Remote Work: Mass During the Work Day

Welcome back to my series on remote work! Since today is All Saints' Day, I'm reflecting on how daily Mass fits into my remote work schedule. While most people know about Christians celebrating together on Sundays, Catholic churches actually offer Mass every day. My parish, St. Patrick's Basilica, celebrates weekday Masses at 12:10pm. This means that, after a morning of editing, I get a lunch break full of beauty, prayer, and community. These three aspects of the Mass reinvigorate me to return to the writing and academic work that I typically do in the afternoon.

(A picture of the sanctuary at St. Patrick's Basilica in Montreal, taken from a pew near the front of the congregation. A tall, white altarpiece is flanked by stained glass images of the evangelists. The seats along the side of the sanctuary are made of warm, dark wood. A large chandelier depicting angels hangs in the foreground.)

The beauty of attending Mass is twofold. First, of course, the gorgeous church architecture is a wonderful change of scene. Although the work locations that I mentioned in my last blog post are nice, they don't compare to the grand appearance of basilicas. The effort that architects put into reflecting God's beauty is also a reminder of how my own work can do the same. This beauty reminds me to take seriously my relationship with authors, to respect their work as their own, and to put my full effort into even the smallest editorial project. Second, there is beauty in the liturgy, the rituals that set the words and actions of the Mass. Seeing how every detail of these rituals is thought out reminds me of the care that I can put into my work: it's an important task to focus on the details while I'm copy editing or proofreading another person's writing.

Prayer is also an important part of the work day. It's nice to recognize that I need help to complete my tasks and that the help actually is waiting for me. The central prayer of the Mass is the Eucharist, which looks like bread but Catholics believe is literally the Body of Christ. At once a refreshment and a promise of His presence in the ordinary parts of the day, the Eucharist is the perfect meal and an extraordinary thing to receive halfway through my work day.

Finally, the Mass is celebrated together as a community. Enjoying the beauty and prayer with others is part of the experience. This midday reminder of the community around me is also a reminder of the people that I work with: authors that trust me with their work, as well as the readers who will eventually read that work. As I chat with friends after the Mass, they often ask for updates about how my work is going. These discussions help me to see my current projects in a new light.

For me, daily Mass is an important part of the work day; it makes even individual, remote work into a beautiful, prayerful, and community-centred experience.