I have seen the moms who take their kids to Mass to begin their day. And yes, I wondered about them. At the time I was going to early morning Mass I was going alone on purpose…to pray…and get closer to the Lord. Those moms often had their hands too full to be able to listen and actively participate. The below quote from the larger article linked here brings it into perspective. I love the explanation below and I do think these moms are heroes. They love the Lord. They are imparting the beauty of the Mass, its importance, its place in her life, and therefore her children’s lives. The fact that her husband is taking on the duty to provide while she is with the children – at Mass – shows his love for God, his bride, and his family. Mothers, read this article. It is just so beautiful.

But above all there is the repeated mortification involving the “main show,” the reason she is there at all, to pray and worship. Her children are fussy or asking her for things. They can’t sit still and run all over. She has to take them to the back, yet again. She sits on a chair in the vestibule, plays give-and-take with her toddler, and can barely hear anything in the sanctuary. It’s far from the romantic ideal of peaceful communion with God. What is the point of this? It’s not even clear she’s improving in anything, she thinks.

But her perseverance proves important truths, to which over time she becomes a “martyr” or witness. Others may read about them in books, but she at least learns them by concrete experience. Consolations in prayer do not matter. We give ourselves to God through the will, not the imagination. Grace will assuredly be imparted by the objective character of the sacrament and a believer’s subjective willingness to receive.

In simply getting to “the place of grace” in the morning, she is standing beside the Cross with Mary and becomes, like her, a “spiritual vessel, vessel of honor.” She cannot “feel” the grace that she gains at the Mass, and that flows out from her to her family, relatives, friends, and prayer intentions, but as an exercise of faith she trusts that it is so.