Virtual Mass

After almost a month of virtual masses with our local priest, a great homilist, the Pope, and many other churches throughout the world, I am becoming used to watching the mass on my laptop or television. Am I going to be ready to return to a church full of parishioners? Will people be looked on with suspicion?

I listed two things I have missed during the isolation due to the Coronavirus.(1) The good feeling of seeing friends and chatting with them. (2) Receiving the Holy Eucharist and communicating with Jesus within me.

Then I thought about the good things of listening to mass on the Internet. I could hear and see better than sitting in a pew. In fact, I am practically on top of  the altar on the screen. If I missed something said, I could pause and rewind. No getting up and driving to church if the weather was bad. I did not have to get dressed but could watch in whatever I was wearing. I have the ability to watch more than one mass. I can pause the mass if I need to do something and return to where I left off without missing anything.

Makes me wonder if I will enjoy mass the old way because being in isolation has been much easier watching mass or talks via Facebook or UTube.

Though, preaching to an empty church must be terrible for the priests, yet they do it in an exceptional way. One would never know the church is empty. Lately, since we are staying home and we are not supposed to go out into the world, virtual masses have become important to many of us. I just wonder how we will return to what we used to think was normal. One day at a time is how we function in isolation and as each day passes, my guess is that our attitude and way of thinking is also changing.

"Virtual reality is really a new communication platform.

By feeling truly present, you share unbounded spaces and 

experiences with people in your life. Imagine sharing

not just moments with your friends on line, but entire

experiences and adventures."

Mark Zukerberg