What does it truly mean to partake in the mass?
Is it following along with the missal?
Saying your own prayers and offering them up with the mass?
Praying the Rosary during mass?
How can one be paying attention to the mass and praying without those prayers being a distraction from the mass?
Catholic teaching emphasizes "full, conscious, and active participation" in Mass, which is both an internal spiritual commitment and an external physical one.
Saints emphasize that this involves the mind and heart being engaged, praying with the priest, and uniting with the communal liturgy through gestures, singing, and responding. It is not merely about performing external tasks, but about a conscious, full, and interior engagement with the sacrifice of the Mass and the grace it provides.
"It is not a matter of saying one’s prayers at Mass, but of making the Mass one’s prayer." - Pope St Pius X
“If you wish to participate in the Mass actively, you must follow with your eye, heart and mouth all that happens on the altar. Further, you must pray with the priest the holy words said by him in the Name of Christ”. - Pope St Pius X