Recently I have received some questions about what we should be doing before Mass.
If we are able, it is good to arrive at the church before Mass starts to spend some time in prayer in order to prepare our hearts for what is about to happen for Mass. If we are going to run a marathon or workout, we don’t just show up and start running or start lifting. Before we do these things, it is important to stretch out our muscles so that we are prepared to run. It is the same with attending Mass.
I often hear complaints from people that I am not out greeting people before Mass and that I close the door to the Sacristy. The reason I do, is to pray the prayers for my vestments that the Church recommends while I am vesting. I then take some time to recollect and to pray before I celebrate Mass in order to not put on a show, but to pray and celebrate the Mass with all my heart. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is not a party, but the greatest prayer of the Church! We are offering Christ on the Cross back to the Father!
I began to do this after reading something that St. Charles Borromeo wrote to priests. Although it is directed to priests, I think it is applicable to everyone.
I admit that we are all weak, but if we want help, the Lord God has given us the means to find it easily. One priest may wish to lead a good, holy life, as he knows he should. He may wish to be chaste and to reflect heavenly virtues in the way he lives. Yet he does not resolve to use suitable means, such as penance, prayer, the avoidance of evil discussions and harmful and dangerous friendships. Another priest complains that as soon as he comes into church to celebrate Mass, a thousand thoughts fill his mind and distract him from God. But what was he doing in the sacristy before he came out for the Mass? How did he prepare? What means did he use to collect his thoughts and to remain recollected?
Would you like me to teach you how to grow from virtue to virtue and how, if you are already recollected at prayer, you can be even more attentive next time, and so give God more pleasing worship? Listen, and I will tell you. If a tiny spark of God’s love already burns within you, do not expose it to the wind, for it may get blown out. Keep the stove tightly shut so that it will not lose its heat and grow cold. In other words, avoid distractions as well as you can. Stay quiet with God. Do not spend your time in useless chatter.
If teaching and preaching is your job, then study diligently and apply yourself to whatever is necessary for doing the job well. Be sure that you first preach by the way you live. If you do not, people will notice that you say one thing, but live otherwise, and your words will bring only cynical laughter and a derisive shake of the head.
Are you in charge of a parish? If so, do not neglect the parish of your own soul, do not give yourself to others so completely that you have nothing left for yourself. You have to be mindful of your people without becoming forgetful of yourself.
My brothers, you must realize that for us churchmen nothing is more necessary than meditation. We must meditate before, during and after everything we do. The prophet says: "I will pray, and then I will understand." When you administer the sacraments, meditate on what you are doing. When you celebrate Mass, reflect on the sacrifice you are offering. When you pray the office, think about the words you are saying and the Lord to whom you are speaking. When you take care of your people, meditate on how the Lord’s blood that has washed them clean so that "all that you do becomes a work of love."
This is the way we can easily overcome the countless difficulties we have to face day after day, which, after all, are part of our work: in meditation we find the strength to bring Christ to birth in ourselves and in other men.
I often am told by people that they are distracted at Mass, my question to them is: how well have you prepared for what you are about to take part in? When we enter into the doors of the Church from the narthex, the Church should be a place of silence and prayer, not a place to hangout and catch up with our friends; but rather a place to encounter Christ and to prepare our hearts for the great prayer in which we are about to participate.
-Fr. Andrew