The Witness

Witness: One who can give a firsthand account of something seen, heard, or experienced.

That’s the definition for the word ‘witness’. One who can give firsthand account of something seen, heard, or EXPERIENCED. Experiences are what our lives are made up of. People say, one has to experience everything at least once in his/her lifetime, and I totally agree. Every new experience brings a new lesson with itself, a new revelation and an understanding about things, something that you are never going to forget for life, something etched into your memories forever. Some experiences, so moving that they change you completely to the core. But then it’s not necessary you always experience something new. What if you witness something different about what you’ve always experienced? Something you knew, which was always supposed to be the same, resolute, never changing; but then you witness it in a whole new package. How would it affect you? How would your perception change? Well, I had such an experience recently.
I’m a devout Catholic, so going to church on Sunday is thought to be an obligation. Yes, its thought to be an obligation but its not. People should know that God doesn’t love His people just because they dutifully perform their obligations. The Eucharistic celebration always was and will always be a celebration. A banquet of the God Almighty for his people to commemorate and share in the sacrifice of His only son, Jesus Christ. In catholic families, children are always told that the Sunday mass needs to be attended at all cost. One has to go to church on Sunday for mass. As you grow old it becomes more of a habit. It was the same with me. Sunday mass is a must. Ever since I relocated to Bengaluru, my family was asking me if I found any church to go to on Sundays. It actually took me three weeks to go to church in this new city. When I did go to church it turned out to be the best experience since I was here. Yes, an experience. I was doing this since childhood right? What was so different about this Sunday’s mass? Why was it an experience? Why is it something I’m writing about?
To answer these questions I need to write about two accounts. One of myself and one of my friend. I want to start off talking about St. Mark’s Cathedral, the church me and my friend went to. This church has a rich history which spans over two hundred years. They celebrated their bicentenary last year. The Cathedral doesn’t have a big infrastructure but one thing I did notice is that it did have a big congregation. We went for the 8:30 am mass; this is always sung in the cathedral. This is not what I was used to back home. In Mumbai the mass was always said, which means apart from the hymns all prayers were recited not sung. At St. Mark’s it was totally different. They sung almost each and every prayer and the choir was heavenly when singing the hymns. The church prints booklets for each Sunday which consists of the theme for the mass, the hymns which will be used, references to prayers in the Book of Common Prayers, the prayer book and also the notices and announcements. All this was available for the congregation to use and refer to. Now why would a church go thru all the pain to print each and every week’s happenings? Why incur so much cost? Its just a Sunday mass isn’t it? But it occurred to me that the whole point of this was participation. Participation of the congregation in the mass which gives it a different meaning all together. For someone like me who is new to this church having this with me was great. The whole celebration was unlike what I was used to in Mumbai and having these at hand didn’t make me feel lost. I was happy that I could partake and participate in each prayer and hymn. The celebration started, and we were using the booklet to guide us thru the proceedings. The theme for the day: Witness through Hope and Trust. The mass started and the Prebyster (the priest) began with the prayers. The theme of the day was in accordance with the readings. The readings spoke about being a witness thru hope and trust. The first reading was about Job, a known figure in the Bible for his unwavering belief in his Almighty God. A person who didn’t break down even though his whole family, livestock and property were all taken away from him. He was full of hope and trust in his God. The second reading spoke about the miracle performed by the apostle Peter, in Jerusalem to proclaim the Good News of Jesus’s salvation for mankind. In the third reading, Jesus himself appears to his Apostles. These were then followed by a sermon from a local priest who practises his ministry in Philadelphia. The sermon was a good insight into all three readings. The mass progressed and along with it my sense of belonging to it. It was a novel experience.
As I mentioned before my friend accompanied me to the church. Now you have to know that my friend is a non-believer, a non-catholic. On Saturday, as we shared dinner he asked me if he could join in for mass the next day. Now this was unusual. I’ve never had any of my non-catholic friends ask me if they could join me for mass but then I was ok with him being with me. He told me that he was always curious about mass and how things go about in the church. He was besides me reciting each and every prayer and singing hymns without feeling out of place. Thanks again to all the reference material and prayer books made available by the church. I’m sure he had a great experience. He coming along made a significant difference. As I said he was curious about the mass and that curiosity made him participate in the mass and not just be a spectator. Now, as I was growing up in the church life I was always curious about all these people coming to church in numbers to adore Jesus. It was actually awe-inspiring as a kid. But as I grew that feeling diminished. Going to church was no longer a new experience. It was just part of the weekend things to do. Now that has changed. A person of a different faith made me realise that the mass is something that I always need to look at as something new rather than an obligation, a routine thing to do. The whole experience was new for him but for me it was living it up again in a new way. Witnessing the mass in a different way unlike what I was used made me feel like a child who is new to church. The feeling of awe was back and my friend taught me a good lesson in spirituality. I can’t wait to go for mass again and relive the experience and witness something new.