UNDERSTANDING
THE MASS
CELEBRATING THE LORD’S DAY
Sunday is the day on which we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus. Sunday is the Lord’s Day. We gather for Mass, rest from work, and perform works of mercy. People all over the world gather at God’s Eucharistic table as brothers and sisters.
Other Names for Mass
The Eucharist
Greek term meaning “thanksgiving”.
The Liturgy
Which comes from the words laos (people) and ergon (work). So the Liturgy is the work for the people, done on their behalf by the Lord.
The Holy Sacrifice
This refers to the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. We join in the sacrifice a Mass, but it is Christ who offers it.
The Lord’s Supper
At the Last Supper, the night before He died, Jesus instituted the sacrament of His Body and Blood.
The Breaking of the Bread
Remeber the two disciples on the road to Emmaus? Remember how they came to know Jesus in the breaking on the bread?
The Offering
Jesus’ offering to the Father and to His disciples.
The Wedding Feast of the Lamb
The Book of Revelation’s term for the Mass.
Mass
Comes from the Latin, “missa”. We get the word Mission from the same word. From Mass, we are sent to continue the Mission of the Lord.
WHEN YOU ARRIVE
When entering a Catholic Church, bless yourself with Holy Water from the font. You do not have to be Catholic to do this. This is a moment you share with our Lord, indicating that you are entering God’s house and are preparing yourself for prayer.
Before entering your pew or seat, genuflect toward the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle, which is indicated by a burning candle (usually a red one). This is called the Sanctuary Lamp and is always lit when the Blessed Sacrament is present. Genuflecting was an ancient sign of reverence toward a ruler. The Church adopted kneeling/bowing as showing the ultimate reverence toward the true King, our Lord. If you are not in view of the tabernacle, a simple bow toward the altar is appropriate. This sign of respect indicates that you understand that the altar is the table of the Lord, where the bread and wine are consecrated.
When kneeling or sitting, spend time in prayer. Collect yourself and prepare for Mass. Prayers can usually be found in the missalette or even in the song book. Give thanks for all that God continues to give you.
THE ORDER OF THE MASS
The Mass is the most important celebration of the Church—it is the source and summit of our lives as Christians. As Catholics, we worship in an ordered way. All across the globe, Mass is essentially the same.
Introductory Rites – We Gather and Prepare
This first part of the Mass is mean tot gather all the individual people in the church, who have been called there by God, into the Body of Christ. The rite takes each of us out of our individual thoughts and gathers us all into the prayer of the Church. This is a transition that gets us ready for the awesome mystery of the Eucharist where we receive Jesus’ Body and Blood.
As we sing the Entrance Hymn, which helps unify us as one voice, think about the prayers you bring with you. Pray for yourself, your family, and your faith community. During the procession, which is the bringing of all of us to the altar, we are led by the cross as Jesus leads us today. We are now gathered as the Disciples were at the Last Supper – around the table of the Lord- and to the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
PENITENTIAL ACT
As we begin, we recognize our sinfulness and our need for and our dependence on, the mercy and forgiveness of God. We remember our sins and so we ask God for mercy.
Entrance Hymn
We are called together as a community and praise God in hymnsof praise.
Greeting
We pray the Sign of the Cross.The priest welcomes us.
When each one of us was baptized, we were signed with the cross of Jesus Christ. In that moment, the Church claimed us for Christ – we belong to him. As we are gathered for Mass, the very first thing we do is, once again, mark ourselves with the sign of Christ’s cross, reminding us of whose we are and to whom we belong. This also reminds us that the Mass, though it has many parts, is one great prayer! All the different pieces help to form this one most perfect prayer that we, as Catholics, share.
Penitential Act
During the penitential act, if the Confiteor is used, when we declare “through my fault” three times, we strike our chests. This is done by making a fist and lightly striking the chest each time the words are repeated. In the Bible, striking one’s chest was a sign of mourning. We mourn our failure to live up to God’s grace.
If the Confiteor is not used, the priest or the deacon will invite us to repeat, “Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy” as we remember our sinfulness and ask for God’s mercy and forgiveness.
Gloria
After we have remembered God’s mercy and forgiveness given to us in Christ, the only appropriate response is to praise God. We do that in the Gloria which follows. This ancient hymn comes from the song of the angels at the birth of Jesus.
Collect
The priest invites us to pray silently and we offer our own prayers. Father then “collects” all of them in the opening prayer for the Mass. We ask God to hear our prayers.
LITURGY OF THE WORD: HEARING AND RESPONDING TO GOD’S PLAN OF SALVATION
First Reading
We listen to God’s Word, usually from the Old Testament, and we are reminded of all those things that God has done throughout history to save us. During the Easter Season, the first reading comes from the Acts of the Apostles, which describes the work of the early Christian communities.
Responsorial Psalm
God’s word demands a response. The Psalms have been called the “Church’s first prayer book.” These are words that Jesus himself used in prayer. As we sing the psalm, we are responding to God’s greatness. We respond to God’s Word in song.
Second Reading
This reading comes from the New Testament; most often one of the epistles. These are instructional letters written by the Apostles to the earliest Christian communities, offering spiritual advice on how to live as a disciple. In these letters are advice and counsel that help us, too, live out our faith.
Gospel Acclamation
We sing “Alleluia!” which means “Praise the Lord!” to praise God for the Good News. During Lent, we use a different acclamation to acclaim the Lord’s words as our celebration is muted in this liturgical season.
Just as in the Introductory Rite there was a procession that helped us transition from the outside world to Mass, now there is a procession so that we might prepare our hearts and minds to hear from Jesus.
When the Gospel is proclaimed, the priest or deacon invites us to pay close attention andreminds us of God’s presence in our lives.
Invitation: The Lord be with you.
Response: And with your spirit.
Invitation: A reading for from the holy Gospel according to (either Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John).
Response: Glory to you, O Lord.
With these words we sign ourselves with the sign of Christ – the cross. Tracing the cross on our foreheads, lips and heart, so that these words of Christ fill our minds, are on our tongues and are in our hearts.
Homily
The Liturgy of the Word continues with the homily where the priest/deacon helps us make connections between the Scripture readings and how we live out a life of faith. The homily helps us understand the Scriptures and leads us to Eucharist.
Profession of Faith
Having heard from the scriptures the words and works of the Lord, we are called to respond with what we believe. We proclaim our faith through the Creed. We proclaim as one: “I believe…”
Prayer of the Faithful
These prayers, also called the Universal Prayer, invite us to stand and present our needs and the needs of all others. This usually follows an invitation by the celebrant to gather all our prayers into one.
We stand and present our needs and the needs of others. This usually following a similar pattern: prayers for the Church, those in authority, for the sick and the poor, for those in our community, and often for those who have died.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST–CELEBRATING CHRIST’S PRESENCE IN THE EUCHARIST
Presentation and Preparation of the Gifts
People from the community bring forth the bread and wine to be offered to God. However, the bread and the wine aren’t the only things we offer God in the Presentation of the Gifts. We also offer ourselves. Each time we go to Mass, we are called to “lift up our hearts” and all that we are to the Lord! We offer ourselves as “gift” to God. Even though you are not walking forward, you can still “carry” a gift, given to you by God that you bring to this Mass to be blessed, broken, and shared with others. What gifts do you have that you will share this week?
Washing of Hands
In ancient times when the gifts were brought forth from the community, those could have included live animals. The washing ritual was a practical step before consecrating the bread and wine to be shared. The ritual remains in our Mass of today as a symbolic washing with a prayer that the priest says for interior purification, “Wash me, O Lord, from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” It is a prayer that we can pray with him in our hearts to help prepare to receive the Bread of Life and the Cup of Salvation.
Prayer Over the Offerings
The priest prays that God will accept the sacrifice of Christ and, with it, our sacrifice.
Eucharistic Prayer
This prayer of thanksgiving is the center and high point of the entire celebration. While the words are different in the 13 different Eucharistic Prayers, the underlying structure is the same. Each Eucharistic prayer acknowledges our need to give thanks to God, offers the bread and wine, asks God to send the Holy Spirit to transform the very bread and wine into Christ’s Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, and intercedes on behalf of the Church, the world, the poor, and those who have gone before us.
Preface
We give thanks and praise to God.
Holy, Holy, Holy
United with heaven, we join the Angels and Saints in singing their acclamation of praise.
Institution Narrative
In recalling the events of the Last Supper, the bread and wine become the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ.
The Mystery of Faith
We proclaim the mystery of our faith, that Jesus’ Death and Resurrection have an effect on our lives. This simple phrase unites our lives with his self-sacrifice, which is why we always use words like “we” and “our.”
Intercessions
By the power of the Holy Spirit, we ask the Father to transform us into the Body of Christ and increase his presence throughout the world.
Doxology
Each Eucharistic Prayer concludes with the words “Through him, with him, and in him…” Through, with, and in Christ we give all praise and honor to the Father.
Amen
We affirm the words and actions of what has just happened in the Eucharistic Prayer by using the word that literally means, “so be it,” or “it is so.”
COMMUNION RITE
Receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ
The Lord’s Prayer
The ‘Our Father’ is a prayer that we pray much, but probably ponder little. Understanding the words we pray, which come directly from the lips of Jesus, can lead us to a deeper appreciation of our relationship with God. Before we share in the Bread of Life and the Cup of Salvation, we recognize that our daily bread comes from God. As we pray, we join ourselves to Christ and in Christ, through the common priesthood of the faithful. We are the sons and daughters of God, and we pray together as brothers and sisters.
The Sign of Peace
We offer one another Christ’s peace. We use the first words of Jesus after the Resurrection: “Peace be with you” and we understand that Christ is our peace, the divine peace, announced by the prophets and by the angels, and which he brought to the world by means of his also, Paschal Mystery. Once we have received the peace of Christ – which is more than just a kind greeting – we are prepared to receive the fullness of Christ in the Eucharist.
COMMUNION
We receive the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. Once more, we enter into a procession. All processions are outward, physical symbols of inward and spiritual realities. Each one of us, in our own faith lives, is on a procession. Our whole life is one great procession – one great journey – to Heaven and to the Father. So now, as we move forward to receive Holy Communion, we are more than simply “in line.” We are in another procession which is a symbol of our pilgrimage to the Heavenly Banquet!
As we reach the priest, deacon, or the Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion, we are presented with the Eucharist in the very simplest of words: “The Body of Christ.” This most awesome mystery, the very presence of Christ Jesus, given for our lives, and for the life of the world, demands a response from each one of us. And so we respond, “Amen,” another Hebrew word which means, “Yes,” or “So be it.”
The Eucharist is the spiritual and sacramental nourishment for our life journey! As the Lord fed his chosen people with manna from Heaven, so too does he feed us with this Bread from Heaven. As the two disciples on the road to Emmaus recognized the presence of the Lord in the breaking of the bread, so too do we recognize the presence of Christ in our midst, feeding us with his very Body and Blood, and we pray that our hearts might be set on fire with love of him.
Similarly, we are presented with the chalice with the words, “The Blood of Christ,” and again we respond with a strong “Amen!”
Prayer After Communion
We pray that the Eucharist will strengthen us to live as Jesus did.
HOW DO WE RECEIVE
HOLY COMMUNION?
The General Instruction of the Roman Missal asks each country’s Conference of Bishops to determine the posture to be used for the reception of Communion and the act of reverence to be made by each person as he or she receives Communion. In the United States, the body of Bishops have determined that Communion should be received standing, and that a bow is the act of reverence made by those receiving. It is also permissible to kneel to receive Holy Communion. Either way, be prepared to receive Holy Communion either in the hand or on the tongue. If you wish to receive Holy Communion in the hand, make sure your hands are clean, free of bandages and/or gloves.
Make a throne with your hands. When the person distributing Communion says, “The Body of Christ,” to you, reply with a strong, “Amen,” which means, “it is so.”
WHAT ABOUT COMING FORWARD
FOR A BLESSING?
On occasion, someone will approach the ordinary or extraordinary minister of Holy Communion with their arms crossed over their chest. For many, this is a sign that they would like a blessing instead of Holy Communion. This is true especially for children who have not yet received their First Holy Communion. It may also be that the person is an adult who is seeking a spiritual Communion for personal reasons. Perhaps they are not Catholic.
Whatever the reason, the fact remains: If the person is in the line of the ordinary minister, a blessing may be offered. It is not required. The blessing of the assembly properly occurs at the end of the Mass. As the body of Christ, the assembly is blessed together before we depart to live the fruits of the liturgy.
In the Diocese of Bridgeport, Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion (EMHC) are not permitted to offer any simulation of a blessing by making the Sign of the Cross on a communicant’s forehead or in any other manner. Instead, the person may be given a spiritual exhortation. Without holding a consecrated host, the EMHC should offer the following spiritual exhortation for both adults and children requesting a blessing: “May you receive the Lord Jesus in your heart.”
CONCLUDING RITES
GOING FORTH TO GLORIFY THE LORD THROUGH OUR LIVES
This is actually the shortest part of the Mass. Having heard the Word of the Lord and received his Body and Blood in Holy Communion, we are now charged to be Christ’s presence in every other part of our lives – our families, our work, our community.
Final Blessing
Once we have received Holy Communion, there is very little for us to do before we are sent out to be Christ’s presence – in so many different ways – out in the world.
Remember, the Mass is one great Prayer. Just as we began it by marking ourselves with the cross of Christ, so now, at the conclusion of the Mass, we do the same. This time, we mark ourselves as we receive the final blessing.
WHERE DID
MASS COME FROM?
The Mass is the re-presentation of the sacrifice of Calvary. It is not a re-crucifixion of Christ. Jesus died once – for all. Through his intercessory ministry in heaven and through the Mass, Jesus continues to offer himself to his Father as a living sacrifice, and he does so in what the Church specifically states is an “unbloody manner.”
When Jesus celebrated the Passover with his followers for the last time (the Last Supper), they shared a meal together. During the meal…
WHERE DO PRAYERS AT
MASS COME FROM?
While it is true that some of the prayers are taken directly, or in part, from the Bible, many of the prayers actually originate in the Didache, which are the teachings of the early apostles. This compilation of texts is from the early Christian communities and dates to the second century, long before the Bible was in its current form.
Other sources include the Magisterium of the Church (what the Church teaches) and even Saints and Church Councils. St. Thomas Aquinas, for example, wrote the prayers we use on Corpus Christi Sunday and the Creed comes from fourth century councils in Nicea and Constantinople. Some words, of course, come directly from Jesus as recorded in Scripture.
WHERE DO THE READINGS AT
MASS COME FROM?
All readings come from the Bible and are organized in a book called the Lectionary.
First Reading
Old Testament or (Acts of the Apostles – Easter) Responsorial Psalm: Book of Psalms
Second Reading
New Testament Letters or Book of Revelation Gospel – Matthew, Mark, Luke or John – 3-year cycle (A, B, C)
Matthew (A)
Mark (B)
Luke (C)
John (Lent, Easter)
Matthew, Mark, and Luke are the Synoptic Gospels. When you put them side by side, they tell the same story, but not word for word and not to the same audiences. For example, Mark tells more stories of physical healing, while Luke, who is writing to Gentile converts, gives more details of the parables of Jesus. Mark traveled with Peter, so it is Peter’s preaching we read in Mark. Luke traveled with Paul, so we get more of Paul’s preaching in the Gospel of Luke. It is also believed that Luke is the author of the Acts of the Apostles, so we hear much more about the early Church. Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience, so you read many references to the Old Testament and Jesus is portrayed as a “new Moses,” fulfilling the promises of old. John’s Gospel is different than the others. It concerns the spiritual side of redemption and is therefore mainly used during Lent and Easter.