…there is exactly one thing better than assisting at Mass. Yup, there’s one thing better. Wanna guess what it is? C’mon, you know you do.
It’s assisting at Mass after receiving the Sacrament of Confession. I mean right after. As in “walking out of the Confessional, performing your penance and praying until Mass begins without leaving your pew.” There is a qualitative difference, at least for poor sinful ol’ me, in my participation in praying with the Mass directly after Confession when I haven’t even had a chance to commit even a venial sin and assisting at Mass even only a couple of days later when I’ve been beaten down by the sludge of the world. The Mass is the Mass, yes, but assisting with a sparkly clean soul is just plain different. I can’t help it, sorry.
So I renew my plea to any priest (or potential priest) reading this post – please, do anything and everything in your power to offer confession before each and every Mass in your parish. Even if it means rearranging the Mass schedule to avoid, as I believe Pope Benedict called it “the parking lot syndrome” with Masses so close together there is neither time for people to get in and out of the parking lot easily nor for Confession. Even just ten minutes. Even if nobody comes. You can read, you can write, you can review your homily, you can just sit in the quiet and pray. Admit it my beloved priests, you’d love ten minutes of peace and quiet, if that’s the “down” side of offering Confession before every Mass. I simply cannot recommend this enough.
