Sharing our love for God by participating in Mass

The time of Lent has arrived. It is a beautiful time of year. Not only does it occur in the spring, a season full of life and renewal, but it is also a time to examine our personal relationship with Christ and the relationships our children have with God.

Many times they ask me: “What can I do so that my son appreciates the Mass?” The simplest answer is for your family to include God in your life every day and through this bring up symbolism and tradition within the Mass. The Mass was not written for young children, and it is okay for them to lack concentration to hear the word of God. For this reason, he used to create a “Church Bag”, which included religious books, a large rosary, and small sensory items that could be transferred from one hand to the next (deck of prayer cards or figurines). This bag was only brought in for the Church, so there was enthusiasm among the children for the Mass. I knew what was really important was that they learn to be with us as a family, standing and sitting, delivering a stewardship envelope in the basket and receiving a special blessing as we received the Body and Blood of Christ.

Children are so smart. They start to learn the routine on their own and ask wonderful questions. I loved asking them back my questions: “Why do you think that?” and always received a wonderful response. With our help, our children learned to respect the Mass and look forward to your attendance.

However, it saddens me in church when I see children over 6 years old playing with non-religious toys during mass. In fact, a couple of months ago, I saw a high school age boy drawing on a spiral notebook. Something is terribly wrong with that picture: why at that age have they not discovered the beautiful sacrifice that Jesus made for us? Why hasn’t the expectation been set that he will hear, feel, and respond to God’s love? I am sure the father was satisfied with the fact that the child was at mass rather than elsewhere, as many children have the option to attend these days. But we are not sending an accurate message when they are allowed to opt out.

Many times we give our children too many options, and that is too much freedom and opportunity to negatively impact their lives. We want them to respect their bodies, but we do not enforce the rules about clothing, especially about how to dress for Mass. We ask you to follow our rules at home, but in God’s house we let you do whatever you want.

You cannot go out into the world, especially the society we live in, without the armor of God. If we teach our children to exclude it from their lives, we will set them up for failure. It is God who can teach us to love one another, to respect our body and ourselves, and to realize that everything that surrounds us happens because it is in His hands; He has the key. We need to trust Him with all our hearts by following His commandments and learning about the mysteries that surround us at Mass. Mass is the only place we can go to be present at the Last Supper, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. If you feel that as a parent you don’t have the knowledge to teach these things to your children, learn with them. The humility in that gesture will show your children that learning happens throughout life. I am still learning, and many times it is one of my children (or husband) who teaches me something new. This is very exciting, because I realize that my children invested their time and love in Him.

I once heard: “What we are is a gift from God to us. What we become is our gift to God (Eleanor Powell).” Let us share our love for God by attending and respecting his wishes for all of us, including the Mass.