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SANTACROCE'S LAST SUPPER ©SEDMAK/GETTY IMAGES Most paintings of the Last Supper show the Apostles shifting restlessly--just like our children at Mass! How long is your child’s attention span? Most research suggests that children’s attention spans relate to their age: how many years old are they? That’s the same number of minutes they can sustain interest in an activity. Four-year-old children, for example, can pay attention for four minutes. Some studies claim attention spans extend up to two times the child’s age. In that case, under the right circumstances, our 4-year-old children can accomplish eight minutes of acceptable church behavior. Depending on your parish, the eucharistic prayer occurs about 40 minutes into the celebration of Mass. Forty minutes of liturgy is FIVE TIMES those eight minutes we can expect from our little ones. And some of our children struggle with medical or behavioral challenges that make the basic eight-minute mark a miracle. Read the rest at

The other day, a friend of mine at OLPH came up to me and said, "I just wanted to say that at Mass, you just light up!  You glow. It makes my heart leap to see you.  I don't know if you know, but I wanted to tell you."   My first thought was, I don't want her looking at me!  I in no way want to be a distraction from what is REALLY happening at Holy Mass.   Do I know? Yes, in a way I do.   After Holy Mass, I prayed and sought an answer of the Lord.   I know how important the Holy Mass is for not just those in attendance but for the whole world, and I in no way want to be a stumbling block from those coming to this gift from God.   "Lord, I don't want to be a distraction, I don't want people looking at me.  What do you want me to do, I can go somewhere else to Mass, (then I thought, it's going to happen their too!) or I can sit in the back or I can cover my face."  At that last suggestion I could feel that Lord did not want that...at all.  I almo