[Edited] Mass: Participation

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Please could someone describe to me what you did as an active participant of the Liturgy I would be very grateful thank you.
 
zoe_otero said:
Please could someone describe to me what you did as an active participant of the Liturgy I would be very grateful thank you.
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I prayed the prayers and listened to the readings. I partook in the Eucharist.
 
Hi, zoe otero! Are you interested in what the normal lay person does during the mass? Or are you interested in knowing about the different lay ministers and their role during mass?

Know that you are welcome to attend mass at any Catholic parish. You can follow along with the postures of Catholics or just remain seated if you only want to observe. Many parishes have greeters in the entrance area who can answer questions for you if you wish. The only restraint we’d ask is that you not partake of communion unless you are Catholic.
 
I have just recently started going to mass every Sunday as I am in Rite of christian initiation of adults and I attend a weekly session and I am really enjoying it 🙂
 
zoe_otero said:
I have just recently started going to mass every Sunday as I am in Rite of christian initiation of adults and I attend a weekly session and I am really enjoying it 🙂
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That’s happy news! Welcome. 🙂

You’re familiar with the order of the mass, then. What I try to do before and during mass is to prepare my heart and mind for it. I offer up my problems of the day during mass, and do what I can to be attentive and open to the prayers, songs, readings, and homily. That’s not always easy! I also try to be conscious of and open to the mass being more than just the physical events happening around me. The Church is one body of believers, those in Heaven, Purgatory, and on Earth. When we celebrate mass, we are not just celebrating alone within the church building, but are celebrating as part of one body. The angels and the saints are celebrating with us! Heaven and Earth “touch” in the mass, and I always try to remember this. Again, not always easy, and I’m not always successful. If you see Churches decorated with images of Heaven and the saints, it’s to remind us that we are all worshipping together as one. Was that a tangent?

Anyway, I guess that’s what I do. I try to be engaged with what is happening during the mass, both physically and mysteriously. I’m not always successful.
 
zoe_otero said:
Please could someone describe to me what you did as an active participant of the Liturgy I would be very grateful thank you.
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I hope that wherever you are attending Mass, you feel and know yourself to be cordially welcomed.

Fortunately, with the renewed and reformed liturgy after Vatican II, it is quite easy to be an active participant in the rites, as the liturgical celebration unfolds.
  • The Mass today is in the language of the people so that they can understand it without the need for reading along with a translation.
  • The Mass is said today in an audible voice, unlike times when much of the Mass was said at a volume at which the people would be unable to hear.
  • Today’s arrangement of the sanctuary and its furnishings engage the senses of those who are part of the liturgical assembly
The bishops of the entire Catholic world, gathered in ecumenical council in the 1960s, delineated not only that
In the restoration and promotion of the sacred liturgy, this full and active participation by all the people is the aim to be considered before all else
The Council Fathers also wrote:
*30. To promote active participation, the people should be encouraged to take part by means of acclamations, responses, psalmody, antiphons, and songs, as well as by actions, gestures, and bodily attitudes… *
Thus
  • By attentively listening to what is being read or being said throughout the liturgy
  • By joining in the prayers said by the priest, who is the Presider, together with the other members of the congregation
  • By making the responses along with the rest of the congregation
  • By joining in and supporting with your own voice the singing of the assembly
  • By your posture…standing when others stand, sitting when others sit, kneeling when others kneel – these are all gestures that demonstrate you are engaged with the rite and actively participating in it. As opposed to, for example, having your thoughts on other matters or reading a prayer book of personal devotionals rather than following the liturgical rite that is unfolding before you
The rest of what the Pope and the Bishops of the world wrote on the matter can be easily found and read at the Vatican’s website, in this case under the document Sacrosanctum Concilium, which is the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy

vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19631204_sacrosanctum-concilium_en.html
 
zoe_otero said:
Please could someone describe to me what you did as an active participant of the Liturgy I would be very grateful thank you.
Click to expand...
I never think of myself as an active participant, but rather united with the priest in the Holy Sacrifice that is being made in my behalf.
 
zoe_otero said:
I have just recently started going to mass every Sunday as I am in Rite of christian initiation of adults and I attend a weekly session and I am really enjoying it 🙂
Click to expand...
Welcome. 🙂

It helps to experience a more profound meaning of the mass by making yourself present in what each part of the mass means.

For example, when the Gospel is read, you can imagine that it is Jesus Himself speaking and you stand up because you are listening to the word of the King.

During the consecration, when the celebrant pronounces ‘this is my Body…’, the bread turns into the Savior body and you are witnessing such a profound moment . …

Later after you are baptised, when you say ‘Amen’ to the host as you receive Holy Communion, you now declaring what you just witnessed saying that yes you do believe that what you are about to receive is the Body of the Lord.

Some Catholics, understanding the profound momentsof the mass, just cannot help themselves but tears just flow from tbeir eyes.

May God bless your journey.
 
One resource that I would recommend it Pope Emeritus Benedict’s work “The Spirit of the Liturgy”.

He has a full chapter that discusses the Church means when it asks for ‘active participation’
 
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