I love summer vacation. Going to the beach and doing absolutely nothing of importance, watching waves, eating iced treats, long walks, bike rides, take out… I could go on and on about my love of this type of vacation. My family has also always made time to go to Mass for our Sunday observance.
As a child/younger person, to be honest, I did not love the intrusion of Mass into my beach time.
It is what we always did, so I didn’t question it. However, it was not always the most welcome excursion given that I would have preferred sitting on a beach to sitting in a cold pew.
As an adult I found that this observance was my “choice.”
I could choose to honor my God by giving Him this time during my vacation or I could choose to ignore the obligation of Sunday. I became the one making this choice.
I have been on girls trips and taken taxis in many different cities to attend Mass. I have been on get-a-ways with my husband and searched masstimes.org for the best Mass to suit our relaxation schedule. I have plotted the Masses along our travel routes to perfectly time the arrival and least amount of time lost in transit to our destination. I have done this in obedience and also to give thanks to God for the ability to travel and be given time to rest in this life.
As usual, if you keep your eyes open, you see God’s gift in your all your obediences.
My favorite vacation Mass was during my 10yr anniversary trip to Turks and Caicos. Our Lady of Divine Providence Roman Catholic Church was where we attended Mass. As I looked around the sanctuary I noticed that the room was filled with faces of people from so many different ethnic backgrounds. It was a menagerie of worship, like nothing I have seen before. This tiny island drew people from around the world and we were all there together to worship. The music had steel drums, violins, piano, maracas, guitars, cymbals. The voices of the singers were truly angelic.
I saw a glimpse of Heaven that day. One people together. Colorful, beautiful, united.
It gave me a sense of joy and hope for our Eternity with God where we will be together with all people and differences are a celebration of God’s great design to honor Him.
