One of the blessings of COVID isolation practices has also come with underlying worry for me. While we have been able to continue to hear Bible readings, listen to a priest’s homily, watch the consecration, and pray together in the safety of our homes, we are creating new habits of worship, and these habits do not include regular visits to a church.

All my life, I have been shown that Mass on the Sabbath is not only an obligation, but a privilege. Roll call is not taken at Mass (especially now that many collections are direct deposits from bank accounts), but attendance is a priority and an integral part of our weekly schedule. Our family does not attend Mass to check in but to keep our relationships with God in check.

Growing up, I was also taught that since we attend Mass to grow in our personal faith, we do not go to be entertained. While a lector with a talent for public speaking can proclaim a Bible passage in a meaningful way, a skilled homilist can inspire people to continue to grow in their faith, and a beautiful choir can lead people into a prayerful mindset, these factors should not be criteria for where we go to Mass. 

The only criterion that truly matters is the nourishment of the sacraments. We must surrender ourselves to receive this nourishment directly from God, rather than relying on others to satisfy our longing for him.

Since March, not only has our family been exposed to many different priests, lectors, and music ministers, we have been able to use our remote control to choose whichever Mass we wish, at whichever time of day suits our family’s work and sleep schedules. We have toured the world for Mass, watching Masses in Rome, Los Angeles, and Vancouver, in addition to our home parish. Most weeks, though, inspired by my kids who have seen Father Rob Galea on two of his Canadian tours, we have chosen to join Father Rob’s online Masses streamed from Bendigo, Australia.

We all appreciate Father Rob’s energy and the passionate faith he enfolds in his identifiable homilies. Father Rob is joined each week by lectors and musicians from other countries, including Canada. On June 14, PS 98 Music Ministry from the Lower Mainland streamed in to provide the music. We were proud to see Clarence Sinsay, a music teacher at our own Holy Cross Regional Secondary in Surrey playing the piano, creating a unique, home-based connection to Mass in Australia!

The gifts of having Mass at home and having the regular influence of Father Rob’s words infiltrating our family life are irreplaceable; however, what happens when the pandemic is over? What happens when we must go to Mass at specific times again? What happens when we can no longer choose a church the way we select a television show?

My fear is that my children, who have gone to church every week of their lives until the pandemic and who now join without hesitation to listen to Father Rob, will become complacent about going to a physical church when we return to “normal.” Father Rob is a dynamic and inspiring faith leader, but he is not the faith. Faith is between God and us and should not be exclusively dependent upon any human, either positively or negatively.

While we can – and should – continue to read the Bible and explore essays, books, and speakers on various spiritual topics at home, it is only at Mass that we can receive Jesus in the Eucharist. During the pandemic, I have been reminded regularly that I miss Communion. I hope my children do as well.

I am grateful for Father Rob as a role model, and for the opportunity to continue to worship together, as a family practising social distancing. I do not know what life post-pandemic will hold, so when I become anxious, I pray. My husband and I have planted seeds of faith, and, as always, we must trust in God to provide and sustain the miracle of life.

As Dr. Samantha Aguinaldo-Wetterholm stated in her devotional column for Blessed Is She, “All of us are doing our best at planting those seeds of faith to those in our lives … And hopefully, they’ll take root.”

Follow Father Rob Galea at frgministry.com.