May the Lord be with you

God knows how many times over the course of my lifetime I’ve heard a priest say during Mass, “May the Lord be with you.” And how many time have I responded, “And also with you.” At my age if I attended 70 masses per year, I have heard this over ten thousand times.

Out of these ten thousand instances how many times have I taken the time to truly digest what the priest and I exchange. In my situation, I find that these words are quickly passed over, responded to, and that’s the end of it.

Early on in life when the Mass was said in Latin, the priest would turn around and say “Dominus Vobiscum (The Lord be with thee)” and I would respond with, “Et cum spiritu tuo (And also with your spirit).” Again I ask myself, do I truly know the significance of these words. Many times they have been taken for granted, much like when someone greets me with, “How are you,” or something similar. Are people ready to listen to me if I told them all that ails me at that moment? I truly think that if I started to spill my guts to them they would regret ever asking how I was.

In the same manner, I find myself having to really concentrate on not only what’s going on but on what is being said during Mass. I can’t be thinking on what I’m going to be ordering for breakfast later on. I can’t be thinking and plotting on what the rest of the day has in store for me. I can’t be thinking about the upcoming Patriot or Red Sox game. I can’t be thinking about what I owe the IRS this year. The devil is always at play trying to distract me away from the Lord.

“May the Lord be with you.”

Every time you hear these words, just think that you have been given everything under the sun and more. What more would you want or is there than having the Lord with you?

Do you find this hard to understand? If you answer yes, you are in good company because even the Apostles who had the Lord walking with them had a hard time understanding.

In today’s Gospel from St. Mark 4, 35-41, we find the apostles in a boat with Jesus. Jesus is sleeping and the seas become so agitated that the boat is taking on lots of water. The apostles wake Him saying, “Teacher do you not care that we are perishing?” St. Mark continues by telling us how Jesus woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea to be still. The wind ceased and there was great calm. Then he asked them, "Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?" They were filled with great awe and said to one another, "Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?"

In life, we too find ourselves in times of turmoil battling different storms, it’s inevitable unless we shut ourself off from everything and live like a hermit. It’s during these times that St. Augustine warned us not to let Christ go to sleep in our hearts and soul. If we let Him sleep we will be shipwrecked.

Don’t forget Christ, awaken Him that way He will be awake in you.

“MAY THE LORD BE WITH YOU”