![Jane’s Lunchtime Prayer]()
by Catherine | Apr 18, 2013 | Faith, Family
We took a little hiatus from daily Mass Wednesday and today because the kids have been overtired from a busy schedule. This morning, little Walt walked to me with arms outstretched, tears rolling down his cheeks, and asked, “Binkie? Night, night?” at 8:15! My kids definitely belong to me–they love their sleep! We plan to resume daily Mass on Monday. In the meantime, I look forward to seeing if I can tell a difference in their behavior at Mass this weekend with Philip.
About the time we started attending daily Mass, Jane started asking to pray for various people or things before saying the meal prayer. As I started to lead the meal prayer at lunch yesterday, she interrupted me.
“Mama? Can we pray for Jesus?”
“Of course,” I said. “What would you like to say?”
She thought for a few seconds. “OK. Dear Jesus, thank you for heaven.”
“Oh, Janie, that is a beautiful prayer! Is there anything else you’d like to say?”
She closed her eyes to think about it. Her eyes popped open. “Yes! Thank you for dying on the cross to save us. I am sorry you got all of those ouchies. I will kiss them to make them feel better. I will get you a band-aid. Amen!”
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| Jane and “The Child Jesus” statue in our parish courtyard |
No wonder Jesus insisted that his disciples let the children come to him. They love so purely and passionately, without seeking repayment or having an underlying agenda. They just love. Their prayers must be among his favorites.
![Daily Mass Day 2 & True Love]()
by Catherine | Apr 10, 2013 | Faith, Family
I took the kids to 8:15 Mass for the second day in a row this morning. The church was jam-packed, standing-room only, so I ended up sitting with the kids in some chairs in the narthex. I told them that they had to stay on the rug or in their chairs. We had a few blunders (for example, Walt tried running to the altar after we returned from Communion), but for the most part, it was a pretty grace-filled morning of prayer with the kiddos.
We brought a few board books, and each kid got to bring one stuffed animal. Everything else stayed at home. They didn’t miss the extra bells and whistles one bit, and their behavior was actually better today.
I know you’re not supposed to be whipping your phone out at Mass, but I couldn’t resist capturing the sweet little ones “reading” so quietly–at least for that moment. We’ll ignore that Janie’s hymnal is upside down…
Here’s to hoping that Day 3 of daily Mass tomorrow goes just as well!
After Mass, we made our weekly grocery trip run. Each time we go to the grocery store, I bring two Oreo cookies (Double-Stuffed, of course) in a baggie. I tell the kids that they may each have one in the check-out if they are good listeners and do a good job of waiting. Here are the kids post-Oreo a few weeks ago. Walt’s crazy hair and the crumbs all over his face are killing me!
The kids did a great job at the store today, so I distributed the cookies as the cashier rang up our groceries. Like always, Walt snarfed his down in seconds, and Jane took her sweet time. When Walt realized that his cookie was gone, he started crying. Without skipping a beat, Jane split her cookie in two, handed half to Walt, and said, “Here ya go, Walt. I share with you.” The cashier and I looked at each other in amazement. She said, “Wow, I don’t think I could share my Oreo with someone else! Now that is true love!” Yup. It sure is.
![Daily Mass Day 2 & True Love]()
by Catherine | Apr 10, 2013 | Faith, Family
I took the kids to 8:15 Mass for the second day in a row this morning. The church was jam-packed, standing-room only, so I ended up sitting with the kids in some chairs in the narthex. I told them that they had to stay on the rug or in their chairs. We had a few blunders (for example, Walt tried running to the altar after we returned from Communion), but for the most part, it was a pretty grace-filled morning of prayer with the kiddos.
We brought a few board books, and each kid got to bring one stuffed animal. Everything else stayed at home. They didn’t miss the extra bells and whistles one bit, and their behavior was actually better today.
I know you’re not supposed to be whipping your phone out at Mass, but I couldn’t resist capturing the sweet little ones “reading” so quietly–at least for that moment. We’ll ignore that Janie’s hymnal is upside down…
Here’s to hoping that Day 3 of daily Mass tomorrow goes just as well!
After Mass, we made our weekly grocery trip run. Each time we go to the grocery store, I bring two Oreo cookies (Double-Stuffed, of course) in a baggie. I tell the kids that they may each have one in the check-out if they are good listeners and do a good job of waiting. Here are the kids post-Oreo a few weeks ago. Walt’s crazy hair and the crumbs all over his face are killing me!
The kids did a great job at the store today, so I distributed the cookies as the cashier rang up our groceries. Like always, Walt snarfed his down in seconds, and Jane took her sweet time. When Walt realized that his cookie was gone, he started crying. Without skipping a beat, Jane split her cookie in two, handed half to Walt, and said, “Here ya go, Walt. I share with you.” The cashier and I looked at each other in amazement. She said, “Wow, I don’t think I could share my Oreo with someone else! Now that is true love!” Yup. It sure is.
![We Did It! The Kids and I Made It Through Daily Mass Without Philip!]()
by Catherine | Apr 9, 2013 | Faith, Family
Yesterday, I asked for your prayers because I resolved to take the kids to daily Mass all by myself. This rainy morning, I took two toddlers and my burgeoning belly to 8:15 Mass, and we all lived to tell about it. Yay!
And you know what? It was great!
Like most things with parenting, anticipating the outing was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay worse than anything resembling the actual experience. I have a tendency to kinda sorta maybe obsess over upcoming events, play out all of the worst case scenarios in my head, and try to troubleshoot how to avoid disaster ahead of time.
I’d be lying if I said that the whole experience was perfect and that the kids were amazing little angels. As my awesome pediatrician would say, they were “developmentally appropriate” at Mass.
It turns out our parish has 8:15 Mass in the “Our Lady Chapel” and not the main Church most weekday mornings unless there is a big crowd. So, the kids had the excitement of a fairly unfamiliar space for Mass and the intimacy of probably 40 sweet faces huddled together in a smaller space. We spotted some of my mom friends and their youngest kiddos there, too. Knowing that they come on a regular basis and seeing them in action gave me courage to persevere.
On our way into the chapel, the kids were a little antsy, so we made a pit stop to grab each one a plastic Rosary to hold during Mass. This was a great idea until Walt tried flinging his around like numchucks and nearly swatted a parish employee on the back of the head. Oh, and Jane may or may not have dropped hers on several occasions, and I may or may not have felt myself unknowingly step on the beads and (gasp!) the Crucifix. Sorry, Jesus! Note to self: Perhaps the Rosaries are better saved for family prayer time around the dinner table.
By and large, from what I could tell, the 8:15 daily Mass crowd was made up mostly of elderly men and women, homeschooling families, and a few of us mamas with kiddos preschool age and younger. So, for the most part, Mass was a lot quieter than our typical Sunday morning crowd. Also, there was no music. So, when curious 23-month-old Walt with his 98% noggin took in his surroundings and asked every other second, “Whaz DAT?!” while pointing his pudgy fingers around, I’m sure he was pretty distracting.
Jane was feeling cuddly today and wanted to sit on my lap. Walt, on the other hand, was feeling adventurous and wanted to do laps around the chapel. Remember how I wrote yesterday about being afraid that Walt might make a beeline for the altar during the consecration? Well, that didn’t happen, but Walt did do something else.
When it came time for the “Our Father,” I think I was trying to pick up one of the rosaries, tell Janie I couldn’t hold her, and return a missalette to the chair back in front of us. Walt knew this was his chance to make a run for it. Before I could grab him, he was laughing and making a beeline for our parish priest (who happens to be named Fr. Walter). Walt ran the full 8 feet from our row to the front of the chapel alongside Fr. Walter before I could grab him. God bless all of the Mass goers who smiled at us as we made our way back to our seat.
The rest of Mass had no major hiccups. Walt tried to shake the hands of everyone (at least twice) within reach during the Sign of Peace. Receiving Communion on the tongue with Walt on my hip and holding Jane’s hand went smoothly. Just when I thought the kids were reaching their breaking point and I was turning into a hot mess from the humidity, hormones, and constant wrangling with Walt, I heard the words, “The Mass has ended,” from Fr. Walter. I thought, “Wow! We did it! We did it! We came to daily Mass by ourselves, and no huge disasters happened. Hooray!”
I spoke with my sweet mom friends afterward in the narthex. They were so supportive and encouraging. One even said that she didn’t know that we were there until she saw me retrieve Walt behind the altar. So, uh, that’s something, right?!
Since today went pretty well and I loved everything about how the day started, I’m planning on going again tomorrow. It turns out that tomorrow is the kindergarten through fourth grade Mass, so we’ll be in the main Church along with a bunch of the grade school kiddos. I’ll be anxious to see how that goes compared with Mass in the smaller chapel.
A few notes for tomorrow:
- Read the daily readings before you leave the house like you did this morning. Otherwise, you might not have heard all of them!
- No more rosaries at Mass for the kids.
- No more small figurines. (Today, Jane had a Disney princess, and Walt had a Thomas the Train.) Only one stuffed animal for Walt and two or three faith-related board books.
- Dress in layers so that you can remove them as you turn into a hot mess.
Thank you so much for all of your encouragement and prayers! I’ll admit that I was still a tad nervous this morning, but I ended up being more excited than nervous as we got ready for the day. I loved getting our day going and starting the day with the kids (and our friends!) at Mass.
Going to Mass set the tone for the rest of our day, and I know it made a difference. It feels like God was able to multiply my time and help me to accomplish more, I was more patient with the kids, I felt myself being more positive than usual, the kids played together great, and they didn’t request television like they usually do because they were content playing by themselves.
This mama can get used to that kind of a day! Now, I know Mass won’t always go great, and our days won’t always run smoothly, but you sure can’t beat starting your day in prayer, receiving Christ at Mass, and praying with your children. I like this daily Mass stuff. I hope it sticks.
![Prayer Request: Daily Mass With the Kids]()
by Catherine | Apr 8, 2013 | Faith, Family
After hemming and hawing over wanting to take the kids to daily Mass but being too afraid to try it solo, I’ve finally decided that we’re actually going to do it. Tomorrow. 8:15. Get ready, daily Mass goers! My crew is invading tomorrow!
I’m equally excited and nervous about this adventure. Well…maybe…actually…definitely, I’m more nervous than anything.
I’m excited because:
- What’s not to love about starting your day receiving the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ in the celebration of Mass?
- I have visions of the kids sitting like perfect angels at Sunday Mass because of the added “practice” at daily Mass. (I hear you chuckling, Reader.)
I’m nervous because:
- I’m 21 weeks pregnant and going to Mass solo with a 3- and 2-year-old.
- There are fewer people at daily Mass, and any noises the kiddos make will be amplified.
- What do I do when I go to receive Communion? Should I sit in the front pew and leave them? Do I leave Jane and bring Walt? Balance Walt on my hip, hold Jane by the hand, and pray that Walt doesn’t try to swipe the Eucharist as I wait for the priest to place it on my tongue? Maybe I’ll disqualify myself from Communion with thoughts about my misbehaving kids so it will be a non-issue.
- Did I mention I’m going solo and Philip won’t be there?
Nonetheless, we’re going. I’m writing about it on my blog so that we’ll actually follow through and do it. We’re going, and I’m going to pray that it’s not a complete disaster. Can you please pray for us? Can you pray that my kids’ guardian angels prevent them from recreating a scene from “The Exorcist” at daily Mass? Can you pray that the others in attendance take pity on me if someone (probably me) has a breakdown? Can you pray that they think something like, “Oh, that poor dear. At least she’s trying,” and not something like, “I pray that they’ll never return!” Can you pray that we’re seated next a sweet old grandma that thinks my kids’ “participation” at Mass is a sign that the Church is alive and well?
Maybe…just maybe I should ask you pray that I stop worrying about what the other Mass goers are thinking, realize that they probably aren’t paying attention to us (unless, of course, Walt makes a beeline for the altar during the consecration), and that I just focus on what’s actually happening at Mass. Yup, that’s what I’m going to ask you to pray for. Pray that we actually show up and that my kids get to experience daily Mass. Mostly pray for that.
Thank you! I’ll report back tomorrow. I better go and start praying.
