How to Be Reverent at Church according to Those Under the Age of 3

10) Even if you are a baby, you know it is important to sing at mass. But knowing when to sing can be difficult because the adults are sometimes shy about singing.  A simple solution is to sing perpetually. The grown ups will join in if the timing is right.

9) Likewise, because adults are very distractable, the best way to make them long to focus on the liturgy is to squirm and grab the noses of any human within range and then go stiff and and alternatively drape sideways and boneless. Constant motion will make them long to give the homily their full attention.

8) Now we small ones cannot always fast through the mass.  But our eating does remind everyone else, that as adults, they are supposed to sublimate their appetites.

7) Ditto for needing to be changed or potty trained during the liturgy, all service of others is a form of prayer.  We're just here to help.

6) The sunglasses on the floor, the credit card from your purse and the prayer cards we find wedged in the kneeler, these are details.  We notice every detail.  A good reminder to you about how God does too.

5) Kiss us often.  We'll kiss back.  We don't need to wait until the sign of peace to show our love.

4) If we're fighting, you get to be the peacemaker. Practicing a Beattitudes is always a good thing.  (But remember, I was in the right, not him).

3) Kneelers remain one of the most misunderstood pieces of equipment in the church.  Up, down, stand, sit, kneel, no one ever seems to want to make the first move.  However, through extensive research, we can state that if you bring the kneeler down, someone will kneel.  Assuming the posture of prayer is an important form of reverence, so we do this often, to promote and encourage greater devotion in the mass.

2) Missalettes:  Like kneelers, these books are supposed to be used at every mass but grown ups often forget to open them up, so to be helpful to these folks, we take them out of the slot and flip through the pages, ask them to read it, ask where we are.  Ask what song is next.  These little helpful questions can cue the adults to focus on the mass and the responses.  It also usually means all the capable readers in the pew snatch up the remaining books to follow along and prevent further opening of said books by toddlers, so even more participation is generated by just a little mischief on our part.  All part of the service we provide.

1)  Take us to mass every time.  Sure we're squirmy, noisy, sometimes hungry, sometimes quarrelsome, sometimes need a change, but we're also witness that the church will continue to go on.