Monkey mind and Adoration
Reading Fr. Powell's post on listening to a homily yesterday I was both intrigued and skeptical on this part.
Repeat every word in your head. Yup, that’s what I said: repeat every word. I do this all the time. I have what the Buddhists call “Monkey Mind.” Just about the only way I can pay attention to a homily is to close my eyes (no visual distraction) and then repeat every word of the homily in my head. This is how I am able to stay on track, follow the homily’s “argument,” and not end up daydreaming about bread pudding, Battlestar Galactica, and the Pope’s new encyclical all at the same time.
Now I often closes my eyes during Mass to concentrate better or at least to reduce the number of distractions. I tried the repeating every word of the readings and the homily in my head and I found that I was able to pay much more attention and in fact even remembered key parts of the homily later. Usually I am lucky to remember any parts of the readings or the homily by the end of the Mass. The effort to repeat the words in and of themselves kept me on track and my mind wandered much less during the liturgy. Considering that Fr. Keene is such an excellent homilist the more I can retain the better. So I would recommend this technique to see if it works for you.
Earlier this week somebody sent me a like to League of Eucharistic Guardians. Now this sounds like a great name for a graphic novel to me. This appears to be another excellent apostolate originating out of the Philippines. One of the signs of renewal in the Church is Eucharistic adoration especially perpetual adoration. This movement can do nothing but bear good fruit for the Church. My parish doesn't have perpetual adoration, but they have adoration after mass regularly and an all night vigil on first Fridays. Since adoration is schedules pretty much while I am at work my wife and I regularly go to a parish whey they do have perpetual adoration in a chapel. It is so convenient to be able to go anytime you want to and they have a security keypad you have to use to get inside. They also have a very beautiful monstrance. It brings me such joy and peace to pray before the Blessed Sacrament and the absolute quiet is so conductive to prayer. I also really enjoy seeing people as they come in and out of the chapel and it reminds me that all around the world people are always coming to spend time with Christ. That people try to take the "Can't you spend one hour with me" seriously.
We were in for a surprise as we left adoration today. As we were headed out we saw Fr. Mitch Pakwa sitting by himself in the back row. I knew he was in town this week for a conference, but didn't expect to get a chance to see him. I was tempted to go up to him, but wisely left him alone. Since my conversion I have always enjoyed watching and listening to him on EWTN and enjoyed both his Biblical expertise and wry humor. It was also nice to see this old school Jesuit spending time before the Blessed Sacrament. I was kind of thrilled to see a Catholic celebrity and being close to someone famous. But I then realized that I had just spent an hour or so with our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and he is even more famous - plus you can talk to him anytime without feeling your interrupting.
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Do you actually repeat every single word as the priest is saying them? I'll give it a try if you think it'll work!! My priest talks pretty fast though! Love your blog!!!!!!
This sort of happened to me. I downloaded the MP3 file of the encyclical. Only I downloaded it twice, one right after the other. So the encyclical monkey minded itself.
I will have to try the Monkey Mind thing. When I was interpreting Mass at my old parish (ASL for the Deaf parishioners), I couldn't remember a lot of it later because I was busy translating while repeating, but I think this might work. Plus, it will keep my mind busy and prevent me from veering off into the "Father can be such a pain sometimes" land that seems to call out to me. :)
Also, I've decided that reading along with the prayers during Consecration is also a bad idea since when my pastor celebrates Mass, Jesus became "one of us" and not "Man." Plus, we do not "stand in Your presence and serve you" but "be in Your presence..." But we still read the readings together since it helps my kids keep track of the readings a bit better (and practices reading for the younger one).
Also, I have been feeling very LED to go to Adoration. Since I homeschool, I can go for a bit when we have it on Wednesday afternoons. Signing up for a whole hour might not work yet, but even if the two girls and I go for a few minutes, it's better than nothing at all. And I do feel so at peace when I sit before our Lord that way. Sometimes, when I see the Exposition in person, I just cry and want to fall on my face! I wonder if that's what it will be like when we see God face to face. Will we be able to even stand up and look at Him? It makes me shudder sometimes! Thank God for Purgatory, where we'll be scrubbed nice and clean for that day!
mmmmm, bread pudding with whiskey sauce.
I would have written Fr. Mitch Pacwa a note about what a big fan I am and how his book "Catholics and the New Age" impacted my life and then slip it to him discretely. Who knows, maybe one of the fruits of communing with Jesus in adoration is recognition and gratitude, too? One thing that helps us prepare for Mass is to read the Gospel earlier in the week and then I have the kids draw their idea of what it all was like in cartoon/comic style drawings. We write which Gospel it is on the top of the page and keep them in a book. Their eyes light up when Father reads the Gospel on Sunday because they recognize the story and can pay attention and reflect much more effectively (the added bonus is that I can then picture their good ideas in my head and giggle a little at how simply children think of Jesus and I can learn more about Him from them!).
After I get to my seat I remove my glasses so that I am not distracted by some young women who insist on wearing inappropriate attire (exposed midriffs, shorts, and/or spandex-like clothes). I've tried the monkey mind thing too sometimes. It works... but I'll only do it when listening to orthodox clergy.
Monkey see, monkey do. Sounds like a mindwashing method to me.
With some of the homilies I've heard, if I'd repeated them word for word, I'd have had to go to confession afterwards.