Comparisons

Me and my family are practicing Catholics. Even back in out home country, the Philippines, we'd make sure that we hear Holy Mass every Sunday. Here in Las Vegas, we hear Mass as much as we can, considering that I have work on Saturday evenings so I spend the whole day of Sunday in my bed. We normally hear mass at Our Lady of Las Vegas Catholic Church every 6:30 PM. There is something special about this schedule, they always hold a Filipino mass on this time. All the songs are in Pilipino or Tagalog although there are a few that are in English. In order to be understood by the mixed crowd of churchgoers, the priest has to conduct the mass in English.

There are several instances that Filipino priests come to visit and officiate the mass much to the delight of mostly Filipino parishioners. This is where one could compare between a white or caucasian priest and a Pinoy priest in terms of offiating the mass. I myself could notice during the sermon where these "white" priests tend to read in delivering their sermon whereas these Pinoy priests, specially those newly arrived direct from the Philippines, they tend to just speak without using any draft at all. It seems that these Pinoy priests share the gospel from their heart while the "other" priests are not sincere enough in delivering their sermons.

Although it seems you can see the difference, the bottomline is how the parishioners absorbed the sermon. Those priests who were just reading their sermons, although seems not sincere, actually delivered the gospel and share it to the people with all their hearts put into it. They probably use some kind of aid while they talk in order to deliver the thought and the true message of the gospel in a more understandable and efficient way. In either way, the ultimate goal is to share the teachings of God. Priests are just the instrument of God to bring the good news to all the people and because they are still human, they are not perfect in some ways also.

So the next time I hear mass, I'd focus more on the good message the officiating priest tried to convey and not on their individual style in delivering such message.