Family Spirituality

Families can get more out of Mass

At Home with our Faith offered a series of 10 short articles on how your family can get more out of the Mass. We walked through the chronology of the Mass, from preparation and gathering through the final blessing and sending forth. Each month for ten issues we suggested ways that you and your family can better appreciate how the Mass can deepen and enrich our life together. What follows are the ten installments.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it

Back when I was teaching high-school religion I described for my post-Vatican II seniors what Sundays were like when I was growing up. We weren’t supposed to do "servile work" like washing the car, cleaning the house, and so on. The students liked that idea. Then I mentioned that all the stores were closed on Sundays. They were aghast. "Like, what else was there to do?" a number of them asked. Interesting question. Is there life beyond the mall? I should hope so.

At the end of Mass, the priest gives us a direct command about what else there is to do: "Go in peace, to love and serve the Lord and one another." This is more than encouragement to "be nice"; it’s a loaded statement. After all, as we watched the bread being broken and the wine poured out, we came to know a little bit about what it means to love and to serve.

In the week to come, we are sent (the Latin missa, from which we get the word Mass, means "sent") to carry Jesus’ unique brand of peace with us and to pour our own selves out in loving and serving others in large and small activities at work, at home, and in the neighborhood. This is a direct command, our mission should we choose to accept it.

How can we best begin that week? Perhaps the best thing is to create and savor a sense of Sabbath. Consider it a rebalancing day. It’s a day for you and your family to detach from ordinary concerns. Rest. Pay attention to relationships (with family, with community, with God). Cultivate an awareness of the fact that everything we have is a gift, to be appreciated and enjoyed.

By reinstituting the concept of the Sabbath, you create "a time apart" that is a haven for you and your family. Here are some elements of a Sabbath observance that might appeal to you:

A meal together, after church or later in the day (where everybody helps prepare the meal and clean up) can be the centerpiece of the day. Start the meal with prayer. Light a candle. Share stories and concerns from your week with one another. Include extended family and "adopted family."

Plan fun, but not frantic, activities as a group.

If you’re tempted to overdependence on an activity or substance, lay off it for the day: shopping, drinking alcohol, work, sports watching or betting, surfing the Internet. Instead practice paying attention to your family members, to the promptings of God in your heart of hearts.

Sharing time in the great outdoors helps many people connect to God and one another.

Rest and breathe deeply. Be open to the possibility that God loves you immeasurably. TJM

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