"Active Participation" in the EF

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I found on this website a few words of advice from St. Francis de Sales on “active participation” in the EF.

St Francis de Sales on “How to hear Holy Mass”
With the older form of the Roman Rite, there are many possible ways to participate in the Mass. This is one possible way from a saint who wrote a book on the Devout Life especially for lay people.
  1. From the beginning until the priest goes up to the altar, make the preparation with him, which consists in placing yourself in the presence of God, acknowledging your unworthiness and asking pardon for your faults,
  2. From the time when the priest goes up to the altar to the Gospel, consider with a simple and general consideration the coming and the life of Our Lord in this world.
  3. From the Gospel to the Credo, consider the preaching of our Saviour; protest that you wish to live and die in the faith and obedience of his holy word and in union with the holy Catholic Church.
  4. From the Credo to the Pater noster apply your heart to the mysteries of the death and passion of our Redeemer, which are actually and essentially represented in this holy Sacrifice, which, together with the priest and the rest of the people, you will offer to God the Father for his honour and for your salvation.
  5. From the Pater noster to the Communion strive to excite a thousand desires of your heart, ardently wishing to be for ever joined and united to your Saviour by everlasting love. From the Communion to the end, thank his divine Majesty for his Incarnation, for his life, for his death, for his passion, and for the love which he shows to us in the holy Sacrifice, conjuring him through it to be ever propitious to you, to your relations, to your friends, and to the whole Church; and humbling yourself with your whole heart, received devoutly the divine blessing which our Lord gives you by the ministry of his priest.
This is the best, most succinct piece of writing I’ve been able to find about participating in the liturgy without following every word in the Missal. I personally don’t own a missal, and while our cathedral provides misallettes that contain the entire ordinary of the mass, I was unable to get one last Sunday due to a baptism that was going on. Rather than walk around the family whose child was being baptized, I decided to wait in the pew and pray until it was over. I ended up waiting until mass started. I was surprised at my ability to follow along with what was happening, sometimes better than when I follow the words in the missal.

Does anyone else participate in the mass this way? Do you have any other advice about participating in the mass? I think if I do this more often, and spend some time learning some of the parts that I don’t know instead of simply following along in the missal, attending the EF could become even more spiritually rewarding for me than it already is.

In Christ,
John
 
What he seems to be suggesting here is a schema for saying prayers during mass, rather than saying the prayers of the Mass itself.
 
I would say he suggests prayerfully following the action of the mass, when it might otherwise be a struggle to attempt to follow the prayers verbatim. Is there a problem in this approach?
 
This reminds me of the children’s masses the parochial school children were required to attend on Sundays in the 1950’s. We were given missalettes to follow the mass. Each page showed a photo of the priest and had a very short prayer below. By following the pictures we could see where we were in the mass and what the priest was praying. I didn’t get my first missal until I was in 6th grade. I think my parents got theirs about that time too. So before that they probably followed the mass the way St. Francis described or they said the rosary.
 
jheii said:
I would say he suggests prayerfully following the action of the mass, when it might otherwise be a struggle to attempt to follow the prayers verbatim. Is there a problem in this approach?
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Not at all. There are many ways of praying. After all, it’s what comes from the heart that counts.

Yours is a very nice way of putting it, by the way. 👍
 
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