Faith education by attending Mass in this trying period of being quarantined due to the covid-19 pandemic can be very challenging. For us parents, as we transform the living room into a holy house of worship, we have an opportunity to demonstrate to our children firsthand how much the faith means to us. As parents, we could easily say that live-streaming the Mass is not the same as going to an actual church but we could also make the effort to keep Sunday holy.
Opportunity to Demonstrate Our Faith to Our Children
Every Holy Mass heard with devotion produces in our souls marvelous effects, abundant spiritual and material graces which we ourselves do not know. … It is easier for the earth to exist without the sun than without the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass! (St. Pio of Pietrelcina)
This trying period of this pandemic is a defining moment for the Catholic faithful and how we respond can make a big difference. The efforts that we put into transforming our home into a house of worship and whether we continue to attend Mass or not bother at all will send a powerful lesson to our kids and one that they will never forget.
Faith is a gift that we must give to our children. Being quarantined presents an opportunity for us to be more mindful, creative, and intentional with the practice of our faith. With the church doors closed, we open the windows of our homes to welcome God’s blessings because God will continue to knock. Words can never be enough to convey how much the Sacrament of the Mass means to us and here is one rare opportunity for our children to receive that message firsthand, loud and clear.
As parents, we have the primary responsibility for our children’s faith education. That education is most effective when we simply bear witness to the faith. They will witness how much we cherish and value our faith and how it is our source of strength, deliverance, and joy in times of distress. We have before us such a profound opportunity to hand down our faith!
If we truly understand the Mass, we would die of joy. (St. John Vianney)
Transforming the Couch into a Pew
Attending Mass virtually these days can be challenging. We are now a few weeks into this period of quarantine, and I have to say that I think my family and I are still in the process of exploring ways and routines that can be conducive to keeping Sunday holy.
We are still tweaking little things here and there to make sure that the kids as well as us parents get the optimal experience of Mass in this new reality. I also went around my network to ask for some tips and strategies from fellow Catholic parents on what they are doing to bring the richness of the Mass into their living rooms. So here below are some that I gathered as well as implemented in our household.
- Stick to the Sunday routine. Being home every single day of the week in this new reality, it feels like the days blend into one another. For those of us quarantined at home, every day feels like a day of rest so we must do our best to keep Sunday holy or “set apart.” One easy to tip now to make Sunday set apart is getting out of our pajamas and put on something special and respectable for Mass on Sunday. Our clothing has the power to transform us not only externally but internally. Even when we have nowhere to go, it feels good to just go through the motion of dressing up and putting on our Sunday best.
- Celebrate the day. On a normal Sunday, we often would go out to lunch after Mass. In this new normal, we try to have a nice meal right after Mass as a family. We would prepare some delicacies to make the day extra special and celebratory. We keep our nice clothes on, move to the dining room, and extend the celebration of the day as a family.
- Stream familiar faces. Most Sundays we try to live-stream our regular parish’s Mass. It is good to see the faces and hear the voices of our parish priests. It brings me a sense of familiarity and normalcy. We would also try to connect with other fellow parishioners online to get a little sense of community. It is not the same as seeing faces of friends at church but seeing their names on a live-stream can make us smile a little. There is also comfort in knowing that my local parish priests are doing well and coping just fine. You can also hear in their prayer intentions what the needs of the local community and fellow parishioners are.
- On the other hand, we also have the opportunity to connect with other priests and parishes. Modern technology grants us the option to attend Mass from anywhere in the world. So every once in awhile, we’ll attend Mass with the Pope or our local Archbishop or even Bishop Robert Barron.
- If your living room is like ours, then you’ll likely find yourself having to move some toys out of the way when it’s time to kneel. After that first week, we started asking our kids to help prepare the living room to become a sanctuary. The first simple step there is putting away their toys. A Sunday morning task we have assigned to the kids is the clean up the living room. That helps them get involved in preparing for the Holy Spirit to come into our humble abode. It is an excellent teaching opportunity to help them understand the importance of preparing not just the physical space but also the spiritual space for the holiness of the Mass.
- Prepare the readings. We download the readings ahead of time onto our tablet. If it’s more comfortable and if you have a printer, have the readings printed on paper. The readings are also available on Kindle or in book form online.
- If you have a surround sound system, this might be a good time to use it for that optimal feeling of hearing the word of God. The volume and the richness of the sound might help sustain the kids’ attention.
- Sit, stand, kneel, bow. Normally, our couch is a place for laziness and slouching. It takes extra effort in attention and mindfulness to avoid slouching or putting our feet up. We try to keep our posture similar to how we are in the church pews. We stand when it’s time to stand, kneel when it’s time to kneel, and bow when it’s time to bow. The same responses, postures, and gestures that we would normally do at Mass in church, we do so in this new norm in our living room.
- Make time for a review. In this quarantined set-up where there is no need to rush out to be somewhere after Mass, we now have the time and the opportunity to personally teach our kids about the Mass readings. After Mass, we would ask them to tell us what they got out of the readings. Catechism classes may have been put on pause but faith education must continue only now it will have to come directly and solely from their parents. And what an opportune blessing it is for both the kids and the parents alike to grow in faith as a family.
