Sometimes I hear, “I don’t like going to Mass because it’s always the same thing. I find it boring.”

Well, yes, large parts of the Liturgy are very stable fare. And why should that be?

In every family, when we gather for special occasions, stories are told. Mostly the same stories. That is because these stories define and identify us. Doesn’t it happen, too, that someone will start one of them and another family member will comment, “no, that’s not how it goes. You have to tell it this way.” And everyone agrees.

So also the Mass, part of our salvation story, repeats the essentials again and again. We want the exact story, without changes, just like in our families. This is particularly true of the Eucharistic Prayer and even more the Words of Institution -- Jesus’ own words from the Last Supper.

In religious communities we pray the “Liturgy of the Hours” or the Breviary. It allows us to pray all 150 Psalms in a four-week cycle. Most of them are great. Some are delightful. A couple are dreadful. But going through them again and again suddenly a line or passage will have new meaning or will match something I’m going through. Without the steady cycle this would not happen.

If I find myself a little lost or distracted at Mass, I can pray for someone in need, express my own concerns to the Lord, and then jump back into the flow of the Liturgy. There can be a blessedness in boredom. It can lead me to reconsider, to reflect, to question.

For God’s sake, no one is trying to make the Mass boring. At the same time, it is not a concert or a form of entertainment. It is the central prayer of the Church, leading us to vital contact with the Living Lord. Come along for the ride!