A visiting priest at my suburban parish completed the Preparation of the Gifts and made this comment to the congregation:
I just confused the server.Yeah, it's a big joke: "Lord, wash away my iniquity; cleanse me of my sin." Har har.When I was washing my hands back there a minute ago, I asked her if she had any soap. I mean, she was bringing the water and a towel, so I asked where the soap was.
She looked at me; and she said, "We don't use soap here."
"I'm just kidding."
Father has no clue. Where's his attention? It should be on the task at hand, of course.
Now, it's perfectly understandable that a funny little thought like "where's the soap?" might cross a priest's mind when he's doing the Lava me, and it might interrupt his prayerful celebration of the rite of Mass. Thoughts do come and go, and if you have a sense of humor, they're sometimes funny thoughts. They distract you.
The server's attention should be on the rite too. Just doing the rite reverently and with attention, laying aside one's worldly cares and personal concerns, is a prayer, and the server probably was doing that until Father decided to share his little would-be joke. By doing that, he took away the server's opportunity to pray that moment.
Sad.
Then he decided to turn it into a little bit of his stand-up act and give the audience some yuks.
Father, please shut up. Mass is a ritual, so let it be one. Let Him increase and you decrease. If you break the ritual, and if you step out of character, it tells us that you don't believe in the role you're playing. And God forbid, if you make a joke out of it, you're adopting an ironic stance toward the Most Holiest thing that happens on earth. Reflect.
