While I was getting groceries after Church today, I had a realization. I had driven myself from the parking lot in Sam's Club, and without thinking, had taken the back exit toward Royalton Street, instead of the front entrance onto Rice Ave. The Rice Ave entrance/exit is a mess, and turning left there is a nightmare. After doing that several times I decided to always exit the back way.

But today I hadn't thought about it once. It was completely muscle memory.

It's the same as everyone experiences when driving. You'll depart for work, and the drive is so familiar that you'll barely remember any part of it when you've gotten to work.

Perhaps it's because I had just come from Church, or the Father Thomas More Barba had just given a homily regarding Peter falling asleep while Jesus prays in the Garden of Gesthemane, but for some reason I connected this with the Liturgy of the Word and the Eucharist – the Catholic Mass.

The Mass combines memorization and muscle memory. That means you can attend the Mass and even receive the Most Holy Sacrament, but not quite remember any one part of it.

The memorization comes in the responses and movements. If I say "May the Lord accept this sacrifice at your hands…", any Catholic will finish with "for the praise and glory of His Name, for our good and the good of the Holy Church." I can do others… But such rote repetition will often result in inattention and yawning. I find my attention traveling sometimes.

However, this is not how it is intended to be. The liturgy isn’t something to be trifled with or bored during, it is an early example of heavenly worship that we are striving to join into in the Beatific Vision. God calls us to actively participate. It is supposed to be a weekly occasion to listen to God’s Word and participate in His commands and memorial. One should engage with the reading, the homily, the prayers, sing, be active in reciting the creed and responses, and be reverent and truly consider the transsubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood. All of that takes intentional concentration.

That means the Mass contains all of life in it. It's a microcosm of life and the Christian call to perfection and sainthood. Just like everything else in life, you can master it with repetition and skillbuilding, but that's not everything. Once you know something, you must still put in effort and attention to fulfill it. The Catholic Mass teaches us this.