What happens at Mass?

Considering my blog is named for what happens at Mass (Get it? Because of all the standing and kneeling?), I figured it was high time for a post about what happens at Mass, since some of my audience may have never been to Mass before.

First of all, I know it seems daunting to people who haven’t been before. I made the mistake of taking some friends awhile back without explaining what would happen first, and they were just really confused and overwhelmed. So definitely read this before you go so you know what to expect and can appreciate it instead of worrying that you’re going to say the wrong thing.

Also remember that the translation was changed recently, and many Cradle Catholics rely on pamphlets to tell them what to say. So don’t fret about looking silly holding the paper and reading straight from it (I still need it sometimes).

I’d also like to note that I’m not going to explain WHY everything’s done, only the WHAT. I confess that I’m not knowledgeable enough to make a reliable post about it, but fear not, for I am working on it. In the meantime, I recommend you check out the works of Dr. Scott Hahn if you’re interested in learning some of the WHY.

The Mass

So, you walk into the church. You will most likely be greeted by some parishioners, and if they notice you’re new they’ll probably make sure you have what you need to participate.

Then you get to go in and sit down. However, as you enter the area with the pews, you’ll see some bowls filled with water. That water is Holy Water, and Catholics bless themselves with it by dipping a finger in and making the Sign of the Cross with it. It’s to remind them of their Baptism. If you feel comfortable following suit, you are welcome to if you are baptized in a Christian church.

It’s traditional to genuflect or bow before you enter your pew. This is a sign of respect and honor before our King. Once you enter your pew, you’re welcome to sit or kneel for some prayer; this is to get your mind focused on the Mass that’s about to happen and the God that you are honoring. Personally I like to get there about 20 minutes early so that I have plenty of time to pray (I tend to ramble a bit with my prayer) and so I can sit in the front pew (It’s my favorite seat – you can see everything so easily!).

Finally, Mass starts! The cantor (the person leading the singing) greets the congregation and invites them to stand and join in the opening song. Please sing along; it’s a lot of fun! As you’re singing the priest, servers and possibly deacon will process in. The deacon will be carrying a large book that contains the readings for each Mass. The procession will line up at the altar and bow, then the priest and deacon will go to the altar and pay their respects by kissing it. The servers will come up and take their seats as the priest and deacon do so, and the song should end right around then.

The priest will open up the Mass by having everyone make the Sign of the Cross. At this point you’ll be in good shape as long as you follow the pamphlet. As for when to stand up and sit down, just follow along with everyone else. You can check out this link if you want to see the exact texts of the Mass.

However, I do want to talk about communion myself, because this is SUPER SUPER important (SUPER is repeated for emphasis.).

In the Catholic Church, communion is called the Holy Eucharist, or just Eucharist. Catholics believe that when the priest says the prayers of consecration, the process of transubstantiation occurs. The bread and wine retain its natural form, but it BECOMES Jesus. It takes a lot of faith to believe this, but I believe it to you. That bread and wine is Jesus, His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.

Now, as you can imagine, when you’re dealing with the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, you need to be incredibly respectful, and there are specific ways of doing that. Because of this importance, only people who are in full communion with the Catholic Church can receive the Eucharist. HOWEVER, non-Catholics are more than welcome to come forward for a blessing. Just cross your arms as you come up, and the priest/deacon/Eucharistic minister will bless you so that you can receive the grace of Jesus, too (You won’t be the only person that does that, I promise.).

When Mass ends, the servers, priest and deacon will process back out (to song, of course), and the congregation is free to leave when the song ends. I always pray before I go, just a little thanks for the beautiful service and a prayer that I’ll apply what I’ve learned to my life that week.

The priest and deacon normally wait outside to greet everyone as they leave. You’re welcome to chat with them and ask any questions you may have. They love answering questions. Trust me, I ask them all the time.

In conclusion

Mass isn’t scary, and it’s actually a lot of fun and a great spiritual experience. Feel free to ask me any questions if you’re going to a Mass and want more info than I’ve provided here.

God bless!

Jill

Why do Catholics have to go to church EVERY SUNDAY?

As a Cradle Catholic, I’d like to respond with a question of my own: Why wouldn’t you want to go to church every Sunday? I greatly cherish the time I spend with the Lord in church, and I look forward to it every week. I’d go every day if college didn’t interfere.

However, there are more official reasons other than desire for Catholics attending church each Sunday. They’re called Holy Days of Obligation.

What’s a Holy Day of Obligation?

A Holy Day of Obligation is a day on which Catholics are required to attend Mass, to put it simply. They’re feast days, some of the most important in the Liturgical Year, and what better way to celebrate them than by going to Mass?

Total, there are 62 or 63 Holy Days of Obligation, depending on the year. Every Sunday is considered a Holy Day of Obligation.

Why are they obligations? Obligations are so oppressive.

Unfortunately, obligation often has a negative connotation, and that should NOT be the case here. These days are considered obligations because celebrating Mass on these days is part of the minimum level of commitment required to be considered a good Catholic.

This requirement and others are listed in The Precepts of the Church, which can be found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church beginning at number 2041 (not page number. . .the Catechism is sort of set up like the Bible, with “verses,” per se).

These obligations shouldn’t be looked at as oppressive. Check out the definition of obligation. You’ll see that the third definition given is “a debt of gratitude.” We have a debt of gratitude to the Lord, for it’s through Him our lives are possible. Going to Mass, in a way, works to repay this debt, and we should be happy to repay it.

When are the other Holy Days of Obligations?

It depends on what region of the world you live in which days you’re required to celebrate Mass. For example, in Ireland you have to go on St. Patrick’s feast day, but that’s not required anywhere else in the world.

The universal church gives these feast days as Holy Days of Obligation:

·         Mary, Mother of God – January 1

·         Epiphany – January 6

·         St. Joseph – March 19

·         Ascension – 40^th day of Easter

·         Holy Body and Blood of Christ – Thursday after Trinity Sunday or 2^nd Sunday after Pentecost

·         Sts. Peter and Paul – June 29

·         Assumption – August 15

·         All Saints Day – November 1

·         Immaculate Conception – December 8

·         Christmas – December 25

What happens if you don’t go to Mass on a Holy Day of Obligation?

The Catholic Church separates sin into two types: venial and mortal. Venial sins are less serious, but if you die with a mortal sin on your soul, it’s believed you won’t be able to get into heaven and be with the Lord for eternity. Not going to church on a Holy Day of Obligation is considered a mortal sin, so if you don’t go, you have to go to Confession and confess this sin in order for it to be wiped away. You also can’t receive the Eucharist with a mortal sin on your soul.

In conclusion

Holy Days of Obligation are days you’re required to go to Mass, and they’re awesome because going to Mass is awesome.

God bless!

Jill

Why Do Catholics Worship the Saints?

They don’t.

What is a saint?

First of all, we need to define who the saints actually are.

Saints are people that we know for sure are in heaven. For example, Moses and Elijah are technically saints because we see them talking to Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 17:3). There’s also the poor Lazarus, who lied at the door of an extravagant rich man and “was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham” when he died (Luke 16:19-31).

How do you become a saint?

Nowadays, there’s a process to be officially recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church. Only the Pope can declare someone a saint, but the procedure leading up to this declaration is long, strict, and incredibly complicated. Declaring someone a saint is an incredibly important task because many Catholics study the lives of saints and look up to them as role models.

It’s also important to remember that while the Pope declares someone a saint (the official process is called canonization), the Pope isn’t actually putting anyone in heaven or anything like that. God alone puts people in heaven. When the Pope canonizes someone, he is recognizing what God has already done.

To sum up the complicated process, which can take decades or even centuries to complete, basically the candidate’s life is scrutinized. There has to be evidence of sanctity, virtue, obedience, etc. There also have to be certifiable miracles attributed to this person. The idea behind that is, if God wants it known that this person is with Him in heaven, He’ll permit something extraordinary in answer to prayers to that candidate.

So once all that is ready to go, the candidate is declared “Blessed” (Blessed Pope John Paul II, for example). Then if more evidence is found, the now Blessed person goes through the entire process again, and if he or she makes it, he or she is officially enrolled in the canon of the Church calendar and can be made patron of parish churches and the like.

Why do we have saints?

               

Well, like I said earlier, many Catholics study the lives of saints to find inspiration and even guidance on how to live their own lives. I mean, they made it to heaven! They obviously did something right. Many Catholics have patron saints, i.e. a saint that they’re named after or a saint they feel particularly close to because they went through similar experiences. And by praying to saints, we ask them to intercede on our behalf before God. It’s like asking a friend here on Earth to pray for you, except this is much more powerful because a saint is with God in heaven.

Let me make it abundantly clear that praying to a saint is NOT the same as praying to God, and it’s not worship, either. Praying to the saints and praying to God are two TOTALLY different concepts, ones somewhat difficult to understand because the English language gives them the same name.

We’re going to look at Latin, because whoever put together Latin did a much better job of showing these differences. In Latin, the worship owed solely to God is called latria. Humans are completely dependent on God, and latria acknowledges that. Dulia is the respect owed to saints, and it means “appropriate” or “fitting and proper.” It’s not really worship; it’s just respect.¹

It is completely okay to pray to saints. For one, as I said before, it’s like asking a friend to pray for you. It’s even in the Bible:

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.” (James 5:16)

Tell others of your shortcomings so that they can pray for you and help you. Prayer is powerful, and even more so when it’s the prayer of a righteous person, and a saint most certainly qualifies as a righteous person. They made it to heaven. You don’t get more righteous than that.

Who are some cool saints?

St. Gabriel Possenti is the patron saint of students and Catholic youth. He was born on March 1, 1838, and was the eleventh of thirteenth children. He was known for being charitable and pious, but he was also rather vain and prone to anger. He narrowly escaped death three times, each time promising to enter the religious life, but he didn’t go through with it until the third time. He died of tuberculosis before he was ordained a priest, but apparently right before he died, he sat up and reached for an otherwise unseen figure entering the room. His face was completely radiant, and it’s believed he saw the Virgin Mary at the moment of his death.

St. Monica is another favorite of mine. To put her story simply, she prayed for the conversion of her pagan son every day for 17 years. Seventeen years! And she never lost faith that God would answer her prayers! After 17 years, her son finally converted to Christianity, and guess who he turned out to be? St. Augustine, who is one of the Doctors of the Church.

St. Lucy is my Confirmation saint (Basically, when I was Confirmed in the Church I took on her name, and she’s one of my patron saints.). She’s the patron saint of the blind, writers, and many other people, and she’s also known for being a virgin martyr. I look to her as inspiration for living purely and chastely.

In conclusion

The saints are pretty cool folks that Catholics do not worship. They’re great sources of inspiration and guidance, and they’ll intercede for you (if you ask nicely, of course).

God bless!

Jill

¹Information on these Latin words is brought to you by Why Do Catholics Do That? by Kevin Orlin Johnson, Ph.D. It can be found on pages 148 and 149.

An Introduction

Hi, I'm Jill.

Why am I writing this blog?

                The Catholic Church brings to mind different images for different people. For some, they see the Church as absolutely beautiful – God’s church on Earth. For others, the Church isn’t even Christian; they see it as an abomination. And there are those who just don’t see much, maybe a saint or priest here or there.

                There are a lot of people out there, even Catholics, that don’t know what the Catholic Church truly teaches. I’m writing this primarily to educate, to help people learn and understand the teachings of the Church. And by people, I mean everyone who wants to learn.

                Let me be clear right now. This is NOT a conversion attempt. Yes, I am Catholic, but I’m also a journalist. I am capable of presenting information in an unbiased way, and that’s what I’m aiming to do. I aim to present information in an unbiased way to clear up some of the many misconceptions of the Catholic Church.

                I have been Catholic my whole life. I may not have any degrees in theology or anything like that, but when I talk to you about what Catholics believe, I talk to you about what I believe. I talk to you about what I live. Experience can be just as valuable, if not more valuable, than credentials. But don’t worry, I do have solid research to back me up, too.

Housekeeping

                This blog started as an assignment for my reporting class. I had to use Dreamweaver to create the site, but now I'm moving it here because it'll look a lot prettier and be easier to use. You can still visit the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/sundaymorningcalisthenics. I encourage you to like the page and maybe help me get some discussion going, because it seems no one wants to talk. I just ask that everyone plays nice and is respectful to one another.

                If you ever have any questions you want to ask me personally rather than on the Facebook page, you can email me at jill.sorg@gmail.com, and I will get back to you as soon as I can. I may ask you if I can post the question and my answer on the blog, but that will be completely at your discretion.

                I'm going to try to update every Wednesday this summer, so check back Wednesday afternoons or evenings for new stuff.

In conclusion

               

                Pro tip: press Ctrl + D to bookmark this page.

                God bless you!

                                Jill