The following is a comment I wanted to promote from Susanna’s article How to Actively Participate at ANY Mass. Dora lays out a beautiful context for understanding distractions at Mass:
At one of our meetings, my spiritual director and I were briefly discussing how to participate more fully at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. At the time I was having difficulty with distractions. He reminded me of all the noise and turmoil which surrounded Our Lord during His Passion and His Crucifixion. I meditated on this and my remembered Veronica, who approached Our Lord with her veil and wiped His Holy Face. She did not let anything deter her from what she knew she had to do. She kept her gaze on Jesus as she moved through the crowd and approached Him. She did not take her eyes off of Him. That’s what I do now when I am the least bit distracted. I become Veronica and keep my eyes on Jesus, in my heart, on the crucifix when necessary and always when He is on the altar. It has helped me immensely. Of course, I also follow the Scripture Readings with my Magnificat and pray along with the congregation, but I can keep my eyes closed and see Jesus when I want to truly present to Him as He is to me. The Mass is truly a Communion with Jesus!
