How to Deepen Your Devotion During Mass
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The Mass is a spiritual treasury with many riches waiting to be discovered.
At the heart of the Mass is the encounter with the infinite God, whose beauty and love can never be exhausted. Therefore, all of us are called to do more to participate more deeply in the reality of the Mass.
Here are seven ways to deepen your devotion during Mass.
1. Show up early and sit with the silence.
Many Catholics will show up early to Mass and pray quietly beforehand. But be sure to just sit in silence as well. For there are few places more peaceful than a church sanctuary before a Mass. Let yourself be enveloped in the silence as a way to prepare for hearing and receiving the word of God.
2. Discern what the Church is saying.
The readings are arranged to tell us something. How do the readings in the Old Testament and epistles prepare us for the gospel? How does the gospel cast new light on them? How do the readings fit into the context of those on previous Sundays?
3. Meditate on the gospel.
The gospel holds a place of preeminence in the readings for Mass. From the incense that wafts over the gospel book to the tiny crosses that we make over our foreheads, lips, and hearts, something is different about the gospel. So cultivate the kind of deeper hearing that is needed to receive its message.
A ‘gospel’ originally meant good news. What kind of news does the gospel have for you today? How does it reveal Jesus anew to you? If it helps, consider praying through the gospel as the priest reads it.
4. Remember the whole Passion is present in the Eucharist.
Faithful Catholics know that the Eucharist makes Christ’s one-time sacrifice present to us. But there is more.
The catechism describes the Eucharist as the “memorial” not only of Christ’s life and death but also of His resurrection and His “intercession in the presence of the Father.” What an incredible food for thought—that in the Eucharist expresses the reality of the whole story of the Passion, from agony in the garden to the empty tomb. And, beyond this, Jesus’ constant intercession is also made available to us.
5. Enter into the reality of the Eucharist.
While we may consume the physical wafer and drink the wine, the spiritual reality is, in some ways, the reverse: we are being incorporated into the mystical Body of Christ, as St. Paul taught us.
In 1 Corinthians 10:16 he writes, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” So, in receiving the Eucharist, we enter into its reality as much as it enters into us.
6. Ask Mary to show you how to receive.
Two big things happen at Mass that are deeply and mystically interrelated. In the first part, we hear the words of God. In the second, we receive the Word of God Incarnate as present in the Eucharist. One should lead to the other.
In this, Mary is our indispensable guide. For she is the only person in history who received the word of God so deeply that it took flesh within her. As Pope Benedict XVI has written:
“Mary welcomes the Holy Spirit into herself. Having become pure hearing, she receives the Word so totally that it becomes flesh in her.” (From Mary: The Church at the Source)
7. Nurture interior prayer.
Do not just actively say the prescribed responses during the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Develop the habit of interior prayer during the whole liturgy. This could consist in offering your prayers and your heart to God, as one author suggests. One could also silently say exclamations.
For example, during the elevation of the host, it is traditional to say, "My Lord and my God." Likewise at the elevation of the cup, one might say, "Be mindful, O Lord, of Thy creature Whom Thou hast redeemed by Thy Most Precious Blood."
Or consider alternatives like, "Lord, I hunger for You," and, "Lord, I thirst for You," as one commenter suggested on a discussion thread about this topic.
It might be too overwhelming to implement all of these ideas at once, but try adding one or two of these suggestions the next time you go to Mass. And as the weeks go by and your devotion grows, it will be easier to add more or to enter more deeply in the ones you have tried.
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