While I was at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Conference in Virginia, I released a new product I wanted to share with you- A Picture Book of the Mass, Illustrated by the Masters!
My love for art meets my love for the Mass. 🙂
This is a project I’ve been working on since the Fall. I promise this is not your run-of-the-mill Mass booklet for children. This is unlike anything I’ve seen, and you wouldn’t expect anything less from Catholic Icing, would you? 😉
These booklets are not “dumbed down” for children, yet they are simple, straightforward, and easy to use. They are based on the most common, ordinary-time Mass. Not a lot of confusing “option A, option B” or “don’t do this during Lent” or on-the-third-tuesday-after-the-full-moon-skip-this-page notes. Just the “normal” stuff. Everything that is said out loud by the congregation is in red to make it super easy for everyone to follow along!
I worked very hard to make sure that this booklet would provide a beautiful and accurate guide for the liturgy of the Mass. Besides receiving approval for publication by the International Commission on English in the Liturgy, this mass booklet was fully approved by the USCCB for use during worship!
There are so many Mass booklets out there that have illustrations of what is going on in the church. You won’t find that in my Mass booklet. If you want to see the priest holding up the host, look at the altar. If you look down in my picture book of the Mass, you’ll see Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of The Last Supper, helping you reflect on what’s truly happening during the consecration.
Each piece of art in the book was carefully selected to illustrate each part of the Mass, and bring to mind the biblical roots of our Liturgy. I made sure that every piece of art throughout this book is of top-notch resolution, and is in beautiful color! Every page is glossy and the cover is a heavy cardstock. No detail was overlooked in arranging these booklets- *my amazing Catholic editors made sure of that! Children and Adults alike will be impressed with the beauty of these booklets!
I truly believe that these Mass Booklets have a place in every Catholic home, which is why I have priced them so affordably.
Here are the top 10 uses for “A Picture Book of the Mass”.
- Children from reading age on up. Sure, smaller kids will flip through the pretty pictures (Violet, my 2-year-old, certainly does) and that’s great! But here are my thoughts on Mass booklets: Many children’s missals seem to be aimed towards little kids who can’t read yet. We can’t actually read to them during Mass because we have to be quiet, and how many kids are really going to let us read a whole Mass book to them at home? I mean, they’re meant to be read during Mass, right?
- Adults. This book is written very simply and is easy to follow, which does make it great for children, but it doesn’t talk down to them. There’s none of this “be sure to pay attention and sing along if you want!” type of stuff. Just very simple descriptions letting you know what’s going on in the Mass. It’s not going to insult anyone’s intelligence.
- People still getting used to the new translation of the Mass. Yep, “and with your spirit”… we’ve all got that one. However, longer prayers such as the Nicene Creed, the Penitential Act, or the Gloria (especially if it’s to a different tune than we’re used to) are a little more sticky. Old habits die hard. And I’ll tell you what- the pew cards are starting to disappear, and I’m usually stuck out in the vestibule with a cranky kid (or 2 or 3) and there are no Mass helpers out there either. This booklet fits in my purse, so I always have it, and I can use the same book even if I’m visiting another church, so it’s always familiar and easy for me to follow.
- Visitors to a Catholic Mass. I really think every home should have some of these booklets in case you invite a non-Catholic to Mass with you. My dad is actually Baptist, but he’s just started coming to Mass with us this past spring. He helped me write the booklet by letting me know what didn’t make sense to him or what wasn’t easy to follow. The longer I worked on this project, the more I started seeing this booklet as a way to evangelize. It helps the Protestants see how biblical our Mass really is. I included artwork in the booklet that Protestants could also relate to, such as Jesus turning water into wine at the Wedding of Cana. Any visitors following along will know everything to say out loud when to sit, stand, or kneel, and what to do during the sign of peace. I even included instructions on who may receive the Eucharist.
- First Communion Gifts. This is the perfect gift for First Communion! So if you know someone getting ready to make that sacrament next spring, make a mental note! Teachers and DREs can even bulk order them for the whole First Communion class.
- Gifts for Godchildren. Yep, this is the perfect present for your Godson or Goddaughter!
- RCIA Candidates and Confirmation Classes. I really wish there was a way to get these booklets into the hands of everyone coming into the Catholic church. Guess writing it was the first step- so far so good! 😉
- In the Pew. This way everyone can have them handy all the time. If you’re interested in having these available at your church, forward this post to your DRE and let them know that big bulk discounts are available!
- Catholic Art Lovers. Yes, these booklets are chock full of beautiful, Catholic art!
- Gifts for any religious occasion! It even has a beautiful dedication page just for gift-giving! Perfect for Catholic Easter basket stuffers, Baptism anniversaries, Confirmations, First Reconciliation- you name it!
These booklets cost only $7 each, or 5 for $25! *update! Due to high amounts of bulk buying inquiries, I have added several large package deals! You can now also order 20 or 50 mass booklets at a time for 35% off- that’s just $4.55 per picture missal!* Click here for details.
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I got such amazing feedback on these booklets at the IHM Conference. Can’t wait to hear what all of you think of these! 🙂
Here are some more sample pictures of the Mass booklet:
The stand, sit, and kneel pictures/instructions are now angels.
I even included the updated version of the Apostle’s Creed in the back! (It changed just a little bit with the new translation). Can you tell I’m really, really excited about these mass booklets?! I know you’ll love them too!
*If you’re looking for top-notch Catholic editors, I highly recommend Avila Editing! You can contact them here: avila.editing {at} gmail {dot} com
Hi, I love your blog and often look to it for ideas for our religious education program.
I tried to send an email to sales {at} catholicicing {dot} com regarding bulk rate purchases for a church, but the delivery failed. Is there another method of contact? Thank you!
Ugh! What a pain! Sorry about that. Ya, try sending it to lacy(at)catholicicing(dot)com. I must have set something up wrong.
What a wonderful Mass booklet!
I’m on the RCIA team at my parish and I can’t wait to share this with everyone 🙂 not to mention it will be helpful when my non-catholic family is visiting and comes to Mass…and I know it’s been 7 months, but I’m still stumbling over the new responses :/
Great job, thank you!
Can you tell me more about the quality of the books-like the actual paper? Are they just paper booklets stapled together or something more sturdy? I did see that you said “Every page is glossy and the cover is a heavy card stock,” but I was just wondering if you could elaborate more? Cause regular paper and staples will get destroyed at my house I think.
The content looks awesome though!
Thank you for putting this together!
They’re good paper, but no, they’re not board books. I’m recommending them for reading-aged children and up.
Wow, over $5 to ship a $7 booklet? That seems a little steep!
No, it’s only supposed to be $2.50 to ship 1 book. I’m working to fix this in Paypal. Thanks for bringing it to my attention! 🙂
Ok, I fixed it. Yay! So now you can get one book for only $9.50 as your absolute total. This was so important to me- I’m upset that it was messed up! :-/
Kudos for the real art. These look like very attractive and useful books.
I had so much fun choosing all the art for these books!
Just ordered one for me (and my 6yo.) Kinda thinking it would be awesome for teaching 1st Communion CCD this year!
Yay! Yes, they will be awesome for that. 🙂
Once again, you have created an amazingly beautiful resource which will allow me to pass on OUR beautiful faith to my kiddos! God bless you!
So sweet! Thank you! 🙂
You are amazing! I am ordering many… well I will be in contact!
So glad to hear it! 🙂
It looks fabulous! I just ordered 5. One for each of my children and 2 friends. Can’t wait to get them!
Hi Lacy,, I really love your blog, your blog gives many ideas for sunday school activities.
Oya let me introduce my name. I am Theresia, I live in Jakarta (Indonesia). So far away from your country 🙂
Am very interested with your mass booklet, it’s wonderful. But you said that these books do not ship internationally. So am still waiting hearing good news from you if u can ship it internationally 🙂
Thanks Lacy, and keep posting your ideas 🙂
I do ship Catholic ABC’s internationally, but these are only approved for Liturgical use in the States. Apparently things can be a little different even in other English speaking countries. I’ve had a lot of requests to see these in other languages, but I’m not ready to bite off more than I can chew. So nice to “meet” you, though! 🙂
Wow, these will be great for 2nd graders preparing for First Communion or RCIA/RCIC candidates! Beautiful!
Lacy, These look AWESOME!!!! Now I really wish I could have gone to the conference! I’m going to show these to my sister, too!! God Bless!
I didn’t know you were thinking about coming to the conference! I would have loved to meet you and have my picture made with you. Maybe next year. 🙂
Lacy so awesome!!! I just sent an email to my Mommy and Me Playgroup so we can do a bulk order!!!
Email you soon!!
Yay! So excited! 🙂
You mention “even larger discounts”. Woould indicate the breaks and associted pricing?
Thank you for this, it appears wounderful. Michael
Yes, if you send an email to lacy(at)catholicicing(dot)com, I will send you my bulk rate info. Thanks!
Lacy, thank you SO much! I just ordered 5 – one for my eldest who is just learning to read, and the others for godchildren. I am a very big fan of your website & ideas, and have been incorporating many of them in the Preschool of Religion program at our parish. God bless you!
These look lovely and are a great idea. I’m an Anglican but the bits of the liturgy I have seen don’t look that much different to what we use in the UK.
Really? That’s so cool!
I watched the funeral of Pope John Paul, and was able to mainly follow it; the basic liturgy is the same – entrance, forgiveness, Gloria, readings, sermon (homily), creed, prayers, peace, offering, communion, blessing.
We obviously don’t have the Hail Mary, but we do use the Agnus Dei.
Here, Anglican churches go from evangelical to anglo-Catholic (or as we put it – how far up the candle!). I have been to an anglo-Catholic and loved the chance to just ‘be’. I think my current church is much lower, although some have said it is higher!
I used your Easter printables for a craft session I did with local children – most were non-churched and we also have a Muslim family but all knew the Easter story…
I recently came across your blog.
I noticed that you review Catholic products and so thought to tell you about Brother Francis, our terrific new animated DVD series for Catholic children, which I think you will love:
http://www.brotherfrancisonline.com
So far, we have released ‘Let’s Pray’, ‘Bread of Life’, ‘The Rosary’ and, ‘Forgiven: The Blessings of Confession. Episode 5, ‘Baptism’ should be available by October 2012. Each DVD contains both English and Spanish audio.
We would love to have you view it and review it, as we want to get the word out to Catholic parents that there is a fun, catchy new series that is specifically for Catholic children. Please consider taking a look at it.
Thank you and God bless,
Larry Zielke
larry@herald-inc.com
951-750-4777
I actually have the Eucharist one, and the one about prayer, and my children and I really like them! They’re adorable! (Trust me, I don’t say this about all Catholic children’s DVD’s. Really.) 😉
This looks very good. I’ve ordered five, one for our DRE and the other four for my classroom, and we’ll see where it goes from there.
Wish this had been available when I was in RCIA. I printed out my own (discreet, folded) copy of the responses and sat well in the back where I could learn the movements by watching everyone else stand up-sit down-kneel-pray-sing (our brand of Protestantism didn’t do that sort of thing).
This will be good for anyone coming to Mass for the first time – and for a few old hands, as well. Some of them have forgotten that we bow in a certain place during the Creed. Having it printed there on the side might help them to remember.
Wow! Now I’m torn between just ordering some for our family and waiting to see if anyone in our playgroup is interested in ordering too. These look great!
Thank you so much!!!! This looks so wonderful!!!!! I am sharing this information with our Homeschool group and our playgroup!!!
Thank you again – we LOVE your site!!!!
God Bless you and your family!!!!
Lacy, the booklet is beautiful! I ordered one for myself to see what it was like. I was very impressed with the pictures on Catholic Icing and I was not disappointed in the real thing! I am the DRE in two small rural Kansas parishes. I showed the book to my pastor and I think we are going to order them for our first and second graders – at least for those two grades. I will be emailing you about bulk pricing. thanks for creating such a beautiful and helpful booklet. This labor of love truly gives glory to God!
This is beautiful, Lacy! We are hosting an orphan from the Ukraine for a couple of weeks this summer through a new pilot ministry that we hope will continue and grow next year. Trying to engage her at Mass last weekend was quite difficult since we have been unable to find a suitable translator. Any way that I can purchase a modifiable version that I can translate into Russian for her?
No, I can’t send anything like that. Sorry! Hope you can find something that will work for you. God bless!
Hi, Lacy…
I’m wondering if there is any chance to have this in a e-book. I’m brazillian and I’m thinks this was a alsome ideia. i really want to buy it so i can translate it to my little consins. Thank you.
I don’t have this in any other languages right now. Translating the Mass is a very complicated thing that takes years and lot of people and approvals. I know there is a version of the Mass already in your language, but I don’t know what books are available. Sorry I can’t be more help right now!
Hey I am Jamie, and my 12th birthday is coming up and I thought that this would make a perfect gift!!!!!!!!! and the price is perfect and I thought that the art was gorgeous:) I cant wait to see what you do next!!!!! I am a fan!!!!!!!!!! keep up the work:)
Happy Birthday! Thanks for posting! 🙂
I am was not completely sure if this was your first piece of work or not but this book is so AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!:) I am such a BIG fan!!!!! have a great day and God Bless You:)
Thanks you so much! So happy to hear. 🙂
I really love your blog and would love to order the book for my daughter but the shipping charge to Ontario, Canada must be wrong as it say $ 21 – please let me know when its corrected and I will place my order – thanks:)
Unfortunately, yes. It used to be a lot cheaper to send things to Canada, but the post office raised their rates. :-/
Really wish this was an e book – have been trawling the web for hours looking for something just like this – but postage to the UK is $25 🙁
I know! I am equally outraged at shipping costs. :-/
This is beautiful! I’m going to get one for each of my daughters (one of whom is also named Violet!) 🙂
One question though – any chance you might be making a Latin edition any time soon?? We attend the Novus Ordo in Latin and would really love a book that they can follow at that Mass. 🙂
It says it started as a free printable. Am I still able to print this for free? I was thinking it could be a fun craft to use with my American Heritage Girl kindergartners as we talk about our Church family, but I don’t have the funds to buy a 6 for them. I was hoping to print it and have them put the book together.
Thanks
The free version is no longer available.
Is the Our Father in the booklet? I’ve been looking for response cards or a kids booklet that includes the Our Father. Most publications assume that everyone knows that prayer and leave it out. My son is having a hard time memorizing that prayer and keeping up with the responses in mass. Your book looks like a great helping tool for him, but I want to make sure that it covers all the basics, too.
Thanks!
Yes, everything that is said out loud by the congregation is in there. 🙂
Is it possible to buy a digital format of the mass book?
I am looking for a digital format to project as our school mass is now virtual.
Hi Elizabeth –
The Mass booklet is only available in a printed format. Sorry!
Angie, Catholic Icing Project Manager
Hi! I’d love to buy a Mass booklet, but the shipping costs almost as much as the booklet. I read in an earlier comment that the shipping shouldn’t be so high. Is over $5 for shipping one book correct? Thanks!
Hi Leslie –
Printed books from Catholic Icing are now handled by Gloria Patri Print Company, so we no longer control the shipping costs. For many years, Lacy purposefully undercharged for shipping costs, but now it’s something we no longer take care of on our end. You can reach out to Gloria Patri Print Company to discuss shipping if you have concerns: https://gloriapatriprint.com/pages/contact-us
Angie, Catholic Icing Project Manager
Hi,
I’m enjoying the wonderful resources on your website as I share our Catholic faith with my daughter. Is there anyway to make this booklet available via pdf?
Thanks be to God for this wonderful website! May He continue to inspire you and your team in creating beautiful and fun ways to share our faith.