Denise Garcia- Church Visit #3

Church Name: St. Michael Catholic Church

Church Address: 310 S Wheaton Ave, Wheaton, IL 60187

Date Attended: October 29, 2015

Church Category: Liturgical (higher)

Describe the worship service you attended. How was it similar to or different from your regular context?

I attended a morning mass at 8 a.m. on Thursday. The church holds mass twice daily, one at 6:30 a.m. and another at 8 a.m. aside from their services on Saturday and Sunday.  The service was different from my regular context in many ways. Upon entering the church sanctuary, there is a pool of water, which I later learned was the baptismal pool to remind Catholics that they come to the Eucharist and are able to partake of the body and blood of Christ through baptism. Before each person sat in their pew, they knelt and made the sign of the cross (we did not do this, so it was very obvious we weren’t catholic). The mass also did not start with a time of worship; rather songs were inserted in between the liturgy. The mass ended at 8:30 a.m., and I was surprised by how short it was, especially the priest’s message. I think he took less than 10 minutes to preach that morning.

What did you find most interesting or appealing about the worship service?

I found having to kneel at certain parts of the mass appealing, as it helped me recognize that I am approaching a holy God in prayer and worship. While God is personal and is my friend, it is also important to realize that God is the Almighty God and deserves utmost respect and reverence. He is to be elevated and glorified, and the act of kneeling down before God aided in fostering an attitude of humility, as well as remaining present in all aspects during the service. When the members took part in the Eucharist, I found it interesting that they all drank from the same cup. It highlighted the significance  of coming together as a community and as a body of believers to remember the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

What did you find most disorienting or challenging about the worship service?

I was bothered by the slightly rushed atmosphere of the mass. At the end of the service, the priest leading the mass was standing outside the sanctuary to greet people, and I overheard him explaining to one lady that he was having issues with his back and was not feeling very well. I think this explained the urgent atmosphere of the entire mass, especially when he was preaching. It was also hard to figure out what was going on--when to pray, stand, sit, or kneel--because we did not have the booklet that contained the liturgy which guided the service.

What aspects of Scripture or theology did the worship service illuminate for you that you had not perceived as clearly in your regular context?

The worship service illuminated the rich roots of the faith to me. Though St. Michael was renovated fairly recently, when I stepped into the parish it was clear that it still resembled the earliest European churches built centuries ago. Some other things that pointed to the historical roots of the Catholic tradition included the special robe worn by the priest and children who also performed special rituals, statues and paintings of saints, and stained glass panels that depicted particular events in the Bible, as well as other spiritual images like the dove to symbolize the Holy Spirit.