“I’m bored.”

“I’m bored.” Being in the midst of this cold and oftentimes cloudy, Michigan, winter weather, we can find ourselves cooped up in our house and encounter periods of boredom. Whether it be in the dead of winter or during hot summers, as kids, we may have told our parents at one point or another, “I’m bored.” Sound familiar? Their response? “Go read a book, or “go play outside,” or simply, “go DO something!”

But to say one is bored at Mass? Matthew Kelly in his recent book, Resisting Happiness, (the book our parish handed out to each family at Christmas), said, “to say we are bored at any moment in our lives is a massive insult to God, but to say we are bored at Mass takes the insult to a whole other level (p. 98). Kelly says that the remedy to boredom is that “if you are ever bored, look for a way to get outside yourself and serve others (p. 100). One could do this by serving at Mass as a lector, choir member, usher, Eucharistic minister, altar serve, etc.

What is boredom? Kelly defines it as a “manifestation of selfishness. It can only occur when we are overly focused on ourselves. It always means that we have set God and neighbor aside to focus exclusively on ourselves, and that is never a recipe for happiness,” he says (p. 100).

What if you are unable to serve in those capacities I just mentioned or are still bored at Mass? Kelly goes on to say that “the key to transforming our Sunday Mass experience and improving our relationship with God is shifting from a passive to an active disposition and really listening” (p. 104). He also cites that we can participate at Mass through the use of writing in a Mass Journal which can be very effective. The purpose would be to write down one thing – one idea that captured your attention at Mass (e.g. from the readings or homily).

If I may add, one could also remedy boredom at Mass by attending a “Mass-in-Slow-Motion,” reading about the Mass in the Catechism (#s 571, 654, 1067, 1076,1088, 1322, 1332, 1362-1372, 1382, 2177, 2192), or attend an RCIA class (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults…becoming Catholic). May we never be bored in life with all of the opportunities that God has blessed us with today. But may we especially not be bored at Mass where God is truly active with us as he makes himself present in Word, in the priest, in the people, and in the Eucharist.

One day St. Teresa of Avila heard someone say: “If only I had lived at the time of Jesus… If only I had seen Jesus… If only I had talked with Jesus…” To this she responded: “But do we not have in the Eucharist the living, true and real Jesus present before us? Why look for more?” Look no further than encountering Jesus deeply at Mass in multiple ways. How could one be bored with that?
– Fr. Jeff