CC Ball Action stops working when I try to use a mask

Using AE CS6 on mac os 10.7.5.  I'm trying to use CC Ball action to make a cool particle animaation.  In order to do the animation I'm trying to create I need to use a mask.  Every time I use a mask the cc ball action stops working.  It's still in the timeline and shows to be visible but the image is unchanged.  Even if I delete the mask the effect remains invisible.  In order to get the effect to work again I have to delete it and re-apply it.