Now That's What I Call Mass! Volume 1
Growing up catholic going to church multiple times a week was a regular occurrence. Usually it was once midweek with the whole school then Sunday mornings anywhere from 7 a.m. - 11 a.m. depending on which friend's house you stayed at or how hungover the parents were from the Saturday night Notre Dame party the night before.
7 a.m. was for the diehards. Only old ass people and the goodie goodies showed up in there. That is of course unless you had to serve as altar boy / girl then every now and then you got the short end of the stick when you were late to get your schedule in.
9 a.m. typically was for younger families and kids. This was the regular meeting time for when you had a sleepover from 2nd to 5th grade or if your local team had kickoff at 1e/12c time.
11 a.m. became the norm once the kids got into middle school or high school because they had the tendency to want to sleep in a tad more in their hormonal pubescent stage or, once again, the parents realized they could have a Saturday night, get a great night's rest, and still show face for the community at 11 a.m.
I'm saying all this because when that was your life from the time you were born until you went to college, you have to find the upside of attending mass on such a regular basis. Sure, it was the right thing to do and yeah maybe every now and then you felt a connection with God to make you a better person, but when it comes down to it at that age you were forced to be there in order to stay out of being grounded or on the hopes that maybe there would be donuts in the annex afterwards.
No matter what the case, after being to so many there is one undeniable fact that you come to grips with as you continue to get older and you even start to miss if you stop your adolescent regimen of attending the gospel multiple times a week. And that is that there are some absolute flame thrower bangers that play at church.
It's a little shameful to admit when you're in grade school and even the beginning of high school. No matter how much you hum it after school, or even download a version you like best from limewire, you can't be the kid who likes church songs. But eventually you grow out of it and realize, much like Star Wars or Pokemon, that 'hey, you like those, too? Hell yeah.'
So without further ado, here is my "Now That's What I Call Mass! Volume 1":
1. Lord I Lift Your Name On High - The perfect way to kickoff the album and the mass. High energy, maybe even some clapping / hand motions (as long as it's at a school mass). Sets the tone.
4. Shepherd Me Oh God - A nice break in between readings. The time for the piano player / head of the choir to just absolutely rip a solo then raise that hand for you to join. You never did, but it was stuck in your head the rest of the day, but in the moment you always wondered "why do we have to sing a 5 minute song in the middle of this?"
5. Ave Maria - Something different was happening that day if 'Ave Maria' was on the song list. May Crowning, Christmas, a wedding, unfortunately a funeral. Whatever the case, you knew when this song played you should probably shut the hell up and stop dicking around.
6. Blest Are They - This always seemed to be playing when the gifts were being prepared. "We've almost made it".
7. Glory And Praise To Our God
9. One Bread One Body - We're fully into communion now. The eucharistic ministers are coming down from the altar and the masses start to file into the aisles. Let's get this bread and a little wine kicker.
10. On Eagle's Wings - An absolute classic. Nothing more needs to be said.
11. How Can I Keep From Singing? We've made it. It's time to bring it home and finish strong. Maybe the first song I ever downloaded onto my ipod from church. It really can stand on it's own without feeling overly religious. I mean what a question - how can you?
15. How Great Thou Art - The buildup…the power…the emotion. An absolute banger to wrap up your Sunday and get ready to go down 12 beers and probably get into a fight at your kid's CYO game.