Celebrating Masses, attending Masses

People being what they are, they are always capable of engaging in the most inappropriate behavior in situations that require propriety and decorum. And that is why leadership is very important. Leaders who emerge from the ranks of the ordinary are needed to whip people in line.

The episcopal vicar of the Archdiocese of Cebu, Msgr. Esteban Binghay, noting how people tend to behave inappropriately during Masses, has admonished the public to act accordingly during these religious rites.

What must have rankled the monsignor was seeing how some young people, especially young lovers, would carry on by whispering sweet nothings into each other's ears and wrapping their arms around each other's waists, totally oblivious to the Mass that is going on.

Msgr. Binghay is not the only cleric alarmed by such behavior. The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines has in fact warned people against using Masses, especially during the traditional Misa de Gallo, for purposes other than faith and religion.

The concern of the church is understandable and it is a concern that should be shared by all, especially parents and other community leaders. Leadership, where it is demanded, must be manifested, especially in such an important matter as proper church behavior.

But the problem is not of misbehaving young people alone, or of those who lack focus and concentration and find themselves drifting off to sleep in the middle of Masses. It is also a matter of leadership on the part of the church itself, or of priests in particular.

Just as at the outset we said that people are what they are, so it is that there will always be priests who can keep their flock awake throughout the service, and those who, for whatever reason, can lull churchgoers to sleep without really trying.

Priests are like directors and conductors. They are resonsible for how people go through their Masses, whether people suffer in silent agony as they go through an insufferable monotony, or whether they can keep people interested, awake and truly blessed.

It has to be admitted, though, that not many priests have the rare gift of whipping people toward the direction he wants to take them. Most priests plod along each and every arcane passage and prayer -- mechanical, lifeless, and sorry to say eventually meaningless.

An audience that gets bored gets uncomfortable. Once uncomfortable, they get listless and their attention drifts somewhere else. Once focus and attention is lost, nothing is learned and the entire exercise might as well not have happened.

 That is why, if a priest does not have the inborn skill to be interesting, he must strive hard to learn it. There are Masses that priests celebrate as a matter of obligation and they can do it even by themselves alone. But public Masses are different. They require public involvement.

At a Mass held at the end of 40 days mourning for an aunt of mine, Tia Glor, my cousin who was the main celebrant, Rev. Fr. Lamberto Paradiang Jr., brought a seminary classmate of his as co-celebrant. The co-celebrant, whose name I failed to catch, delivered the homily.

Because of his homily, the Mass became one I will never forget for a long time. From start to finish the entire congregation was laughing from the jokes of the priest. But it was not an excercise in levity. After each joke the priest squeezed in a valuable lesson for the spirit.

Many years ago, I also had the pleasure of attending Masses at the USC chapel celebrated by Rev. Fr. Ulrich Schlect, who enlivened the rites with jokes and engaged in surprise exercises like turning off lights and playing meaningful and moving slides to beautiful music.

It is Masses like these that people go to, not as a matter of compulsory obligation but with desirous anticipation. People who feel happy going to Masses learn more. And when they learn more, the better they can impart the good message to others.