When I was a kid, the main question I had about any Mass was, “Does it count?” As in, if I go on Christmas Day, does that count for the following Sunday? If I go on a Sunday between Christmas and New Year’s, does that count for the Jan. 1 Solemnity of Mary? If I go to wedding Mass on Saturday afternoon, does that count for the weekend? I think I always knew going to Mass at school during the week didn’t count for the weekend. My kids have some of the same questions. What they really want to know is, do they really have to go to Mass now? And if they do, do they still have to go again later? That’s my older children I’m talking about. Teresa still loves to go to “say hi to Jesus.” Of course, that doesn’t equate to being able to sit quietly for an hour, but she’ll get there. And she’ll probably also get to the point where she asks, does it count? I like to make the question bigger. Everything counts, including your attitude, so buck up and let’s go. If you are only going to Mass to meet an obligation, you’re missing the point. The point is to participate in the source and summit of our life of faith, to literally be in communion with the choirs of saints and angels and with Christ himself. Even if it doesn’t always feel that way as I retrieve a board book from under the pew and try to stay on the right page of the missalette so I don’t get the new responses wrong. And I know it’s not easy for them to pay attention to homilies aimed at adults, especially when it’s hard to understand because we’re near the back of church and the sound doesn’t carry so well. It would probably be a bit much to expect my kids to feel that way. I know I didn’t when I was their age. I really didn’t like going to Mass as a teenager, or at least I didn’t think I did. Then I stopped when I got to college, for about a month. I found I missed going to Mass every Sunday, and started going back — even though the vast majority of my friends looked at me as though I was a little crazy. It was then, when no one was telling me to go to Mass, that I found out that I depended on that weekly contact with the Lord. Nowadays, it’s not always easy, especially for all five of us to attend Mass together. The easiest time would be early Sunday mornings — but teenage brains are not wired to want to get up early, and it’s the only day Caroline can sleep late, and I don’t want “does it count?” to turn into “I really don’t want to do this.” So we end up finding Masses on Saturday evenings or late Sunday afternoons — but then sometimes we have to split up because of activity schedules. I hope that eventually, my children get beyond asking “does it count?” and come to think more about how they can be fully present at the Mass. For the moment, though, I’ll take what I can get, and keep taking them to Mass. It all counts.