Lent

Mass - Great way to start day

By Rose Denissen

	A Compass Lenten series

Why do I attend daily Mass?

It is a real privilege for me to be able to participate in daily Mass and celebrate the Eucharist with co-workers and neighbors of the diocesan complex.

It is also a wonderful way to start my day. Participating in daily Mass prepares me mentally for the day and feeds my spirituality. If for some reason I cannot come to Mass I feel as if something is missing in my day.

At Eucharist I experience God's love for me and I sense his presence among all of us there. Hopefully, I will recognize Jesus even more in the people I encounter during my day and treat them as Jesus would treat me.

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Being able to voice my petitions in the Prayers of the Faithful with our little morning Mass group is a way of sharing the joys and troubles in my life and hearing other's cares and concerns. Being able to pray together is very healing.

In our chapel we are blessed to have several priests and bishops celebrating Eucharist with us. In this way we get a variety of homilies too. No matter how many times in the past 21 years I have heard and reflected on the Liturgy of the Word I always get a new insight on how to live the gospel teachings in my daily life.

In sharing with this cherished faithful group of co-workers and neighbors, there is a sense of belonging to a community when we all come together to praise and thank our God. This belonging reminds me that I am to be the body of Christ in all I do.

After sharing in the Liturgy, I am sent forth to do God's work in my ministry with all who have gathered in prayer.

(Denissen is a bookkeeper for the Green Bay Diocese's Education Department and attends 7:45 a.m. Mass in St. Joseph Chapel on the diocesan campus.)