Thou shall not leave early
Here are the top ten reasons for NOT leaving Mass early:
10. You may get a scolding from Sister Mary Masspatrol.
9. Your voice may be discovered during the closing hymn by a talent scout for American Idol.
8. You won’t have to read the bulletin because the closing announcements
will give you the highlights.
7. You are likely to be recruited by the hospitality ministers to hand out the bulletins.
6. They don’t put out the fresh donuts until after the final blessing.
5. You might meet your future best friend or spouse walking out of Mass.
4. You will be forsaking your “right and duty” to participate fully, consciously and actively in the Mass.
3. You’ll miss the final blessing and let’s face it, who couldn’t use an extra blessing?
2. You won’t be commissioned to go forth. Just think, if the Apostles left before Jesus finished the
Great commissioning (“Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations…”),
we wouldn’t have a church.
Seriously folks, things have gotten way out of hand. Are those five extra minutes really worth leaving early? So many people just get communion and run, as if the Eucharist were a take-home commodity. We live in a consumer-driven grab-n-go society. It cannot be this way with liturgy. We are a community, or at least that’s our claim. That means we stay and pray together until the end. AMEN!
