Could someone explain how Mass works?

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Ogie_Reeves

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I’ve attended a few masses in my life and I had never understood it. I grew up Protestant and I want to understand the Catholic church better. I live near a local Catholic church and I had attended a few times, but I felt like I stuck out because I didn’t understand. I’m apart of a different church now, though.
 
Quickly, here is somethimg to chew on.

There is the Liturgy of the Word followed by the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

There is the Sacrament of the Real Presence, the Sacrament of Sacrifice, amd the Sacrament of Communion.
 
What kind of information are you looking for?

The Mass can be divided into two main liturgies: the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The Liturgy of the Word precedes that of the Eucharist. This is where you hear the day’s Scripture readings.

Consider the disciples on the road to Emmaus. They walked miles with Christ while He opened up the Scriptures to them. They were blown away by the things He told them, but they didn’t yet recognize Him.

The second Liturgy, that of the Eucharist, is where the priest consecrates the wine and bread into the Blood and Body of Jesus. The readings for this liturgy don’t change like the readings from the LOTW do. Now that we’ve already been told about God, it’s time here to meet Him in the manner He prescribed to us.

The disciples begged the risen Lord (not knowing that it was Him) to stay with them for the night. He agreed, and it was in the breaking of the bread that His identity was revealed to them. He quickly disappeared, but the disciples were left joyous and rushed to tell others what had happened to them.

So, at the end of Mass, the priest or deacon urges us to do the same. We should glorify the Lord by our lives, and tell everyone around us what we have witnessed.
 
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The essence of the Catholic Mass takes place at The Consecration … about 2/3 of the way through.

The Catholic priest pronounces the words of Consecration … “This is My Body” … This is My Blood".

At those two instants, the bread and wine become the Body and the Blood of Jesus Christ.

[There are books about this, such as Eucharistic Miracles by Joan Carroll Cruz.]

Prior to the Consecration, there are various readings from the Bible.

And then there is the Offertory … two offertories … the first when the people present their gifts and the second when the priest offers the bread and the wine up to God.

Then, the Consecration.

And then after the Consecration, there is the Priest’s Communion, when the celebrant receives Holy Communion,

And after the Priest’s Communion, the people receive Holy Communion.

And following that, there is the final blessing and the formal dismissal.
 
Could you please go into more details on the explanation that you’ve just gave, please?
 
I’m starting to get it now. How many masses are in a week, or does it depend on the parish?
 
Mass can be offered every day.

Scott Hahn has a great book that helps explain the Mass called The Lamb’s Supper. I was able to find a copy at my local library.
 
Ogie_Reeves said:
I’m starting to get it now. How many masses are in a week, or does it depend on the parish?
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Normally, Sunday morning.

HOWEVER, most parishes are very large so, several Masses are needed to accommodate everyone.

Often there is a Saturday evening Mass, as well. [Technically, “Sunday” is on a “liturgical calendar” so, Sunday lasts from Saturday evening until Sunday evening.]

Often people like going to Mass so much that there is a desire for a Mass each day … daily Mass … usually shorter than a Sunday Mass with fewer readings and less music.

A priest is normally allowed to say two Masses per day.

Daily Masses are often scheduled so as to make it convenient to get to the Mass … so early in the morning before work and/or at lunch time.
 
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One helpful book that I have found is The Baltimore Catechism, Volume three … available from Amazon:

 
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My parish priest takes one whole day off- he offers Masses every other day of the week. In parishes with more than one priest, they may be offered every day.
 
pensmama87 said:
Mass can be offered every day.

Scott Hahn has a great book that helps explain the Mass called The Lamb’s Supper. I was able to find a copy at my local library.
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I can’t recommend this book enough. It was my first real introduction to the Catholic faith (Sunday school didn’t do it for me). I may not have been Catholic today without it. I ended up writing a paper for my English class on the Real Presence because of it.
 
The most clear and concise description and explanation is in the St. Joseph Baltimore catechism No. 2. It even has pictures.
 
You’ve gotten lots of good advice.

I will just add that unlike many other Christian denominations who believe worship mainly consists of praising God through prayer, singing, and reading the scriptures, Catholics believe that the most important act of worship is the commemoration of the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross and the Last Supper. We believe that this commemoration is not just a remembrance but the way of uniting the past, present, and future. (Others have gone into details about that so I won’t repeat them. But I will second the recommendation to look at Scott Hahn’s book.)
 
As Catholics we believe that Christ is truly present; body, blood, soul and divinity, in the Eucharist (communion) as he said in John 6. With that in mind, the mass is a sacrifice. (We don’t believe Christ is endlessly being re-crucified outside of time) it is a re-presentation of Calvary, of Christ’s saving work. Hence Christ being the “Lamb of God” This was easier for me to mentally grasp when I went to Latin mass. The Last Supper inseparable from the passion, so just as the apostles took and ate of the bread and drank of the chalice that Christ offered them, we do too at mass. The lambs supper is a great book to read on the Mass. Itll do a much better job explaining it than I can.
 
Sorry, I’m just full of questions today. What does it mean to do the cross with your hand? I’m not sure that I’m making sense here.
 
There are all sorts of books out there that offer an introductory explanation.

Everything said so far seems fine. I’ll just add that some non-Catholics see the Mass as a mish-mash of prayers, and it makes no sense to them. But nothing could be further from the truth–there is a logical sequence from beginning to end. Some of that has been lost in going to the English Mass (my opinion…), for example in Latin it used to begin “I will go to the altar of God.” response: “To God who gave joy to my youth…” I always thought that was a great way to start, and it’s gone. However, you say the Confiteor (“I confess to Almight God…” and then the Kyrie (Lord have mercy…) and then the Gloria (Glory to God in the highest…) then to the offertory (offer gifts $, food, etc.) then the readings from the Old Testament, Epistles, and New Testament, then the Creed. Hopefully you can see some sort of logical progression here.

Then there are a few prayers before the Consecration, a few prayers after, the Our Father, the “Lord, I am not worthy…”, the “Lamb of God…” and then communion. A few prayers after communion, and that’s it.

But if you pay attention to the prayers and ask yourself, “What is this prayer preparing me for?” it will make sense.
 
It’s a prayer invoking the Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It can be a prayer all by itself, and is frequently used by Catholics as a “bookend” to prayer - we offer all our prayers to God. The Mass is the best prayer we can offer, and we begin and end with the Sign of the Cross.
 
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Ogie_Reeves said:
What does it mean to do the cross with your hand?
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I assume the sign of the cross? Using the fingers of your extended right hand, you touch your forehead, your stomach, your left shoulder and your right shoulder. There used to be a big controversy over how many fingers you used–two? three? Three makes symbolic sense (Trinity), but not many people get excited about that any more.

It is ancient and goes back to the Apostles. I’m sure there’s a good Wikipedia article on it.

Interesting fact: We do it backwards. Originally (and in the Orthodox Church) it was right shoulder, then left shoulder. But if the priest makes the sign of the cross while facing you, and you copy his actions, you go left, then right (like in a mirror). That caught on in the West. There is a writing from Pope Innocent III in the early 13th c. about making the sign of the cross, and he points out that some people are doing it left-right, not right-left. So clearly the left-right action was gaining popularity at that time. Innocent didn’t really care which way you did it. But if you see Putin make the sign of the cross (which he seems to do before every meeting…) you’ll notice he does it right-left.
 
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The sign of the cross is a reminder of our baptism “In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”.

Before the Gospel reading we do the sign of the cross on our forehead, mouth and heart as it is commonly done when we were baptised. Sometimes other parts of the body are marked with a cross during baptism. For example the ears with the words: "Receive the sign of the cross on your ears, so that you can hear the voice of the Lord.) Paraphrased as I don’t have access to the English translation.

Ask the priest or deacon in the parish to explain the Mass to you or even ask if there is someone you could sit next to that could explain what takes place and why.
 
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