Encyclopedia of Liturgical Theology

Daydreaming During the Liturgy

Question and Answer
Daydreaming During the Liturgy

Question
I often find my mind distracted while attending the Divine Liturgy, to the point that I leave without benefit. I may even refrain from attending the Liturgy out of fear of daydreaming during it and falling into judgment. I am confused. What are the reasons for this? And please tell me what I should do.

Answer
You are supposed to attend the Liturgy with your heart, not only with your body.
If you came to the Liturgy with joy, longing for it, considering it the holiest prayer in the whole Church, you would receive its prayers with responsiveness and rejoice in them.
For this reason, spiritual preparation must precede the Liturgy.
The Church prepares for this with the offering of Vespers incense and Matins incense, with all their holy readings, meditations, and the lifting of the mind to God, along with the absolution of the believers. The Church also prepares with the Midnight Prayer and the Psalmody before the offering of Matins incense.
And it prepares for the Liturgy of the Faithful, in which Communion takes place, with the Liturgy of the Catechumens. In it are readings from the Pauline Epistle, the Catholic Epistle, and the Book of Acts, along with a Psalm and a part of the Gospel, and the commemoration of the saints of the day from the Synaxarium, and the offering of incense, and a sermon— all of this to prepare the mind and heart to attend the Liturgy, with absolution… So do you prepare your mind with all of this?!
Also prepare your thoughts spiritually as you are on your way to the church.
Do not occupy your mind on the way with worldly or material conversations with some relatives or friends, lest these matters remain in your mind during the Liturgy.
In the past, they used to chant the Psalms as they ascended to the temple, and they were called the Psalms of Ascents. So do you chant these Psalms or others on your way to church? Such as: “I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord’” (Ps. 122:1). “Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; they will praise You forever” (Ps. 84:4). Or “But as for me, in the multitude of Your mercy I will enter Your house; I will bow down toward Your holy temple in fear of You” (Ps. 5:7), or any other prayers.
Beware of entering the house of God with your mind filled with worldly matters that you have not yet cleared away, causing you to think about them during the Liturgy!!
It is possible that the devil fears your spiritual benefit during the Liturgy, so he fights you with thoughts.
Do not surrender to his thoughts nor continue in them. Rather, as the Apostle says: “Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brethren in the world” (1 Pet. 5:9). You are supposed to triumph over the devil’s warfare and not open the doors of your mind to him, but rather stop the wandering.
Trust that if you attended for the sake of Communion alone, this is a great blessing.
So do not refrain from going to church out of fear of wandering thoughts, because your refraining also means refraining from the blessing of Communion and the Holy Sacrament which “is given for us for salvation, for the forgiveness of sins, and for eternal life to those who partake of Him” (Jn. 6:54).
Therefore, we advise you with the following:

1. Make part of the prayers of the Divine Liturgy a field for your meditation throughout the week, so that this meditation accompanies you during your attendance of the Liturgy.

2. If wandering thoughts are part of your nature, turn them into (holy wandering)—that is, into something of meditation on what you hear from the prayers.

3. Try to listen to the prayers deeply and concentrate on them.

4. If wandering thoughts press upon you, replace them with personal prayers, especially during the sections you do not understand. In this way, your mind remains connected to God, even if in another direction.
   So, try to understand, to meditate, to concentrate, and to pray.
   And when you begin to understand the Liturgy and participate in it with the priest, leave your personal prayers and return to the communal participation in the Liturgy, for which the Church placed responses for the people during it.For better translation support, please contact the center.