catholic mass explained

This is discussed in Scott Hahn's "The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth":
http://books.google.com/books?id=BMPbH_R CACMC&printsec=frontcover&source =gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&am p;q=&f=false

2009-12-18 13:17:43 by wwoody2

A very brief introduction to what takes place at a Catholic Mass.

I've recently started dating a Catholic and I've gone to Mass with him a few times- but I'm not really sure what's going on some of the time. He explained to me about communion, but I'm reluctant to ask him anything more. I wasn't raised in a religious home and I don't really want this guy to know how little I know not only about Catholicism but religion in general. Any help? Serious answers only please!

We'll stick to the mass right now, but please feel free to post more questions - I'd be happy to offer all the insight I can.

There are two main parts to the Mass - Liturgy of the Word and Liturgy of the Eucharist.

Liturgy of the Word:

* Opening Rites - this is the song you might sing, blessings and prayers at the very beginning of mass. Sometimes we will sing a Gloria as a speicial praise to God, sometimes we will do a penetential rite to remind us that we aren't perfect but God always love us.

* "The Readings" - Most of the year, we listen to a reading from the Old Testament, sing a psalm in response to that reading, listen to a non-Gospel reading from the New Testament, and then listen to a reading from one of the four Gospels. The readings are important as these create the foundation of our faith.

* Homily - same thing as a sermon. Some priests are very good at them, some aren't.

* Creed & General Intentions / Prayers of the Faithful - the creed sums up the most core beliefs of Catholicism. After saying it together, we pray for the needs of the world and ourselves.

Liturgy of the Eucharist

* Preparation of the Gifts - this is where they take up the collection (tithing, more or less) and bring the elements of bread and wine to the altar.

* Eucharistic Prayer - this part can get very complicated and to be honest, pretty confusing if you don't know what's going on. Long story short is that this is one very long prayer where the priest and the congregation each have their own spoken and/or sung parts. During it, we recall the Last Supper and the priest invokes the power of the Holy Spirit during the consecration to turn the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ.

* Lord's Prayer, Sign of Peace, Lamb of God - we stand together and say the "Our Father," wish our neighbors peace, and prepare for communion. At the Lamb of God, the priest and Eucharistic Ministers distribute the Body and Blood into separate plates and cups for communion.

* Communion Procession - the congregation comes forward to receieve communion.

* Closing Rites - we have final blessings and prayers, sometimes some announcements, and voila, we're done!

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I have never been to one, what goes on?

The Mass:
• Is the principal sacramental celebration of the Catholic Church
• Was established by Jesus at the Last Supper
• Renews the mystery of our salvation through participation in the sacrificial death and glorious resurrection of Christ

In the Mass, we:
• Gather as one family
• Admit our sins, ask God for forgiveness, and the saints and each other for prayer and support
• Glorify God
• Listen to, ponder and reflect on His Word from the Scriptures
• Pray for the Church, the world, those in need, and ourselves
• Celebrate the Eucharist (Holy Communion) in obedience with Christ's command to "do this in memory of me."
• Are sent out into the world to love and serve the Lord and one another

It is called "Mass" (from the Latin missa) because of the "mission" or "sending" with which the liturgical celebration concludes.

Here is an outline of the Mass:

• Introductory Rites
. • Entrance (All stand)
. • Greeting
. • Act of Penitence
. • Kyrie Eleison (Latin for "Lord have mercy")
. • Gloria
. • Opening Prayer

• Liturgy of the Word
. • First Reading - usually from the Old Testament (All sit)
. • Responsorial Psalm
. • Second Reading - usually from a New Testament Epistle
. • Gospel Reading (All stand)
. • Homily (All sit for the sermon)
. • Profession of Faith (the Nicene Creed) (All stand)
. • Prayer of the Faithful (prayers of petition)

• Liturgy of the Eucharist
. • The Preparation of the Gifts - the bread and wine are brought forward and placed on the altar, our monetary offerings are also collected at this time (All sit)
. • The Prayer over the Offerings (All stand)
. • The Eucharistic Prayer - during this prayer the bread and wine change into the Body and Blood of Christ (Catholics kneel, visitors may kneel or sit)
. • The Lord's Prayer (All stand)
. • The Rite of Peace (We offer each other a sign of peace)
. • The Breaking of the Bread
. • Communion - non-Catholics are requested out of respect not to receive Communion, they may approach the altar with their arms crossed over their chest to receive a blessing (Stand or kneel according to local custom)

• The Concluding Rites
. • Announcements (All sit)
. • Blessing (All stand)
. • Dismissal
. • Procession

For more information, see the General Instruction of the Roman Missal: http://www.usccb.org/liturgy/current/cha pter2.shtml#sect3a
and http://www.davidmacd.com/catholic/cathol ic_mass_full_text.htm

With love in Christ.

2008-09-19 13:19:56 by M!ss Kat!e

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Hey
I need help with the Roman Catholic Mass.
could you explain what happens in the following or give some useful websites please,
Thanks

1. gathering rite
2. penitential rite
3. Gloria
4. Liturgy of the Word
5. Prayers of the faithful
6. Offertory
7. Eucharistic Prayer
8. Communion
9. concluding rite

Liturgy of the Word. When we gather at a friend”s home for a meal, we always begin with conversation, telling our stories. At Mass, after the rites of gathering, we sit down and listen as readings from the Word of God are proclaimed. They are the stories of God”s people.

Three readings and a psalm. On Sundays there are three readings from the Bible. The first reading will be from the Hebrew Scriptures. We recall the origins of our covenant. It will relate to the Gospel selection and will give background and an insight into the meaning of what Jesus will do in the Gospel. Then we will sing or recite a psalm—a song from God”s own inspired hymnal, the Book of Psalms of the Hebrew Bible. The second reading will usually be from one of the letters of Paul or another apostolic writing. The third reading will be taken from one of the four Gospels.

Some visitors to the Catholic Mass are surprised to find us reading from the Bible! We Catholics have not generally been famous for our Bible reading, and yet the Mass has always been basically and fundamentally biblical. Even some Catholics might be surprised to learn how much of the Mass is taken from the Bible: Not only the three readings and the psalm, not only the obviously biblical prayers such as the Holy, Holy, Holy and the Lord”s Prayer, but most of the words and phrases of the prayers of the Mass are taken from the Bible.

Standing for the Gospel. Because of the unique presence of Christ in the proclamation of the Gospel, it has long been the custom to stand in attentive reverence to hear these words. We believe that Christ “is present in his word, since it is he himself who speaks when the holy Scriptures are read in the church” (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, #7). The priest will again greet us with “The Lord be with you.” He then introduces the Gospel reading while marking a small cross on his forehead, lips and heart with his thumb while praying silently that God cleans his mind and his heart so that his lips may worthily proclaim the Gospel. In many places, the congregation performs this ritual action along with the priest. The Gospel reading concludes with the ritual formula “The Gospel of the Lord” and we respond, “Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ,” again proclaiming our faith in the presence of Christ in the word. Then we sit for the homily.

Homily. Homily (which replaced the word sermon for many) is a new word for Catholics. It means more than just a sermon or a talk about how we are to live or what we are to believe. It is an act of worship rooted in the texts of the Mass and especially in the readings from Scripture which have just been proclaimed. The homily takes that word and brings it to our life situation today. Just as a large piece of bread is broken to feed individual persons, the word of God must be broken open so it can be received and digested by the congregation.

2010-02-10 13:11:49 by Gaby

Many of my friends are protestants (Baptists, Christian Reformed, Non-Denom, etc.) Anyways, I was talking to a friend of mine and asked her denomination. She explained how she will go to any Christian church, but not Catholic. She explained how she went to a friends Catholic church and she thought the mass was weird. She talked about the communion being weird and the songs they sang as weird.

Why do they think Catholics are weird when they were the FIRST CHRISTIANS? They invented the religion. I was kind of offended.

What are your thoughts?

Non Catholics overall really need to understand what a Mass is all about.

A Mass is very basic, very quiet and directed completely toward God/Jesus.
The Mass is not intended to be entertaining, far from the latter the Mass is never intended to give us anything (other than grace from our Lord).

As Catholics when we attend Mass it is our way of joining Jesus at the Last Supper.
Remember, when Jesus said: "Do this in memory of me".

This is the earliest written account of the institution of the Lord's Supper in the New Testament.
The narrative emphasizes Jesus' action of self-giving (expressed in the words over the bread and the cup) and his double command to repeat his own action.
1 Corinthians 11:23, 24

Concerning the 1st formal church we only need to study history.
Take the time to review the early Church fathers.
Furthermore, seek out how long your present church has been around and why was it started along with who started it.
Once you push away all the lies that you have been taught you will find out that Catholicism was the earliest Christian formal religion based on the belief of God/Jesus.
We can clearly read this in Acts 11:26, up until the mid 16th century the ONLY Christian religion was Catholicism which began 50 days after Pentecost.

A grand story of hope:
http://www.catholiceducation.org/article s/apologetics/ap0088.html

The above is a beautiful story concerning the conversion of Dr. Scott Hahn.
This is an extremely well educated man that disliked everything about the Catholic church until he began to actually learn the truth!
I also admire Dr. Billy Graham, many of his books point directly toward the Catholic church for clarity.

Both of the above authors are superb writers!

Finally, take the time to forgive your friends, they simply do not have the grace to understand; pray for them.


God bless'

2008-12-06 21:06:59 by Katie