Monsignor Ronald Knox, a convert and defender of the Catholic faith, wrote a little book entitled 'The Mass in Slow Motion". It is more of a personal than scholarly commentary on the mass from beginning to end. I should like to follow that format in a series of articles on the mass.

In a real sense the mass begins with our preparation at home and church. The maxim is that we receive what we give. If we are truly to participate and share in the mass our preparations are essential. The best preparations are the traditional practices of prayer and fasting. The church requires only an hour of fasting before receiving the Blessed Sacrament. We probably should do more but we seem to live in an age of minimalism where the least expected is the most desired. I have discovered that most Catholics are not even doing the minimum which probably indicates that when little is expected very little is given. The rosary is our best prayer next to the mass. Family rosary, the night before mass is an excellent preparation. Family members should be at peace with each other before they go to the altar of the Lord.

We should arrive at the church five or ten minutes before mass. During this time we should adore our Lord in the Tabernacle. We should recall that He has given Himself to us in the Blessed Sacrament as a memorial of His passion and death. We should reflect on the meaning of the mass as both the sacrifice of Calvary renewed and the reception of the body, blood, soul and divinity of our Lord. We should make known our special intentions for the mass. We should present ourselves before and during the mass as a living sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving together with our offering of Christ.

In these days of impiety and lack of reverence it is important to remember and practice the old customs which express our faith. We should bless ourselves with holy water at the entrance of the church. We do so to recall our entrance into the kingdom of God at Baptism and our entrance now into the Kingdom of God as we journey into the mass. We should take time to light a candle and visit the statues of special saints. These customs instill in us and our children the awareness that in the Kingdom of God, we are surrounded by an invisible host of saints and angels.

Fewer and fewer people genuflect before entering their pew and leaving it. I fear this indicates not only a lack of piety but a lack of faith in our Eucharistic Lord. Priests, unfortunately, have sometimes made it difficult to practice piety. They have removed not only statues and candles but even the tabernacle from a prominent place in the sanctuary. It is sometimes necessary to look around for a catholic parish that still is catholic in piety and devotion.

Confession has also suffered from the modernization of the parish. Confession should be available before every weekend mass and before masses on Holy Days of Obligation. The simple truth is that many are at mass who are not prepared to offer mass and received Holy Communion and that there are no priests available for confession. Many go to Holy Communion without needed preparation.