of Disrespect

At Mass yesterday, I was blessed to sit behind a family in which the Mom AND the Dad chewed gum all the way through Mass! It was very noticeable because they kept turning their heads sideways to monitor their children. Each one was chewing away. I wonder what they do with the gum at Communion time. Move it to the side of their mouths?! Our priest has written about this in the bulletin. He basically let everyone know that he can see EVERYTHING from the Altar!!

What kind of a message is this gum chewing by the parents, no less, speaking to the children? I might expect to see a few teens chomping away, but ADULTS? I was also blessed to be in front of a family whose mother constantly chatted with the children. I am not talking about explaining the Mass to them, or correcting their behavior. I am talking about all kinds of crazy subjects that have nothing to do with Mass. Basically, they were having a little visit with one another during Mass, talking about all kinds of random things. I tried to tune it all out and continued to pray. Of course, when we witness this sort of behavior, we can offer prayers for the people as well as prayers of reparation to Our Lord because He is treated so poorly.

I haven't even touched upon another situation that hurts my heart, and that is people running into Church and just sitting down in the pew with no form of reverence to Jesus in the tabernacle. No genuflection or even a bow to the Altar. These same people usually hightail it out of the Church after Communion time before the final blessing. Yes, at least they have come to Mass, but what does Our Lord think? Remember what He said about being lukewarm and spewing the lukewarm out of His mouth?

Have you seen any of this? What are your thoughts?

Applause at Mass

I found this quote at True Confessions of a Prodigal Daughter who very beautifully crafted this image of Pope Benedict with his important message to us. Pope Benedict gives us food for thought. Where have we come at our holy sacrifice of the Mass? Where is our reverence?