So I when to Mass last Sunday, and coming from a low church Anabaptist background, it was really stressful for me as I for 90% of the service I had no clue what was going on and what I would expect to be doing. I stood when everyone stood, kneeled when everyone kneeled, and kind of mumbled faintly when everyone was reciting stuff, but the only time I felt like I knew completely what was going on and what was expected of me was during the Collect at the beginning and the sign of peace. No I didn’t take communion. I was a little bit weirded out by people constantly crossing themselves or kneeling before getting in the pews. I would like to go again so I can get a sense of what I actually think of the service without freaking out about what’s going on, and don’t want to stick out like a sore thumb. Any advice?
You will experience quite a lot of culture shock, so give yourself lots and lots of time to get used to it. You are literally learning a new language and way of thinking.
The Mass happens in four distinct movements - the Introductory Rite, which begins with the Sign of the Cross and ends with the Collect. Next is the Liturgy of the Word, which consists of a reading from the Old Testament, a sung Psalm (verses from one of the Psalms of the Old Testament set to music - typically some form of chant, but often there are modern settings used as well), a reading from the Epistles, and a reading from the Gospel. We stand for the Gospel, and you will notice people making a small cross on their forehead, lips, and heart to signify that they are welcoming the message of the Gospel into their minds, on to their lips, and into their hearts. The Gospel is followed by a short homily, and then the Creed (normally this would be the Nicene Creed, although if there are a lot of children present the Presider may choose to use the Apostles’ Creed instead) and the Prayers of the Faithful.
After the Prayers of the Faithful is the Offertory, and you will see people bringing up the bread and wine, as well as the offerings from the collection baskets.
This is followed by the Liturgy of the Eucharist, which consists of a great many dialogue prayers. These, you simply listen to and learn by listening. Don’t worry about trying to memorize everything at once - it will come with time. The trickiest part is that there are several options for each section of this part of the liturgy, so there’s no way to know which combination the priest is going to use, ahead of time, and there is no point in trying to follow along in the Missal - this just comes by listening, and eventually you realize that you’ve known it for a long time, although you don’t remember learning it.
This is followed by the Our Father, the Sign of Peace, the Lamb of God, and then the distribution of Holy Communion.
Last of all we have the Dismissal Rite, which ends with the Sign of the Cross once again.
The priest and servers typically process in at the beginning of Mass, and process out at the end of Mass. These processions are accompanied by hymn singing, and you are welcome to join in with the hymns if you happen to know them. Again, you will learn these soon enough through frequent repetition.
You probably noticed already that the procession is headed by a little boy who is carrying an image of Jesus crucified on the Cross on a high stick. This signifies that the Mass is the re-presentation of Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross for sins. We aren’t actually re-sacrificing Christ, but we are in a sense going back in time to that moment on the Cross when Christ gave up everything for us.
Don’t worry too much about keeping up with the postures, or knowing the prayers off by heart. Instead, listen very carefully to the words of the Mass, ponder their meaning, and realize that everything you hear is Scriptural, and every action, every gesture, and everything you see is intended to make Christ present to you in the way that He had originally intended to come to you.
