Friday 15 August 2025
Our Lady Immaculate
There’s a different feeling to church in the evening.
For Sunday morning Mass the day feels fresh. And while I might not be as fresh, surpressing a few yawns, the day feels new and bright.
In the evening, like today, when it’s warmer and the working day is done, everything seems a bit slower. I found myself leaning on the pew in front, as if needing support. And even under the fan, spinning with a low hum, I was hot. I should have left my jacket at home.
But that somehow made the mass feel different as well.
The easiest way to describe it is the feeling that an early mass tends to energise for the day ahead. While an evening Mass soothes the day you’ve just had.
I don’t mean to say that Mass is all about feelings, and making me feel better. The benefits I receive are not an end in itself. But it was something I noticed.
That might be why I felt like I was being given something to think about for the evening ahead.
The gospel was from Luke 1: 39-56, of Mary and Elizabeth. One of my favourite passages after we studied it in RCIA.
There’s a lot to read into this. The humanity of the meeting, the natural sharing of a great moment in life between two women, even before you look at the spiritual aspect.
But the most fascinating explanation I encountered was from Bishop Barron. That the delight between Mary and Elizabeth was because they had found their theo-drama. Not the ego drama that serves the self. But their life mission. Their mission from God. And that’s something we’re all looking for.
I think I’d feel even more things if I’d been visited by an archangel. But in those circumstances, it would be hard not to expect your life to be turned inside out. Completely changed. What was important a few moments earlier would have vanished into insignificance. Your life would be pointed in one direction only.
For now, I didn’t feel like I was being called to my own mission. I have the sense that there is one somewhere. I’m sure we all do. But sometimes Mass feels different, and this was one of those occasions.