Today I went to a Contemplative Mass that was put on by one of my favorite priests. Being contemplative, the idea is that you, well contemplate. You have two ten minute sessions of silence instead of a homily.
This Father is always tossing in his Eastern Training. The Gospel today was from Luke about Satan tempting Christ with Material, Power, and Trial. The setup, of course, is for Lent but Father prefaces it with the story of the Evil One tempting Buddha to turn the Himalayas into gold. Few other ministers or priests that I know would do that because an alternate story steals the thunder from the story of your faith. But this guy believes in what he reads and preaches so he does not fall into the trap. Teaching the message properly needs an open mind.

The Mass seating is circular and we stayed seated for everything but the Lord’s Prayer. The start to the Lord’s Prayer: Brothers and Sisters and Our Mother and Our Father who art in heaven …… Again, a very inclusive start to a very inclusive prayer.

The Mass is in a basement with windows so when you look up, you see either sky or trees, depending on how you look. It just adds to the spirituality; a bit prettier than stained glass in my view. The Eucharist bread was home baked and passed around from person to person. Of course I could not participate (Christ did share the bread with all who were with him but the Roman Church doesn’t quite buy that).

At the end of the Mass pebbles were offered to all. The idea was to take one, give it a name of you biggest worry, and hang on to it for Lent so it would turn into a jewel during the season. I called mine Fear.

As I have said many times, I am not religious and not too good at being spiritual. The good thing is that all the religious and spiritual people that I deal with take dummies. Thank goodness for their understanding and generosity.