A Story of a Mass Celebration in Malaysia

This is a story of a Roman Catholic church somewhere in Malaysia and its experience with its new Parish Priest.

This priest, which the name I shall not reveal, is a very young priest. At the age of 31, he was appointed as the parish priest of this church, which also I shall not reveal the name. During his term, the church experienced some shocking moments, humorous moments, confusions and some learning experiences with him. Most of the time, this priest will do something extra ordinary and sometime confusing and yet his parishoners loved him so much.

There was one time, during one of his first mass celebration in the church, he did certain unusual things, which I will break them down as the following:-

1) The mass began with an Entrance Procession. Every elements (Lectionary, Sacramentary, the Choir, the Altar, etc) were prepared so well with a majestic entrance hymn. When the priest reached before the altar he bowed down and the people too with him. After that, he did not walked any further to the altar. The altar servers were waiting for the priest to move but he turned back and went straight to the entrance door. The choir stopped singing. People looked at  him thinking what he is doing. He then asked the choir to start the entrance hymn again. He processed again and bowed down before the altar and the people also bowed down with him. He stopped, turned back and walked to the entrance door again. People were wondering what he is doing. Again he processed and bowed before the altar, but this time the people did not bow together with him because all of them were looking at him to see what he will be doing next. He smiled at walked up to the altar. Since then he was doing this at every mass until the people stopped bowing down when he bows before the altar.

2) During the gospel acclamation, the hymn "Sing Alleluia to the Lord" was sung so beautifully. After its finished, the priest responded, "So. When are we going to start singing Alleluia then?". The people begin to look each other thinking, "Is our priest has gone mad? We just sung the Alleluia". The priest then said, "Well. We just asked others to sing the Alleluia. So when are we going to sing the Alleluia then?" He then sung just the word, "Alleluia" for three times and began the gospel reading.

3) During the Lord's Prayer, he told the people not to hold hands.

4) Before the Holy Communion procession, he told the people not to leave before the thanks giving prayer.


Sometime we experience this kind of madness in our church too, but remember that Jesus himself sometime seem out of His mind. He asked people to breakdown the temple that took for 46 years to build and He wanted to build it in 3 days. But if those people really remembered the scripture, they will know that he meant about himself, and not the temple.

So do the story above. If we know what and why we are doing in the mass, we will not be like the people of the above church.

1. We do not have to bow down with the priest because we already did during the time we entered the church.

2. We only need to sing Alleluia and not 'Sing Alleluia' or 'Alleluia. Praise be the Lord'. It is not the time for Evangalisation or Cathecism. We all, rich and poor, strong and healthy, come together to praise the Lord as one faithful.

3. Since we already gathered in the church and the celebration as one faithful, there is no need for any special or extra ordinary uniting during the Lord's Prayer.

4. The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith and the worship. Atleast give thanks in the worship before we go home.

Last but not the least, we should keep learning our faith. Blind faith should not be passed on. It brings destruction to our generations. Pass on the light, not a blown candle.

May the Lord bless you and keep you. Amen.