Take Off Your Coat

Have you ever known the sort of person who can tell what you're thinking before you even say something? Often we're like this with our closes friends; they don't need to tell us what they're thinking, the way that they respond to a simple hello tells us all we need to know. The response of a friend alerts us to their mood because we know how they usually respond, and when we can hear their tone and see their movements we know if things are different than normal.

Body language and small signs are incredible indicators of the way a person feels. Nervous twitches and awkward laughs tell us that a person is uncomfortable for some reason in that conversation; leaning in and making some sort of physical contact shows the exact opposite. Human beings are physical creatures, and the physical actions of our bodies point to what it is we're feeling or thinking, even if we don't want to portray all of that.

This is my roundabout way to tell you that you should take your coat off when you go to Church.



Think about it. If someone is a good host, they take your coat when you walk into their house. If you keep your coat on, they'll probably feel uncomfortable, and they'll repeatedly remind you that they have a perfectly good closet with perfectly good hangers for your quote.

When I find myself in a Church for Mass and see almost everyone with a coat still on, little red flags start to go off in my brain, as they would if I walked into a social situation and saw the same thing. It might be cold, but it's probably not cold enough to leave their coat on in the same temperature in a person's house, a restaurant, or a movie theater. In all of those places, you take off your coat simply as a matter of habit when you first enter. You're going to be there for a while, and so you make yourself at home to be sure that you're feeling comfortable where you are, and everyone can see that. Why, then, do you not respond the same way when you go into Church?

If you are at Mass, the Eucharistic table, the celebration of the moment where heaven kisses earth, you should make yourself comfortable. You should probably plan to stay a while.

In a recent class preparing Second Graders for First Holy Communion, my Pastor was asked why he doesn't make Mass more exciting and entertaining for the kids. I wasn't there, so I don't know how he actually responded (although I'm sure it was quite funny and only a little bit sarcastic), but I know how I would have responded.

This question is based on the fact that for many of us, we're not coming to Mass for the Lord, we're coming to Mass because we're supposed to, and we refuse to enjoy ourselves unless we're being entertained. Until we take a step back and realize that Mass is not for our entertainment or to fulfill an obligation but it is a response in love to the God who first loved us, we won't really understand what we're doing there.

The answer, I propose, is simple: take off your coat. In doing thing, you can acknowledge the fact that you are comfortable where you are. In taking off your coat, you use your physical actions to tell the Lord and those around you that you plan to stay a while, and that this is somewhere you truly want to be.

Simply taking off coats won't fix our problems; if, however, it makes us more comfortable in Church and helps us enter into the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, it's a step in the right direction.