Distracted at Mass? There’s a Prayer for That!

Let me ask you something. When was the last time you made it through Mass without getting distracted? When was the last time you made it through the first five minutes of Mass without getting distracted? For that matter, when was the last time you made it through the entrance procession without getting distracted? Be honest…
 
The truth is, we all get distracted during Mass. Even priests serving at the altar get distracted from time to time – hard to believe, I know. Today there are a million and one things all competing for our attention, and burdening our minds with all sorts of cares and concerns – frustrations at work, marriage and relationship troubles, illnesses, financial difficulties, the bad “news” that we are constantly bombarded with – you name it, there are a myriad of distractions we carry into Mass with us.
 
The Church has recognized this reality since its beginning, and has built into its liturgies prayers that help us to acknowledge these distractions, face them head on, and then turn them over to the only One Who can do anything about them. The following occasions during the Mass give us this opportunity during each and every Mass.
 
The Prayer
After the presentation and preparation of the gifts, and before we get into the Eucharistic Prayers proper, the Church presents us with the following exchanges:
 
Priest: The Lord be with you.
People: And with your spirit.
 
Priest: Lift up your hearts.
People: We lift them up to the Lord.
 
Priest: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
People: It is right and just.
 
This brief dialogue between the priest and the people is found in nearly all the rites of the Catholic Church, Eastern and Western. It’s so ancient that 4th Century bishop and theologian, St. Cyril of Jerusalem (named “Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII in 1883), commented on it in his famed Catechetical Lectures.
 


The Lord be With You
This part of the Mass is known as the “Preface.” It ends with a short prayer that varies from one Sunday to the next, depending on the feast being celebrated that day.
 
The Preface opens with the priestly greeting, “The Lord be with you.” Every time we hear this prayer it’s a sign that something important is about to take place. We encounter this greeting at five pivotal points in the Mass:
 
1.      Opening of the Mass
2.      Before the Gospel
3.      At the Preface
4.      Before the Sign of Peace
5.      At the Concluding Rites
 
At the first pivotal point, we are being asked to recognize that we are entering into God’s Kingdom in a special way simply by entering into the Mass. At the second pivotal point we recognize that in the words of the Gospels we encounter the Word of God in a unique way through His own words. At the fourth pivotal point – the Sign of Peace – we reconcile ourselves to our brothers and sisters in Christ so that we can worthily receive the Eucharist. And at the Concluding Rites we are challenged by the reality that when the Mass ends, we must carry God’s Kingdom – which we just received in the Eucharist – beyond the church doors and into the world.
 
So what is the reality that we are being called to attend to at the Preface? As will become clear in a moment, we are being called to recognize the coming of Christ in the Eucharist.
 
The “Heart” of the Matter
St. Cyril of Jerusalem explains, “After this the Priest cries aloud, ‘Lift up your hearts.’ … In effect therefore the Priest bids all in that hour to dismiss all cares of this life, or household anxieties, and to have their heart in heaven with the merciful God.” Why is it important that at this moment in particular we “dismiss all cares of this life”? One ancient processional hymn answers this way:
 
“Let us lay aside all earthly cares, that we may welcome the King of all, invisibly escorted by angel hosts.”
 
We are called to lay aside all the cares of life because Jesus is about to be made present – Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity – to us in the Most Holy Sacraments of the Altar.
 
If you were about to have a private meeting with the President of the United States within the next ten minutes, would you be distracted by the financial report that you have to turn in tomorrow morning, the laundry that’s waiting for you at home, or the football game that’s kicking off in a couple hours? Probably not. You’d probably be anxiously checking your watch as the time approached, and watching with great anticipation for the door to open. But at this moment in the Mass, something even greater is happening. You are about to have a one-on-one personal encounter with the King of kings and Lord of lords.
 


Let Us Give Thanks…
We must acknowledge that “it is right and just” for us to give God thanks. He is the Creator of the universe, after all, and without Him we wouldn’t exist. If God forgot about you for just a split second, it’d be as if you never existed at all.
 
But there is something else going on in this last part of the Preface dialogue. Again keep in mind, this is a pivotal moment of the Mass – perhaps the pivotal moment. If you look at the list of pivotal moments above, you’ll recognize that this is the central pivotal moment. And it truly is. Here’s why:
 
The Greek word that we translate here as “thanks” is none other than eucharistia. Does that word look at all familiar to you? It’s the very word from which we get “Eucharist.” So when the priest says, “Let us give thanks to the Lord,” he’s actually saying, “Let us offer the Eucharist to the Lord”!
 
We’re being called to lift up our hearts to the Lord because at this moment we are about to offer the Eucharist. We are present with the hosts of angels and saints as Jesus Himself becomes present to us in the form of bread and wine.
 
Let this great reality sink in the next time you’re at Mass, and I guarantee your distractions will start to melt away, and receiving Holy Communion will never be the same for you again.