Accidentally arriving early before Mass

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Lost_Wanderer

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Sometimes I get confused about mass schedules and end up arriving earlier. The thing is, I bore easily and I always have my PSP in a pouch strapped to my belt like it’s my own gun. 😛

Would it mean trouble if I played while waiting for the priest? What about if I just listened to music?
 
Lost_Wanderer said:
Sometimes I get confused about mass schedules and end up arriving earlier. The thing is, I bore easily and I always have my PSP in a pouch strapped to my belt like it’s my own gun. 😛

Would it mean trouble if I played while waiting for the priest? What about if I just listened to music?
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If you’re actually IN the Church, it would be a problem. If you’re outside, then playing the PSP or listening to music might not be the most pious thing you can do, but there’s nothing wrong with it.

If you want to listen to something, might I suggest something like a podcast of the day’s morning prayer? www.liturgyofthehours.org
 
FrDavid96 said:
If you’re actually IN the Church, it would be a problem. If you’re outside, then playing the PSP or listening to music might not be the most pious thing you can do, but there’s nothing wrong with it.

If you want to listen to something, might I suggest something like a podcast of the day’s morning prayer? www.liturgyofthehours.org
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Okay, I’ll wait around on the grounds then. :o
Also, thanks for the offer but you’re right that I’m not exactly pious. >_>;;

I do love a good homily though. 😃 (Especially one that makes me think.)
 
Why don’t you sit in silent prayer before our Lord & Savior, Jesus Christ, who is ever present in the Tabernacle.

"but let it be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable jewel of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious." (1 Peter 3:4)

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, Ora Pro Nobis Peccatoribus!

mark
 
why not use this opportunity to spend time with Jesus in the Tabernacle? 🙂

He’s there for our sake, but He’s usually alone 😦
He’s very pleased when we come to church and visit Him.
 
I love it when I manage to get there early. Time spent with Jesus is awesome. It’s a good chance to let Him speak to your heart in the quiet stillness.
 
Acts 7:48-49 ESV
(48) Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,
(49) "'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest?
 
I think it’s awesome when someone is there in church, and the church is completely empty. It’s not really just you in the church alone with no one else, but it’s you and Jesus. It’s like, he’s all alone, and then you come to pay him a visit. I’m sure he’s always happy to have company. Even if it would be like say, midnight or any hour of the day/night. I always wanted to go to Eucharistic Adoration and spend some time alone with Jesus.
 
Mark77 said:
Why don’t you sit in silent prayer before our Lord & Savior, Jesus Christ, who is ever present in the Tabernacle.

"but let it be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable jewel of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious." (1 Peter 3:4)

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, Ora Pro Nobis Peccatoribus!

mark
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Monica4316 said:
why not use this opportunity to spend time with Jesus in the Tabernacle? 🙂

He’s there for our sake, but He’s usually alone 😦
He’s very pleased when we come to church and visit Him.
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acadian said:
I love it when I manage to get there early. Time spent with Jesus is awesome. It’s a good chance to let Him speak to your heart in the quiet stillness.
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CatholicZ09 said:
I think it’s awesome when someone is there in church, and the church is completely empty. It’s not really just you in the church alone with no one else, but it’s you and Jesus. It’s like, he’s all alone, and then you come to pay him a visit. I’m sure he’s always happy to have company. Even if it would be like say, midnight or any hour of the day/night. I always wanted to go to Eucharistic Adoration and spend some time alone with Jesus.
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I did that before. It’s nice and all but eh, I’m no expert at talking to the Almighty without my mind flying off into an endless trail of random thought. 😛

Furthermore, “gentle and quiet” are the last things you’d describe the stuff that goes in my head. >_>

P.S.

Besides, He’s got people like you already. 🤷
 
Read the readings of the day, some scripture passages or some prayers before Mass. We are SUPPOSED to arrive early and prepare ourselves for Mass.

We do not have to be entertained every second of every day.
 
kage_ar said:
Read the readings of the day, some scripture passages or some prayers before Mass. We are SUPPOSED to arrive early and prepare ourselves for Mass.

We do not have to be entertained every second of every day.
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Actually, I sorta do those things during the homily if I can’t understand a word coming out of the priest’s mouth (half the time they speak in a vernacular provincial dialect that my city-bum mind has not really full grasped yet >_>).
 
Re: waiting on the grounds

You can wait in the vestibule, too, if you don’t want to wait in church. Nothing wrong with videogames in the vestibule. 🙂 (If it’s winter where you are, I don’t want you getting frostbite from waiting outside.)

Re: random thoughts

Oh, that’s nothing to disqualify you praying. Everybody starts like that, and everybody has problems with that at times. There’s a wonderful medieval Irish poem that a monk wrote, complaining about his thoughts flying off to Rome, straying after girls, and generally not behaving themselves in church. If monks – professional prayer guys – can suffer from that, why disqualify yourself from praying?

The point is that you don’t freak out and give up. If you find yourself thinking about something irrelevant, just turn your thoughts back to God. Rinse. Repeat. Just making the effort to be there is pleasing to God and does you good.
 
I would suggest downloading or getting weekly homilies off the net if you are unable to understand the Father where you are. When you get there early you could read this to get the full effect of Mass.

Also, it should be a warning bell to you that something is wrong if you can’t just sit still in silence. The whole world seems to be ADD, and needs to be entertained at every minute of the day. This is actually VERY unhealthy for your body and mind, not to mention spirit. Your brain needs quiet time every once in a while. You should work on this until you can get better control over yourself.
 
Mintaka said:
Re: waiting on the grounds

You can wait in the vestibule, too, if you don’t want to wait in church. Nothing wrong with videogames in the vestibule. 🙂 (If it’s winter where you are, I don’t want you getting frostbite from waiting outside.)
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There’s no winter in my country. 😛
Mintaka said:
The point is that you don’t freak out and give up. If you find yourself thinking about something irrelevant, just turn your thoughts back to God. Rinse. Repeat. Just making the effort to be there is pleasing to God and does you good.
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Meh, I just confuse myself really easy with how all my thoughts regarding God get mixed with other things. That and even my thoughts about God alone tend to swarm in my head. :o
zz912 said:
Also, it should be a warning bell to you that something is wrong if you can’t just sit still in silence. The whole world seems to be ADD, and needs to be entertained at every minute of the day. This is actually VERY unhealthy for your body and mind, not to mention spirit. Your brain needs quiet time every once in a while. You should work on this until you can get better control over yourself.
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From personal experience, you’re only hope to tackle a disorder like that is at a critically young age. I’m already twenty. It’s too late for me and even if you believe otherwise, I’ve become proud of what I am. I feel that God has given me a very free and feisty imagination and I don’t want to be anything I’m not. I just need to organize my thoughts better, that’s all. 😛
 
oh don’t hang around outside if the weather is bad.

why not give yourself the gift of silence for a few minutes, one of the rarest commodities in today’s world, and simply sit quietly in God’s house with him for a while.
 
I make it a point, in fact, to arrive at least a half hour early. The time I spend in the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, in silence, with Our Lord, is precious. I get irritated if something delays me and steals that time away from me.

It’s not that I am particularly holy. I just need that time to put me in the proper disposition for Mass. Sometimes, when I can still otherwise meet my Sunday obligation (usually when my choir sings at a Vigil Mass on Saturday evening), I attend my wife’s Protestant church where the half hour before the service is a sort of social hour where everyone chats and greets each other in the pews, and children run around all over the place. It makes me very uncomfortable; I need a good period of silence for me to transition from the noisy world to the Mass. I can’t figure out how people can become disposed to prayer going from chatting about the weather or gossiping to the service without an interlude of silence in between.

Ora
 
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