I don’t clap, to begin with…
Ok I was half-joking, but seriously, the keyword is recollection. We enter the church quietly, kneel and sign ourselves slowly. This is like being welcomed and embraced by the Lord. We should “lift up our hearts” and focus on Christ really present in the Tabernacle and no more on the people, not in the least bit (beside the minimum courtesy necessary if we are with a loved one or children). All the greetings and talking inside the church is very distracting and should be kept to a minimum. Nobody will feel offended if they try to greet us and we acknowledge them with niceness and simplicity and go sit without any further interaction.
When we are awaiting for Holy Mass to begin, we should meditate on what is about to take place before our eyes, a majestic miracle of love. Sometimes a Rosary is prayed publicly…which is all right, but if that is not the case, then there are many wonderful prayers before Mass that Missals used to include, and which predispose us to receive greater graces.
During the Mass, we ought to recall that the priest acts in persona Christi: it is Our Lord who celebrates the Mass. Our focus should be on him. Surely there are times in which the congregation is involved in a communitary prayer (ex. intercessions, Our Father, etc.).
For the Pater Noster I do not hold hands for it is an improper sign of communion between the faithful. It can be done out of custom, it’s fine, it’s not against the rubrics, but it is better to simply join our hands and focus on our prayer to God the Father.
The only time in which we would have to interrupt briefly our recollection is for the Sign of Peace, which should be a very simple greeting (with or without handshake) with the people to our left, front, and right, period.
The Agnus Dei is about to begin or has already begun by that time, and our focus must immediately shift on Him who takes away the sins of the world. In the past, it was customary to kneel through the Agnus Dei, now we only kneel (often in a rush)when the priest lifts the Blessed Sacrament. I personally kneel as soon as I have given the Sign of Peace to those in my immediate vicinity and pray the Agnus Dei. This way others are also moved to shift their focus calmly back towards Christ, as they notice that there is something important about to happen in the Sanctuary.
After the Domine non sum dignus (“Lord, I am not worthy”) ideally we would no longer speak but focus on Christ. In the past, the schola cantorum would sing, but nowadays this is most often done by the congregation on regular days. I guess it is fine, but very distracting when instead we would rather be focusing on He whom we are most unworthy to receive and on the immense love that is about to be poured in our little heart.
After Communion, in the Ordinary Form we often have but a handful of seconds before we hear “Let us pray” and we receive the Final Blessing. We ought to be very recollected and on our knees during that scant minute to give the deepest acts of love and thanksgiving to the Beloved who is within us…living right after Communion, it is not just improper, but sinful, and a reason for scandal…Padre Pio spoke of Communion “like a fusion: like two candles that fuse together and are no longer distinguishable”. In the revelations of the Sacred Heart to Sr. Josefa Menendez, the Lord spoke of “almost incarnating” within the person receiving Communion. What an extraordinary feat of love…surely we want to bring Him our worries and needs, but this is hardly the first thing to do…He literally needs to feel loved and welcomed…appreciated, embraced! Let us pour a spiritual balm on His head and feet like st. Mary Magdalene and rest on Him like st. John the beloved disciple…let us make Him find a place of peaceful rest in our heart…a place where He may stretch His arms and breathe full of joy, as when He walked to the top of the hill to pray peacefully to the Father…let our hearts be that hill…time goes so fast, but it will be well spent.
After Mass, remember He is within us for about 15 minutes…we are literally a living tabernacle…it is not proper to leave the Church right after Mass and start talking to others like nothing happened…let us remain in prayer for at least 10 to 15 more minutes…because if He deigns to remain within us for that time, the least we can do is deign to remain with Him as well, adoring Him, consoling Him…yes, consoling Him who so many offenses receives from the world and from so many of His little ones whom He died for…
Each person obviously is different in the sense that even if we do the minimum necessary, we can still be distracted…in the past, people would pray the Rosary or other prayers during Mass, which is perfectly fine, since it is the priest who is celebrating the Mass. This may benefit some. But ideally we would pray the Mass along with the priest (except the words of consecration).
Hope some of the above benefits others as it has benefited me…my experience during Mass was greatly enhanced in this way, and not just mine…
It’s often a struggle to pay attention. Following along in the Missal really does help.