How to avoid distraction during Holy Mass?

I would like to use an analogy here to draw the point. Many of you might know the game Cricket. The matches are anywhere between 4 hours to 5 days long. You yourself may be an ardent follower of the game or you might at least know people who are glued to their television screens for a whopping 5 days. They eat, sleep and walk Cricket. When the players are sleeping he will be awake calculating and predicting possible outcomes. He knows every player, he knows their batting averages, he knows their bowling figures, he is familiar with all the complicated rules of the game. He is completed into it. Does he get bored? Seldom.

Now ask a friend who has absolutely no idea about Cricket to watch a game with you. Invariably after ten minutes, he will get up and shout “how in the world are you watching his ridiculous game and wasting time for five days!” because this person has no clue what is going on.

I often think someone getting distracted during Holy mass is often disconnected from what is going on. He is merely a spectator who does not connected with the event. He does not recognise the players – God the father, His son Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit, Mother Mary, the Angels and the Saints neither does he know the rules or the history or the profiles. 

Here is what one must do. Get to know the events that unfold in the Holy mass – the birth, baptism, public life, passion, death, resurrection, ascension, second coming. Get to know the Word which is Jesus himself who comes down to edify us, get to know God who offers himself  – body, blood, soul and divinity to eat. Get to know and be aware of the living presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Get to know the one who takes away our sins, our brokenness, our frailty by dying on the cross and enjoins our unworthy sacrifices with His and offers it to the father as a perfect offering who is well pleased to receive it.

Take time to learn about the Holy Mass. Understand what is going on. Understand how it impacts our lives. Understand the signs and symbols, understand the smells and the bells. Read about it, watch and listen to talks and presentations on the Holy Mass. You will do much better. And it gets better as you grow in love and holiness. Praying for you.