Good question

"You can ask the usual questions - are we in the proper frame of mind when we attend Mass? Have we made a good confession? Are we aware of serious sin? – but ask yourself at the same time why you’re at Mass in the first place. Is it a social function where you get together with friends afterwards for brunch or coffee? Is it because you like the homily or the music? Is it because you like others to see you in church, you like the message it sends to them about how good you are? Has it simply become routine, after all these years?"

This is precisely why I withheld myself from the Eucharist throughout this past Advent. I wanted to rediscover the Eucharist and what it means to me, for me. And I continue to fast from the Eucharist when I am aware of serious sin until I receive absolution. But that does not mean I have withheld myself from a relationship with the Lord, who- in his tender mercy- still beckons me closer.

It's a question I have found of the utmost value for my spiritual growth, and I encourage all of you to ask it again, especially as we enter Ordinary Time. In what ways do we allow our time to become anything less than extraordinary? In what ways do we allow our sharing in Eucharist to become routine or casual? Have we lost focus-- Christ Himself?