Becoming an Apostle

- tips for prayer before, during, and after mass

by Br. Leven Harton

In the Mass, the Church offers us the height of prayer – the ability to truly live the Last Supper with Christ each day, to encounter him in the Eucharist. In the Mass we become the apostles: sitting at the feet of Christ, listening to him in the Gospel, breaking bread with him in communion, experiencing his true presence in the Eucharist, and praying with him after receiving this great sacrament. However, these remarkable experiences can fall flat for us. Our engagement with the prayer of the liturgy, it must be admitted, can sometimes falter, and distraction or boredom can dominate our minds. How do we enter into liturgical prayer well?

The Church enjoys two great traditions for encountering God: private, devotional prayer, and public, liturgical prayer. While these two modes of approaching our Father are intertwined and feed off of one another, they do present different experiences. Private prayer allows us freedom to set our own pace, choose our own considerations, tailor the time of prayer to fit our preferences, inclinations, and inspirations. The liturgy, however, is very different: it is given. We don’t select the details of prayer when we go to Mass, we just follow and receive what is set before us. Liturgical prayer, in this regard, is ascetical, it represents an offering we make by training our attention not on what we fancy, but on what is provided. Entering into liturgical prayer, we should prepare ourselves for receiving what comes and exercising our will to stay attuned to the prayer offered by the church. It will certainly be work.

Our readiness to enter into the liturgy can be taken to a new level if we have a daily relationship with Christ outside of the Mass. The intimacy and familiarity of simple conversation with the Lord prepares us to make offerings and receive from the Liturgy. Consistency in cultivating our interior life during the freedom of daily meditation fosters an awareness of the Lord’s presence, near to us at all times. With this habit of extra-liturgical prayer, we will begin to find his voice within the structures of the Mass, speaking through them.

REMEMBER

PRACTICE

what liturgical prayer is

private prayer on a regular basis

Br. Leven Harton has been a Benedictine Monk since 2006. He currently serves the community as the prior and vocations director – are you interested in learning more about becoming a monk? Visit our vocations website: MONKVOCATIONS.ORG

“He comes to us and lets us see Him in lowliness, when He descends from the bosom of the Father into the hands of the priest at the altar.”

- saint francis of assisi

silence before entering into mass

The key word here is “enjoy.” Not “endure” but “enjoy.” We have the opportunity, in a quiet church as we await the beginning of the Mass, to let ourselves quiet down and appreciate what it feels like to be quiet, to be in a posture of waiting. Of course, real-world concerns might interfere and we may not have the freedom of a monk to saunter into the pew at any old time we wish. Even if we have only a minute or two before the liturgy starts, we can focus on stillness for whatever interval of time we have and acknowledge our need to be centered on Christ. Then, once the liturgy begins, we move our attention to the prayer that is offered, whether that be a hymn, an antiphon, or the simple sign of the cross.

BE AWARE

BE THANKFUL

of your neighbor

This suggestion might be surprising—don’t we want to avoid the distraction of looking at other people? Isn’t that a hindrance to prayer? Let me be clear: I don’t recommend looking at our neighbor’s cute outfit or her new hairstyle, noticing his new pair of Nike shoes or the fit of his jacket. Rather, we remember and acknowledge that our neighbors, at the Mass, are part of us. As St. Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians, “[Y]ou are the body of Christ and individually members of it” (12:27). We belong to one another, are connected to one another in the action of prayer at the Mass. This can be burdensome, of course (maybe they sing off key, or have a loud toddler), but it can also be wonderfully self-transcending. This awareness occurs at championship games and concerts, but it can also occur at the Mass, if we are really alive to what is happening. Our neighbors are part of our prayer and their contribution embellishes and intensifies our own participation.

Perhaps you have heard it before, but it bears repeating, the word “Eucharist” in Greek means “thanksgiving.” And we can always use a reminder every now and then. If we are at Mass and we sincerely summon up and offer our gratitude to God at that time of prayer, we will be more focused and more receptive to God’s presence to us. Practice gratitude at Mass, both using the words and prayers provided as well as offering our own specific thanksgiving in our hearts.

It is doubtful that these tips will make Mass as riveting as our favorite source of entertainment. We are bound to experience this type of ancient prayer as a work, something that requires effort from us. In making this effort, we bring out ourselves toward God. We make a gift of ourselves. This gesture of spending oneself (as any married couple can tell you) is rarely a painless, care-free activity. But it is an experience that proves its surpassing worth in perseverance. Our engagement with the Mass will slowly become sweet as we turn more of ourselves over to the prayer through the seasons of our lives.