Family Spirituality

Families can get more out of Mass

At Home with our Faith offered a series of 10 short articles on how your family can get more out of the Mass. We walked through the chronology of the Mass, from preparation and gathering through the final blessing and sending forth. Each month for ten issues we suggested ways that you and your family can better appreciate how the Mass can deepen and enrich our life together. What follows are the ten installments.

What gifts we bring

I once attended a wedding with a bunch of co-workers. One of the women at the table grabbed her purse after dinner and began filling out a check. "What’s this all about?" I asked. "Oh, I never decide the amount of my wedding gift until after I see how good the meal is," she replied.

Believe it or not, that story reminds me of the Mass. During the first part of the Mass we are fed on the Word of God. The movement is from God toward us. Beginning with the Offertory, the movement of the Mass changes. At that point we are invited (usually only symbolically) to bring our gifts to the altar. And like my friend with her checkbook, we need to decide what kind of a gift to make.

At the Offertory, the celebrant raises the cup of wine and the bread. He offers this "fruit of the vine and work of human hands" to God on our behalf. Too often, though, the wine was pressed and the bread was baked thousands of miles away. It’s the fruit of vines we’ve never tended and work of human hands we’ve never held. What else can we offer that is our own? We offer the stuff of our own lives.

Think of the kitchen table at home and everything that finds its way there–bills, reminders of phone calls, report cards, apology notes, artwork emblazoned with gold stars, paycheck stubs, homework, tax forms, brochures for family vacations, letters from relatives, groceries, and table settings for family meals.

This is what we offer God each Sunday at the Offertory. It all belongs on the table of the Lord. Fruit of the vine and work of human hands.

Did I bake a cake or make a meal for the family down the block who has the new baby? Put it on the table of the Lord. Did I hold fast to my convictions at work when I was feeling pressure to cave in? Place that on the table. Did I put down the newspaper and play with my kids or listen when they had a problem? Did I stifle my sarcastic remark, knowing how much it can sting my child? Did I get the gumption to voice my opinion when I typically would just keep quiet for fear of upsetting the applecart? Did I ask forgiveness or give it unbidden? Did I struggle with temptation and even stumble along the way? Put it on the table. It all belongs.

The altar is Christ. We place our Offertory gifts directly into the hands of Jesus, who receives them with deep, deep love for all who come.

Help your children take advantage of this opportunity to give their week to Jesus. Before Mass, explain that when the members of the congregation bring the gifts of bread and wine up to the altar, they also symbolically bear our personal gifts to God. Help your children review the events last week that meant a lot to them. Invite them to put those events in the hands of Jesus at the altar, e.g., "How did you try to love God and other people this week? What did you do to live out your faith?"

Tell them it doesn’t have to be only the hard things they do; their gift can and ought to be the ordinary things they do in the course of the day. Being happy you made the team. Being frustrated that math is so hard. Going out of your way to involve a new kid in school. Being loyal to a friend that others tease. All these are fruit of the vine and work of human hands. Their hands. TJM