The Mass is a celebration of the Eucharist, which is the remembrance of Christ's life, death and resurrection. Basically, it is a liturgy or prescribed ritual for religious services. The Mass provides a frame, format, flow for worshiping God and entering into sacred time and space.

I was not raised Catholic, but Lutheran, and am now a quasi-Methodist pagan. I have had a variety of religious experiences beyond these, including Southern Baptist, Pentecostal, Jewish and Wiccan. And while I have a master's of divinity degree, I'm not an expert on these things. Rather, I have a broad frame of reference for religious experience and expression, and it is from this frame of reference that I approach this travel journal of the sacred and the profane. By using the Catholic Mass as my outline (with some artistic license), I have created a series of linked journal entries based on the journey I and my partner, Marsha, took in March 2009 to the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.

And so, the traditional Mass in the Catholic tradition begins with these words,

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.¹