This year I participated in my first SantaThing exchange on LibraryThing. I can only assume that the administrators of the exchange picked people due to common interests, because I was paired with a lovely young Catholic woman who picked out a copy of Thomas Howard's "If Your Mind Wanders at Mass" for me.

The book is deceptively short at 124 pages, but filled with wonderful reflections on liturgical participation, the parts of the Mass, and the importance of corporate worship. Dr. Howard writes with depth, but doesn't rely on lofty or inaccessible theological language. For instance, take this passage on "assisting at" Mass:

"'Assist at': that is an old and very accurate way of referring to our attendance at Mass. We are not spectators. We are not an audience. We are the congregation, brought together (congregated) to do something -- all of us, not solely the priest up there at the altar. Every one of us who wants to be numbered among 'the faithful' is, by virtue of his baptism, made to be a sharer in the priesthood of Jesus Christ. The priest himself, by virtue of his ordination, participates in that priesthood in a particular way. He is "ordained" to preside at the Lord's Table, that is, to be in the place of Jesus Christ, who instituted this sacrament when he broke the bread and blessed the cup at the Last Supper. But we the faithful share in the action by uniting ourselves to the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ which is made present in the Mass, and by offering our adoration, and our very selves, and all our work and our joys and our sufferings, and our aspirations, to God as the particular things which we alone can offer. No one else can offer me to the Lord. This is an act which I alone can carry out."

The rest of the book is written in the same beautiful, reflective style. This isn't a "how-to" book on the Mass so much as an extended mystagogy on the Eucharist.

The only thing keeping me from fully recommending the book is it's copyright date -- 1995 -- which means that it references the older translation of the Roman Missal. I hope that Dr. Howard or his editor will take the time to update the book with the new English translation recently implemented across the globe.

Even with that caveat, the quality of the reflections are enough to merit their inclusion in any Catholic's library. ( )

This is a great book if you want to know more about all of the things that we do and say during Mass. After a brief introduction, Howard starts at the beginning of Mass and breaks it apart, bit by bit.

I would highly recommend this book for people who are new to attending Mass, or just don't know much about it. It is short enough that you don't get bogged down, but at the same time, doesn't leave out anything major.

You get a real sense of the importance of Mass and how we really encounter God through it.

My only minor complaint is there are a few Latin phrases that Howard doesn't translate. It isn't a huge thing I don't think you loose much meaning, but slightly annoying. ( )