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While I was at the Eucharistic Congress in Atlanta, I had the opportunity to interview Jim, the creator and producer of The Catholic Mass - Revealed - This week, the Catholic Company is offering a great price for the entire Catholic Mass Revealed! Collection. This apologetics product contains a DVD, audio CD, Booklet and Soundtrack that will help you learn so much about coming closer to Christ in the Mass. And remember that when you purchase this or any other products through our Catholic Company links, you make a generous donation to CatholicMom.com as well.

Don't be a Dud at Church!!

A while back on P@H, I wrote a little post entitled 10 Ways to Avoid Being a Dud at Home. This post was based on something my buddy Mike St. Pierre wrote on his blog, The Daily Saint. Now Joshua at Tech Tips for Catholic Teens has taken up the theme with his very insightful 10 Ways to Avoid Being a Dud at Church. I loved reading this tonight, as I spent most of today engaged in the pursuit of writing about Mass!

Tech Tips for Catholic Teens » 10 Ways to Avoid Being a Dud At Church

Being a Persistent Prayer

This weekend, I felt a little bit like Abraham in Sunday's first reading. I was preoccupied by the weekend absence of my eldest son, and felt like I was bombarding God with my prayer requests.

Please keep them safe on the bus. Please help him to meet some great kids and find a few new friends. Please let his heart be touched. Please help him to follow all of the rules. Please let him remember to brush his teeth. Please bring him home soon...

You get the point, I was being a pest! I was feeling distracted in Mass when it came time for the readings. I tried to quietly calm my heart to truly hear them. That first reading, where Abraham keeps asking God over and over if he will spare Sodom if there are even a few good people in town, really hit home. Then the gospel reading came along and Jesus ensured me that it was OK to be so persistent in my prayer. With his disciples asking Jesus to teach them to pray, He offered them the perfect formula for prayer. He then gave those wonderful words of hope and encouragement for all of the prayer pests like me:

“And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. "

Isn't it wonderful to have a God who loves us so much! Although His answers to my persistent prayers may not always be as immediate or as directed as I would like, I intend to keep knocking with the full confidence that His love for me is boundless and that even one mom's prayers are heard and known.

Sunday Lectionary Resource

For the past few Sundays, I have been using a wonderful tool to help me make the most of my hearing of the Sunday gospel - a wonderful book entitled Bringing Home the Gospel: A Weekly Journal for Catholic Parents by Judith Dunlap. Dunlap's book is a journal of sorts, helping parents to take the readings of Cycle C and relate lessons learned in the gospels to living out our role as parents. Each week, there is a scriptural citation, a reflection on the gospel passage, a family response passage with a suggested topic of discussion or activity, a personal response section with room to write your own reflections and a prompting question, and a section for recording memories from the past week and hopes for the upcoming week.

Every week, we arrive at Mass early to allow Greg and Eric to tune and warm up with the other musicians. During this quiet time, I have the opportunity to read and reflect on the Gospel passage. Dunlap's book is another great tool for helping me to learn as a wife and mother how Jesus' teachings in the gospel can make a difference in my life as I love and serve my family.

Check out Bringing Home the Gospel: A Weekly Journal for Catholic Parents by Judith Dunlap

Martha, Martha, Martha

I love yesterday's gospel reading. It's always one of my favorites, prompting me to do a mental check on my level of "marthaness" as opposed to the state of my inner "maryness". I'd have to say that I tend more towards the Martha in most situations. Maybe it's being an eldest child and a control freak...who knows?!

At the Mass we attended, the homilist gave a wonderful exegesis on the passage, encouraging each of us to take time to seat at the feet of Jesus each day. Reminding us that yesterday was also the feast day of Mary Magdalene, he called each of us to be true disciples, putting God first in our lives as St. Mary Magdalene had done.

Hospitality is a grace and a treasure. I learned early on from my parents that opening your home to friends is always a treat. Our priest yesterday reminded me that true hospitality takes a little bit of Martha and a little bit of Mary to be successful. In our spiritual lives, hospitality means sharing not only our homes, but also our time, treasures and talents. In relating the celebration of the Mass to the Bethany experience, Father reminded us to be like Mary at Mass: to be on time and to stay for the duration of Mass, to listen with all our hearts, and to choose the "better part" in savoring the Eucharist. Being both Martha and Mary means serving one another, but truly listening to one another as well, while we are serving. As mothers, we have a wonderful opportunity to meld these traits in the loving service of our families.

For some other wonderful takes on Sunday's gospel, I recommend:
Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time homily by Father Hahn
Making Time for Prayer by Patrice

Getting Ready for Sunday

Via Michael Barber's post, I've just discovered the resources offered by Scott Hahn and the St. Paul Center to help prepare for the Sunday Mass readings. The bible study aids are offered in English, Spanish and audio format. Another great tool for truly embracing Sunday's liturgy of the word!

Peace in the Pews

If someone could bottle a remedy for toddlers who act up in church, the could make a fortune. I think it would sell even more than those pills that help you to lose weight while you're sleeping. Just about every weekend, I receive at least one email from a mom who is at wit's end over the behavior of a two or three year old child. I know when my kids were that age I thought they would never learn to behave in Mass.

This week, I read one of the best articles on this topic that I can ever remember seeing. Peace in the Pews by James Hahn over at Real Life Rosary is a must read on this topic. Jim is the dad of four busy boys - if he and his wife can do it, so can you and I! I would say that each family has to look at what works for them - the Hahn rules may not work for every family, but they are a good model of what one family is doing. The main thing I tell moms who write me is...

Don't give up on taking your kid to church!!!

and

I will keep you and your child in my prayers!

I don't know if my prayers will help at all, but I always try to pray for the moms of toddlers I see in church and to offer them praise and encouragement for bringing these little ones to Mass. It can be so incredibly frustrating, but these little ones are the future of our Church.

How Welcoming Is Your Parish

I just finished posting a very thought provoking article by one of our CatholicMom.com columnists, Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur. Patrice's column, All Are Welcome Here, describes her experience with an acquaintance who has stopped attending Mass at her parish.

Reading this column made me question how people who attend my church must be feeling on Sunday. I think we are a pretty friendly bunch, but I've also been there for quite a long time and the pews are now filled with people I consider to be among my closest friends. How often do I look around me for new faces or people who may be in need of support, encouragement or a helping hand? Are there people in my parish who feel excluded, or worse yet, unwelcome? I certainly hope not!

Thanks Patrice, for reminding me to open my eyes and my heart next Sunday when I'm at Mass!

• Read All Are Welcome Here