Five Actions for Your Family to Take Before Mass

Mass should be the highlight of a Catholic family’s week. Meticulously preparing for it helps them experience it on a whole new level.

Following are five specific steps that mom, dad, and kids should take both at home an hour or two before driving to church and during the few minutes before Mass begins. An athlete prepares just prior to competition by putting on the proper gear, stretching muscles, and psyching oneself up. So too, a Catholic must get everything set right before attending Mass in order to get the most out of it.

1. Observe the Eucharistic Fast

The Eucharistic Fast is the guideline to not eat or drink anything one hour before Mass (except for water). We are making room in our minds and souls in preparation for receiving Jesus at Communion. It is actually a simple ask. After all, in past centuries the Church regulations used to have this fasting time extend anywhere from three to 24 hours. Secondly, it should not be difficult to say to Jesus through this one-hour fast, “Lord, You are the most important thing in my life, more important than coffee, soda, a sandwich, or a piece of toast.”

2. Only Go to Communion In a Worthy Manner

Before going to Mass, contemplate if you have committed a mortal sin since your last confession. If you have, you need to go to confession before receiving Jesus in the Eucharist. It is okay to attend Mass, but you will not want to process up for Communion.  It was St. Paul who chastised early Christians, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 11:27). This pertains to receiving His body with a serious, unrepentant sin on your soul and/or having eaten something less than 60 minutes prior. 

3. Dress Appropriately 

Catholic families should always dress up for Mass as a show of respect to the King of Kings you are about to visit. We would not wear shorts and t-shirts if we were going to a fancy restaurant for dinner. Likewise, we should dress properly for church. This means boys and dads wear long pants and shirts with collars, and girls and moms wear dresses or skirts/pants with blouses. And it should go without saying – no flip-flops, no holes in jeans, and no cleavage. It is amazing how people behave differently depending on how they are dressed. 

4. Arrive Early and Sit Closely

If your family had tickets to a big sporting event, you would want to arrive early to the game to see the players warm-up and so you don’t miss the opening tipoff/kickoff/pitch. You would also hope that your seats were close to the action, and not way up high in the stands in what is referred to as the “nosebleed section.” Not only is there no cost for sitting in the “best seats in the house” in church, but sitting close to the altar is better for small ones to be able to see what the priest is doing. It will increase the chance of your children staying alert during Mass and better understanding what is taking place on the altar if you sit in the front pews. 

5. Warm-Up Before Mass Begins

Arriving 10 minutes early at a minimum will assure you’ll get a good seat. Most importantly, your family will have time to perform your own type of warm-up. These “pre-game routines” should consist of everyone kneeling and praying silently to the Lord. Some people take these few minutes to thank God for the good things that happened during the week and to ask Him for special intentions. Others silently say formalized prayers whether memorized or read out of the Missal. While other people’s warm-up is to just have an informal chat with their Almighty Father. Parents should help their children understand why everyone’s task prior to Mass beginning needs to be praying, and not talking or looking around to see who is in church. 

Finally, along with these five actions to take prior to Mass, a faithful Catholic should also make sure to do the right thing near the end of Mass. The Mass does not end after you have received Communion. Some families will skip out of the church after receiving, never returning to their pew to give thanks to Jesus for Him coming into their souls through the Eucharist. Mom or dad should remind family members who are pressuring them to leave early so to get to a ballgame or get a head start heading home that Judas Iscariot also left “Mass” early.

Mass officially ends with the Concluding Rite, which includes a blessing and a mandate from the priest or deacon like, “Go forth, the Mass is ended” or “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.”  All should remain until the priest has processed down the entire aisle and reached the rear of the Church and/or the congregation has finished singing a recessional hymn. Some people will remain and say a silent prayer and/or pray a decade of the Rosary.

What is important is to exit the church as quietly as one entered. This is still God’s house, and so the recommended way to depart is in silence, after of course genuflecting while facing the tabernacle – which should have been done an hour earlier when first entering the pew.

We should want to make the most of this amazing gift Jesus is offering us at the Mass. When we take the above five action steps prior to Mass beginning, we are not just showing up mindlessly but entering into a deeper relationship with our Lord.