first mass!!

i went to my first catholic mass today!! 

well, really, i was supposed to go a few weeks ago. i was planning on going with my family, but as circumstances came up and we kept having to push it back, i figured that i would have to unfortunately go by myself.

what did i think? i thought it was 10/10 AMAZING! seriously, everything about Catholicism is amazing and i didn't expect mass to be any different. 

first of all -- let's start when i first walked in. everything was beautiful! i'm glad i went a little early, so i could really take in all of the art. the paintings that surrounded the crucifix were what really took my breath away from it. it evoked a sense of, "you really are here, God, aren't you?", you know? it was totally disarming in a way that i can't put into words.

i don't know what it's called, but when one of the men up front started to read from the bible and such, it was also pretty good! he was talking about the parable of the good samaritan, and how it applied to church. 

basically, in the parable, there's a guy laying on the road that's very injured. two other people look at him and walk away, while a samaritan has mercy on him (hence the name of the parable). he takes the injured man to an inn, cares for him and heals his wounds. the next day, he gives the innkeeper two coins and is like "look after the injured man, and whatever extra you have to spend i'll reimburse when i come back." 

the man who was speaking was so smart, omgosh. basically, he was likened the injured man to us sinners, the good samaritan to God, the inn to the church. God sees someone suffering because of our sin, patches up their wounds, and sends them to a church. He then tells the us, members of the chruch (metaphorically obviously) to look after them and help them, and whatever we have to sacrifice in the way of helping them will be reimbursed when He comes back (in the second coming).

i. was. shook. honestly, i love hearing other people talk about the bible, because they're always able to make connections i would have literally never made. 

parable aside, i just loved how orderly everything was. one thing i really disliked about my previous (and obviously protestant) church is that there didn't seem to be much reverence for God. they always seemed to squeeze in the bible at the very end of the service after making all of their other announcements and joking about. (not all protestant churches are like this btw!) in a Catholic church, not only do they do a lot more than simply reading from the bible, the entire service is built around worship.

all in all, amazing. will go again next week! 

Ephesians 4:32 --  "and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."