Mental Prayer for February 13, How to Attend Mass

Mental Prayer Meditation Helps

Presence of God

Grace I Ask: Holy Spirit, enlighten my mind to show me how I can better attend and participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

The Idea: The Mass is a real-life drama in which I have my part. I must fit myself into the drama where I belong. What would a stage play be if the actors decided to play their favorite parts from other plays not related to the one they are sup­posed to be in? If I am a part of the drama of the Mass, then the best way to play my part is not by going off on my own. First I must realize what is happening and then put myself into it.

My Personal Application: Do I sit and watch, the way I sit and watch a TV program? I'm supposed to be one of the actors! To make the Mass a living prayer, I must take my part, uniting myself with Christ - with the priest on the altar. This way I praise God when the priest is praising God. I put my meaning into the gifts when the priest offers the bread and wine to God. I believe and wonder when the priest, by God's power, turns the gifts into Christ. I receive the return gift when the priest receives the return gift. This is the best way and can be done by using a missal. I can take meditate on the prayers of the missal. Or I can meditate on the meaning of the Mass, repeating mental prayers from this last week, or meditate on Christ's Passion. Am I convinced that I must put myself into the Mass and play my part?

I Speak to Christ: Dear Christ, give me the grace always to be alert and active during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Teach me how to unite myself with you at Mass, to follow the action of the Mass, to draw benefit from my part in union with the whole Church in the Mass.

Thought for Today: Through Him and with Him and in Him.
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Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)