ODD Behavior from Reader/ Server/ EMHC/ Usher

[alacoque]

Just saw this thread today…so, for my insignificant two-cents worth, here are my thoughts:

This person seems (to me) to just be completely engrossed and taken up in his prayer and relationship with the Lord at Mass. We’re all different - some of us are ‘odd’ and some of us are ‘odd’ to the point of distraction to others. My thought is that above all is Charity, and love of each other for the sake of love for Him.

Leave him to the Lord, pray for Him and move on. It may well be that folks like this person, as they come into all our lives, are merciful gifts of the Most High God, to increase our Charity and Love of one another, as well as our tolerance - and to allow us a little Purgatory here on earth, lessening the time spent there after our death.

Above all, this person is a beloved child of God, no matter how he acts. God loves him infinitely and will instruct him, however and whenever He sees fit - or not… it’s a great blessing to us all, I think, that these kinds of things are in our lives…to teach us humility, love and tolerance, and to focus on our beloved Father, not on each other.

that’s all I can think of…

God bless…

 

[Charioteer]

Just saw this thread today…so, for my insignificant two-cents worth, here are my thoughts:

This person seems (to me) to just be completely engrossed and taken up in his prayer and relationship with the Lord at Mass. We’re all different - some of us are ‘odd’ and some of us are ‘odd’ to the point of distraction to others. My thought is that above all is Charity, and love of each other for the sake of love for Him.

Leave him to the Lord, pray for Him and move on. It may well be that folks like this person, as they come into all our lives, are merciful gifts of the Most High God, to increase our Charity and Love of one another, as well as our tolerance - and to allow us a little Purgatory here on earth, lessening the time spent there after our death.

Above all, this person is a beloved child of God, no matter how he acts. God loves him infinitely and will instruct him, however and whenever He sees fit - or not… it’s a great blessing to us all, I think, that these kinds of things are in our lives…to teach us humility, love and tolerance, and to focus on our beloved Father, not on each other.

that’s all I can think of…

God bless…

Thanks for your comments.

This man is clearly not “completely engrossed and taken up in his prayer” – he’s putting on a show but I still have no idea how anyone could do that at Mass or why they would do it – particularly when they seem fairly well adjusted otherwise.

I agree with you though it probably is best to “leave him to the Lord” although he has impacted many peoples’ “Mass experiences” over quite a few years. His presence could well be our own crosses in a sense here locally.

 

[rayne89]

As someone who grew up with an odd mother who did and still does peculiar (often embarrassing ) and sometimes attention drawing things I really doubt you can change him in anyway. Maybe this is a cross, a lesson in learning patience and forgiveness.

My mom sometimes says the words of the consecration out loud along with the priest even though I have told her clearly several times she’s not supposed to that. Sometimes she stands when she should kneel and kneels when she should stand. At Christmas when “Joy to the World” is sung at Mass instead of singing the verse “Joy to the world the Lord is come!” she sings "Joy to the world (inserts my daughter’s name) is here. It used to be “is born” when she was a baby. She sings this loudly so everyone can hear. Yes my daughter and I both are mortified when this happens but you just can’t stop my mom. Growing up we would always arrive late for Mass and my mother would march us up the center aisle and squeeze us into one of the already full front pews.

These days when my mom behaves in embarrassing and/or attention drawing ways I try to take it as a lesson from God in humility. She does attention getting things outside Mass as well. You say this man has been this way for 20 years. Barring divine intervention I very seriously doubt he will change. He is who he is. If your priest does not see fit to intervene than use this as an opportunity to grow in holiness.

 

[Charioteer]

As someone who grew up with an odd mother who did and still does peculiar (often embarrassing ) and sometimes attention drawing things I really doubt you can change him in anyway. Maybe this is a cross, a lesson in learning patience and forgiveness.

My mom sometimes says the words of the consecration out loud along with the priest even though I have told her clearly several times she’s not supposed to that. Sometimes she stands when she should kneel and kneels when she should stand. At Christmas when “Joy to the World” is sung at Mass instead of singing the verse “Joy to the world the Lord is come!” she sings "Joy to the world (inserts my daughter’s name) is here. It used to be “is born” when she was a baby. She sings this loudly so everyone can hear. Yes my daughter and I both are mortified when this happens but you just can’t stop my mom. Growing up we would always arrive late for Mass and my mother would march us up the center aisle and squeeze us into one of the already full front pews.

These days when my mom behaves in embarrassing and/or attention drawing ways I try to take it as a lesson from God in humility. She does attention getting things outside Mass as well. You say this man has been this way for 20 years. Barring divine intervention I very seriously doubt he will change. He is who he is. If your priest does not see fit to intervene than use this as an opportunity to grow in holiness.

Thank you for your kind letter. It’s nice to know we are not alone here locally. It’s also sobering to realize these problems will “resolve” themselves soon enough.

I must ask – did you ever come to understand why your mom did these things? Thanks again.

 

[rayne89]

Thank you for your kind letter. It’s nice to know we are not alone here locally. It’s also sobering to realize these problems will “resolve” themselves soon enough.

I must ask – did you ever come to understand why your mom did these things? Thanks again.

Not really. Despite her showy behavior I believe she does love God to the best of her ability. My mom lives in an alternate universe where everyone agrees with her (according to her) except “there’s always that 10% that think differently” a favorite phrase of hers. She actually was annoyed one year because we had inclement weather one year for Ash Wednesday that they didn’t move it to Thursday so that people who wanted ashes (meaning her) and couldn’t make it to church could get some. She’s run into church after Masses are over to collect up a palm for palm Sunday when she’s forgotten it’s palm Sunday and missed Mass. She doesn’t see how backward it is to want a plant leaf more than actually attending Mass. No she doesn’t go every Sunday.

Her sister is even more showy than she is so I think its some neurotic thing from her family. Her mom came from a wealthy family but lost all her money when her mom’s parents died. My mom does honestly pray, she has a huge devotion to St. Anthony, I think she does the best within her capabilities. She has a real problem following rules though.

I often say the rules don’t apply to my mom, she goes behind the roped off areas, she takes pictures where signs are posted that say no photography allowed (and nearly got her camera taken away once), she encouraged me to take a piece of candy from the bins at the grocery store as a kid without paying…her mental process is just odd. She has a hard time being there for me emotionally, she’s very dismissive when it comes to my feelings. She’s not unintelligent, she’s just a strange woman. She’s also the life of the party, is great with small children, is a snappy dresser, and would walk through a snow storm to get to me if I needed help physically or I was sick. The older I get the more I realize there’s all kinds of odd people in this world. For whatever reason God puts them in our lives. I’m not perfect person by any stretch and I’m quite sure my mom thinks I’m strange.

 

[alacoque]

For whatever reason God puts them in our lives. I’m not perfect person by any stretch and I’m quite sure my mom thinks I’m strange.

The more I read this thread, the more I come to believe there are so many more of these kinds of people in the world than any of us ever thought of. I have a family member who is odd and incomprehensible in these ways, too, and will never know ‘why’ she is the way she is.

For me, it is comforting (and, I hope, spiritually beneficial) to treat them as much as possible with love, to sincerely pray for them, and to consider any difficulty they pose for me to be only a head start on my Purgatory. I also know (tho I’m not very good at seeing it yet) the face of Jesus is disguised within their oddness and that His words: “whatever you do to the least of these, you do to Me” holds here.

May we all be given the grace to rise to sanctity through our odd brothers and sisters!