Oh, how blessed I am to be able to attend daily Mass once a week! I like to make a habit of going to the school Mass, because my son likes the jazzy music. (He used to dance in the aisles when he was 18-24 mos. and became sort of a legend.) I can think of nothing better to do with my time than offer the prayers of the church, receive Jesus into my body and teach my children proper commitment and reverence for the Eucharist.
Last week I told you what I believe about TRUE Real Food, and I also gave you 3 tips for sick kids. Today you get a combo deal: 3 tips for receiving the Ultimate Traditional Real Food well.
- Unite your prayers with those of the Church. When the gifts are brought to the altar, flex your imagination muscle and place yourself, your humble failings, and your intentions for the Mass there also. I literally imagine a smaller version of my brother, for example, being placed on the altar. I ask the Lord to bless and consecrate him and the others I’m praying for as the priest consecrates the bread and wine.When the priest lifts up the bread and the cup as an offering to God, I visualize my intentions being lifted up right along with them. There is no better time to pray than when celebrating Eucharist and in the presence of the Body of Christ. I tend to focus on souls and salvation at this time, and I rely on mental imagery to keep me focused on something that looks and sounds the same every week, but is radically new each time in its significance.
- Acknowledge Jesus as King. When the priest lifts up the consecrated host immediately after praying, “This is my Body…do this in memory of Me,” we are to gaze upon the Body of our Lord with all the reverence we can muster. I work to conquer my easily distracted nature more at this moment than any other in the entire week. I focus on the gazing, the reverence, and I say in my head: “My Lord and my God!” It’s a prayer of recognition of what I’ve just witnessed…bread becoming Jesus.When my children are near, I also discreetly whisper, “There’s Jesus!” to them. My father always used to straighten us up and say, “This is the most important part of the Mass.” It’s important to draw children’s attention to that fact starting early.
- Prepare your soul to receive Jesus. It is no small responsibility to be the bearer of Christ in this world. The word “Christian”, literally translated, means “Christ-bearer.” When we receive Jesus in the Eucharist, we literally become His hands, His feet, His mouth for our world. Are you ready for the weight of that task?Most days, I am keenly aware of how weak, how broken, how unworthy I am. None of us are worthy of the gift of Jesus’s Body and Blood, but God grants us the grace to receive Him. It is on our shoulders, however, to prepare the best we can.Just as I tell my kids to “go potty and wash your hands” before eating a meal with our family, it should be our habit to “wash clean” our souls before consuming our Lord. Ideally, we would participate in the Sacrament of Reconciliation immediately before every Mass. Not many of us have that opportunity.A good substitute is when we bless ourselves with holy water upon entering the Church. We are not only reminded of our Baptismal promises, but we are cleansed of venial sin and prepared for Mass.I guarantee you I sin in between walking in the doors and receiving Jesus. My dad taught me a great habit that I keep to this day: after praying, “Lord, I am not worthy to receive You, but only say the Word and I shall be healed,” with the community right before communion, I use the empty space as I wait for my turn to pray an Act of Contrition. I bring my failings before the Lord, ask for His mercy, and promise to sin no more. When I receive Him moments later, I have prepared a holy place for Him to dwell.
How do you enter into the Mystery of the Eucharist at Mass?
My friend Jenny at Heart of a Mother has an incredible reflection on our attitudes for Mass on Sundays.
START HERE for the first article in this series, the Ultimate Traditional Real Food.
Next in the series:
- The Ultimate Thanksgiving Feast
- How I Serve the Ultimate Traditional Real Food
- The Ultimate Christmas Food Gift
- Little Way, Little House, Little Children
- What Importance did Jesus Place on the Eucharist?
- Why do we Eat His Body and Drink His Blood
Some Upcoming Events:
- In Real Life: I am speaking at our church’s Advent by Candlelight on Sunday, Nov. 29th. Please pray for me! In the GR area and want to come? Email me for details.
- Advent Daily Dose: I’ll be posting a brief nugget of prayer, something to meditate on, or encouragement every weekday during (I promise, brief!) Advent. If you always lose track of your Advent devotional book, I’ll help you keep it in one place.
- By the way, you can find the daily Mass readings in my sidebar every day.
Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to balancing God’s gifts of time, health, earth and money. If you feel called to such a mission, read more at Mission, Method, and Mary and Martha Moments.
Don’t miss Advent daily dose! Sign up for an email subscription or grab my reader feed.
Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to balancing God’s gifts of time, health, earth and money. If you feel called to such a mission, read more at Mission, Method, and Mary and Martha Moments.
Katie, we are Presbyterians, so communion looks a little different for us.
) But coming into the Presbyterian church from a different denomination has made communion much more meaningful to me. Growing up, we only took communion quarterly. I think the intent was to keep it from becoming meaningless ritual and being taken for granted. But now that we take it every week, it affects me so much more. I have a better understanding of it now, and I have come to have a real need for that weekly communal confession of our sins and partaking of the body and blood of Christ–as a church. It is such a beautiful thing, and I am so glad the Lord left us with this!
.-= April´s last blog ..A little rant, and some sad news =-.
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Katie Reply:
November 18th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
April,
It is so good (God is so good!) that different denominations can connect even on teachings on which they differ. What a beautiful story. Thank you! Kaite
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Looking forward to the next installments!! When I coordinated a mission in Mexico, I learned that the Spanish translation is a bit different – Lord, I am not worthy that you come into my house, but only say the word . . . ” Goose and I watched one of the Animated Stories of the New Testament on EWTN that really brought that to life. I’d read quite a while ago that the Church in the US was supposed to be shifting some of those phrases to be more in line with the actual translations, but haven’t seen anything since.
.-= Lenetta @ Nettacow´s last blog ..Organizing Pot Lids =-.
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Katie Reply:
November 18th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
Lenetta,
Katie
How very, very cool. Thanks for the links lately, too!
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OOooh, this is a Real Food that I get very excited about because my day is just not the same with out it, and it costs nothing!
I usually pray the Prayer of St. Ambrose (http://www.2heartsnetwork.org/Ambrose.htm )
before the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and, like you, at the Consecration say interiorly “My Lord and My God!” (for which there is a partial indulgence, btw.) And if I’m not wrestling with a little one after Holy Communion, I pray the prayer of St. Bonaventure (http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/prayers/Bonaventure.htm). Sometimes, however, no words are necessary or adequate.
Lenetta, you are right- the Latin translated to English here means “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof. . .” (Domine non sum dignus ut intres sub tectum meum. . . .) I look forward to the new translation, though it will take a while.
Thanks again, Katie, for including the most important topic of all!
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Katie Reply:
November 18th, 2009 at 10:40 pm
Lindsay,
Love it. 
Katie
I just LOVE hearing from people who know more than me! Thank you so much for enhancing this post with those prayer links and, of course, the Latin. What’s a Catholic blog without a little Latin?!
PS – for direction!
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LindsayPal Reply:
November 19th, 2009 at 9:35 am
Thanks, Katie, though I’m not sure I know more, just different things. I just reread the part about cleaning our souls and remembered that the last part of this is translated in some missals as “but only say the word, and my soul shall be made clean” (sed tantum dic verbo, et sanabitur anima mea).
Prayer for direction, it is!
Pax Domini,
LP
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Thank you so much for your post! It opened my eyes more to this wonderful mystery that is the Church and how I can bring my intentions to the Lord during Mass.
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Katie Reply:
November 19th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Jen,
Katie
What a beautiful reply! Good to have you here…
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Amazing post Katie! I also have heard new translations for different parts of the Mass are coming soon. We had a snippet in our bulletin a few weeks back. It’s going to take FOREVER for the people to get on board with this, as people still struggle on when to stand “may the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands….”
I find myself really riveted at the moment of Consecration. I too say “My Lord and my God” when the Host is raised and “Jesus, have mercy on us” when the Precious Blood is raised. I also pray “May our Lord Jesus Christ grant our souls eternal life. Amen” after Communion. I just find after Communion so busy, with all the singing and shuffling and cute babies passing by. It’s difficult to stay focused, the most important time of the Mass and the week.
.-= Paula´s last blog .. =-.
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Hi there, just found your website and love it! You are so right about drawing our kids attention when “this is the most important part of Mass”. Your comment prompted me to ask if you have any tips for managing littlies at Mass?
My DH is not Catholic so I go to Mass alone with the kids. I can not manage the two on my own (4 & 1/2 y/o and 18months) they are both soooo active! So I usually only take my oldest, but feel so guilty about not taking the younger. I had thought about taking him to a weekday Mass instead, but know I should be taking him on Sunday. Any thoughts?
Cheers!
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Katie Reply:
November 24th, 2009 at 1:49 am
Karen,
Thank you for the great question. I am blessed in that my oldest is an angel – truly – at Mass. I’m not sure if I did anything to promote that or not. Here are my best tips:
1. Get them into the music – we go to the kids’ school Mass specifically for that reason. He used to dance in the aisles!
2. Let them participate whenever possible – the sign of peace is a big one, genuflecting towards “Jesus’s Little House” (i.e. the Tabernacle), waving to Jesus on the Cross, holding hands during the Our Father if your church does that, anything you can think of.
3. Bring soft books that don’t make noise, crayons, etc.
4. Get a little kids’ missal (Magnificat has one, or check your Catholic bookstore) for the older one and help him/her follow along with the Mass.
5. My FAVorite Mass bag item is a book of puzzles we have that are all saints or feast days. That book lasted through the “take the pieces out and put them everywhere” phase to the “I can put it back together by myself” phase.
6. Remember to let them have a little room to roam (in the pew) but not too much. The toddler can make a bit of a mess and still not detract from your Mass experience or others around you.
7. Tell Daddy about Mass when you get home (w/their help) just like you’d tell him about a trip to the park. Not to convert him, but to teach your little ones about telling the story of their day and the importance of what they did.
I wonder what other people have to say? This might be a great “asking for information” post someday soon!
blessings,
Katie
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Katie,
I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate a great blog about my 2 favorite topics Catholic stuff and Real food! Thank you so much for all your work. It is wonderful to run across a blog by a young mother who loves her faith and proclaims it on her site.
God Bless you and your Family,
Terry
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Katie Reply:
November 22nd, 2011 at 3:10 am
Terry,
Katie
Awesome, thanks! Welcome aboard!
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Can life get any better than this? My 2 ways of living, Catholic and Real Food! I’m sending a link to your site to all my wonderful Catholic mom friends who are homeschoolers. They are always looking for good, truthful information.
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Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship Reply:
April 15th, 2013 at 2:47 am
Welcome aboard, Colleen! You made my day!
Katie
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