No Mass and Communion? Let faith trump feelings.

[Michie]

During this period of not being able to attend Mass—a period which is now ending ever so slowly in most of the United States—I’ve reflected frequently on this question: What discernible impact is the absence of public Masses having on me? I presume each moderately serious Catholic has reflected on the same personal question.

Here are ten possible answers:

• I have a vague feeling that I’m missing something.
• I find it harder to control unruly impulses.
• I am experiencing more spiritual dryness.
• I feel a deep yearning for Mass and Communion.
• I experience increased feelings of fatigue.
• I have a felt need to increase other forms of prayer.
• I am suffering a sense of isolation from the Church.
• I have lost my normal feelings of spiritual consolation.
• I have only an intellectual awareness of the loss.
• I do not perceive any loss at all.

The reader can probably think of other possible answers, and anybody might feel both surprised and disconcerted by his or her own answer. Yet there is no possible answer that can be said to be wrong.

Piety and feelings

Continued below.
No Mass and Communion? Let faith trump feelings.