Spanish Mass at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church
1. What happened during the services?
I arrived at the church a few minutes prior to the service and I was greatly surprised by how well attended the service was. There were dozens of families in a spectrum of Sunday best and work-stained denim jeans and nearly every person wore a yellow and white vest with a red cross embroidered on the lapel. At the entrance there was a small dipping well and although there was no water in it at the moment, (most likely due to the sizeable crowd) people still placed their fingers in the dry well and crossed themselves before entering the chapel and before sitting, they would cross themselves again. I sat and observed the beautiful artwork all around the …show more content…
Previously, and especially on my mission in New Jersey amidst the Hispanic community, I found myself occasionally discounting the faith that non-LDS people had, brushing it off as a pretended piety or emotionless adherence to tradition. I saw it with the sentiment that God was probably disappointed in them for not participating in authorized ordinances or that their prayers were somehow of less worth because it was a “vain” repetition. I was amazed to see mothers shedding tears of parental pride as their sons participated as alter-boys, and astonished to see rugged, world-stained men weep in humility as they knelt and repeated rosary prayers. While it is probably true that every religion has “floaters,” who worship out of habit rather than consecration, I realized that truly dedicated Catholics exist, something I hadn’t really considered before. They want to come unto Christ, they want to do all they can to be worthy of His presence and they are faithful to Him. Observing and speaking with the Catholic people, Hispanics especially, I found that many of them weren’t particularly aware of why they worshipped a certain way, the significance of symbols or what their own belief system was in terms of doctrine and theology. Yet, with the portion of light that they have in knowing that Christ is our Savior, they give full devotion to
1. What happened during the services?
I arrived at the church a few minutes prior to the service and I was greatly surprised by how well attended the service was. There were dozens of families in a spectrum of Sunday best and work-stained denim jeans and nearly every person wore a yellow and white vest with a red cross embroidered on the lapel. At the entrance there was a small dipping well and although there was no water in it at the moment, (most likely due to the sizeable crowd) people still placed their fingers in the dry well and crossed themselves before entering the chapel and before sitting, they would cross themselves again. I sat and observed the beautiful artwork all around the …show more content…
Previously, and especially on my mission in New Jersey amidst the Hispanic community, I found myself occasionally discounting the faith that non-LDS people had, brushing it off as a pretended piety or emotionless adherence to tradition. I saw it with the sentiment that God was probably disappointed in them for not participating in authorized ordinances or that their prayers were somehow of less worth because it was a “vain” repetition. I was amazed to see mothers shedding tears of parental pride as their sons participated as alter-boys, and astonished to see rugged, world-stained men weep in humility as they knelt and repeated rosary prayers. While it is probably true that every religion has “floaters,” who worship out of habit rather than consecration, I realized that truly dedicated Catholics exist, something I hadn’t really considered before. They want to come unto Christ, they want to do all they can to be worthy of His presence and they are faithful to Him. Observing and speaking with the Catholic people, Hispanics especially, I found that many of them weren’t particularly aware of why they worshipped a certain way, the significance of symbols or what their own belief system was in terms of doctrine and theology. Yet, with the portion of light that they have in knowing that Christ is our Savior, they give full devotion to