Christmas Midnight Mass

I know this is late, but life intercedes...and it took me a few days to write this particular post.  I am by no means religious.

"I survived another Catholic Christmas Midnight Mass at this church," my wife said once we got home at 1 a.m.  As a recovering Catholic, I agreed.  More interestingly, I realized I missed the Christmas Midnight Mass of childhood.  

The Mass we suffered through lacked the joy and celebration Christmas should have.  It is the birth of Christ, savior of all people, God's only son, His direct representative on Earth.  He has been born, Rejoice!  Damn it.  Don't play a melancholy dirge.

Instead of joyful the music was mournful at best, the ritual grudgingly routine, and the priest almost pathetically desperate in his attempts to stir emotion.  These faults in the Mass are not from a lack of faith or a desire to express that faith by the congregation, rather it is a lack of charisma to stir emotion and bring others to action in the actors of the Mass.  

The Music bears the greater burden.  It can set the tenor of the entire Mass before the priest even opens his mouth.  I have been to Churches that have the entire congregation singing along and enjoying the uncomfortable wooden pews, jumping to sing and hug fellow celebrants and actively listen to the priest.  And I've been to Churches that condemn life itself and force believers to mourn the faith they should be rejoicing in. Christ was Born and given by God to save us!  I'm not deep in my faith or an avid defender of Christianity, but my mother taught me to understand that God should be someone (something?  some entity?) to be happy about--not regretted or resented.  The before Mass music sounded almost hopeful for half a song, but slowly devolved into routine.   

The internal Mass songs can be stirring, if sung and played with joy and emotion; but this early morning, like most normal Sunday Masses I suspect, the words and notes were merely an inconvenient routine.  And to top it off, the leader of this morose troupe alternated between flat and sharp, hardly suffering a correct note--and I am next to talentless in pitch.

The priest tried hard.  He tried to engage the few children and the scattered congregation.  However, his thick accent hindered him and his own impatience with the children made him look condescending and trite.  He asked the children questions about Christmas lore, but failed to commit to the plan and work to elicit the answers he wanted.  Placing Santa Clause into a greater religious role than he probably ever had takes away from the themes he focused on later in the sermon.  He probably was trying to bring the children into the sermon but quickly lost their attention as he ignored their answers and offered little praise for their efforts.  At that time and through most of his sermon, he sacrificed the attention of the adults, who were more entertained by the antics of a two year old.  I do not remember what else the priest talked about, but I know the kid was funny and Santa brought gifts to Christ.

I say Christmas Lore, not to degenerate Christianity, but to describe the Christianization of Pagan beliefs and traditions.  Winter celebrations predated Christianity's entrance into the world.  Thanks to historians it is easy to prove that the early Church designed Christmas (or moved its celebration) to the Winter Solstice and to encourage conversions.  There are probably plenty more facts we could catalogue to support this, but we won't.

As a child, I remember Christmas Midnight Mass being fun to attend.  I looked forward to it and not just because gifts would be under the tree afterwards.  The Mass was a celebration, not a routine that must be suffered through to enjoy Christmas Day without guilt.  The Mass was an event to start Christmas Day.