Finding time for mass, while studying

[Jessup]

Anyone else here a student that needs to find time for mass while studying. I really hate missing mass, but on the weekends before tests, I need to power study 12+ hours a day on Saturday and Sunday. How do you manage to get both in ?
Ironically enough anytime I skip mass to study I usual fail the test anyway. I just hate loosing time.

 

[Dies_Irae_1]

It’s all about priorities.

I also had an intense study schedule in the past, so I know your dilemma. That said, I found I was more less stressed and did just as well on exams if I made time for mass on Sunday and Adoration during the week.

 

[coachdennis]

Anyone else here a student that needs to find time for mass while studying. I really hate missing mass, but on the weekends before tests, I need to power study 12+ hours a day on Saturday and Sunday. How do you manage to get both in ?
Ironically enough anytime I skip mass to study I usual fail the test anyway. I just hate loosing time.

I believe the question was originally asked by Jesus to His Apostles during His agony in the garden. “Could you not spend one hour…?”

As one poster said, it’s all setting priorities and seeking a balance.

 

[PJM]

=Jessup;9805920]Anyone else here a student that needs to find time for mass while studying. I really hate missing mass, but on the weekends before tests, I need to power study 12+ hours a day on Saturday and Sunday. How do you manage to get both in ?
Ironically enough anytime I skip mass to study I usual fail the test anyway. I just hate loosing time.

My friend,

IF you believe in

God

Heaven

Hell

Abd Devine Justice

YOU WILL BE VERY WELL ADVISED TO MAKE THE FOLLOWING YOUR LIFES PRIORITES

GOD FIRST ALWAYS AND EVERYTIME

FAMILY SECOND

WORK [SCHOOL] THIRD

Missing MASS for “school work” in NOT a legitiment excuse and therefore a MORTAL SIN, that needs to be discussed with your priest ASAP.

PRAYER AND ORGANIZATION WILL AID YOU TO DO THIS:thumbsup:

God Bless,
Pat /PJM

 

[Mrs_Sally]

Anyone else here a student that needs to find time for mass while studying. I really hate missing mass, but on the weekends before tests, I need to power study 12+ hours a day on Saturday and Sunday. How do you manage to get both in ?
Ironically enough anytime I skip mass to study I usual fail the test anyway. I just hate loosing time.

Priorities, scheduling, pacing. Your tests are not always on Monday and they are not suprises announced on Fridays. You can plan your study schedule around Mass.

You should always be studying for tests - a little bit at a time so that you don’t need “power study” sessions. Certainly a review period right before a test, but it doesn’t need to be 12 hour non-stop sessions.

Rewrite your notes after every class. Read a section of your texts every day. Just keep at it in a “slow and steady” way and you will do better in school AND hav time for Mass.

Mass is your priority - before schoolwork. Go to the early morning Mass or the last-chance Mass, or the noon Mass - whatever time, but make sure you get there!

 

[onjac]

It’s all about priorities. It was a nightmare for me when I started rcia since I had to take a one hour or so bus ride to go to the Newman center at a neighboring university since my own school didn’t have one. Basically, I started studying earlier on the week and studied less intensely on Sunday. Friday evenings, believe it or not, were the best time for me to concentrate when i went to the library. There was a study atmosphere but without the stress. When I go to Mass , I also treat it as an hour when I can just take a break.

 

[Jessup]

I believe the question was originally asked by Jesus to His Apostles during His agony in the garden. “Could you not spend one hour…?”

As one poster said, it’s all setting priorities and seeking a balance.

 That's so cool, I went to an evangelist priest talk about 8 months ago and that is what he said, during the homily. How Ironic it was that mass is an hour and so was the hour in the garden. 

  I have a lot of " Trust issues" with the almighty, as I've typically done poor at everything my whole life. I know how much I need to work to complete anything I do.

Therefore; that hour I feel usualy means life or death to me in being able to pass and move on.
Funny enough, during my finals last spring I skipped church the Sunday before my Monday test , and almost missed all of my finals, after a negative reaction to Redbull and nightquil. the don’t mix well.

 

[ChurchSoldier]

God
Work
Family

This is the most valuable lesson you can learn in school right now. If you can’t “find time” for Mass now, you will not find it following graduation. Christ said “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full” (John 10:10). The way to a satisfying life IS Mass. The more the better by the way.

Good Luck!

 

[Celticnovice]

Jessup,

Check the “Ask an Apologist” section today, Fr. Vincent touches on a similar topic that I think will help you

Pax

 

[Nigel7]

Take a little study break and go to mass. Can’t be that difficult. Your mind needs a little breather to process all of the academics that you’re saturating it with anyway.
That may be why you fail tests when you study non-stop. You gotta give your mind time to process and sort all that information. Take breaks, and rest.

 

[starsmurf]

That’s so cool, I went to an evangelist priest talk about 8 months ago and that is what he said, during the homily. How Ironic it was that mass is an hour and so was the hour in the garden.

  I have a lot of " Trust issues" with the almighty, as I've typically done poor at everything my whole life. I know how much I need to work to complete anything I do.

Therefore; that hour I feel usualy means life or death to me in being able to pass and move on.
Funny enough, during my finals last spring I skipped church the Sunday before my Monday test , and almost missed all of my finals, after a negative reaction to Redbull and nightquil. the don’t mix well.

Hi Jessup,

It sounds like your problem is much deeper than simply going to Mass on a Sunday. Reading both the above and the original posts, you come across as pushing yourself way too hard. You don’t need to know every last detail of your course to pass the exam or do well. You’re far too hard on yourself. You say that you’ve “done poor at everything my whole life”. You’re in college so you can’t have done badly, you’ve passed the previous years so you must be much smarter than you think.

God is not some hyper-demanding parent who will punish you for not conforming to every last rule. I think it is even more important that you start attending Mass every Sunday, so that you can hear more homilies that will help you to see God as a Father who loves you just as you are. God is not waiting for you to live up to some impossible standard you’ve set yourself before He will help you. I wonder if part of your “trust issues” with God are because you don’t trust yourself.

On Monday, please go and make an appointment with your school’s counsellor. You are obviously working far too hard. I can understand as I did a degree in Astrophysics and I felt I had to study every hour of the day to keep up with all the geniuses around me. You said that you were ill from Redbull and nightquil at your finals, so you were obviously trying to keep yourself awake for extra study time. That’s the point at which you need to say “I’m pushing myself too hard”. You need to learn to believe in yourself, so that you don’t burn out. If you don’t stop setting yourself impossible targets, you will never be happy. That doesn’t mean that you’re going to fail your course, it actually means that your grades will improve because you’ll be more confident and you won’t be exhausted from spending the nights before your finals studying. Your counsellor can help you to find ways of learning what a reasonable amount of work is. If you don’t do this now, you’ll struggle in the world of work, as you won’t believe that your work is good enough and depending on your career, you might not have the opportunity to spend extra hours to “get it right”.

If you feel the temptation not to do this because you think your grades will get worse, it’s been shown that studying the way you do actually lowers your grades. You need help to be able to overcome the pressure you’re under. Look at this as God telling you that He wants you to get help because He loves you. Your counsellor may suggest meditation or relaxation exercises, you can do this in a Catholic way. Ask your priest for help, he can suggest a prayer method that will be most suitable for you and can help you with any spiritual issues. If he can’t help you personally, he’ll be able to find someone who is a prayer guide. Use the time you have with your priest to learn about Who God really is, so that you can learn to trust Him.

If you get counselling, you’ll come out of this a happier person and a better Catholic with better grades.

 

[Delaine75]

I would suggest you take an hour to an hour and a half out of your study time to spend with the Lord.

 

[Jessup]

If you get counselling, you’ll come out of this a happier person and a better Catholic with better grades.

yes, I’m actually suppose to go talk to some academic counseling people at school. The only beef I have with that is; I like to attack all things that challenge me and crush them in my path so to speak. I never want to leave any stone unturned. The challenge with talking to the academic counselors , is at my school they are young woman in their mid 20’s in educational programs. Which tells me they more then likely will just say…
" Oh that’s hard" you should quit what your doing and do something easier. Rather then the masculine competitive approach I’ve had all my life towards work. I’m use to working long hours from growing up working in power plants swinging hammers in the 100 degree heat 6 days a week 10 hours a day when I was younger. So I have a bad attitude towards self laziness.

 On the other hand I did talk to my parish priest who is a psychologist over the summer, by education. He told me the only way I can pull off these 12 hour days when I want to; is to work out. I've now implemented working out with the 12 hour days and I've seen some progress in performance. But I can't get over the compulsiveness to miss out on mass to get that extra hour of study time in.

In a perfect world there would be a 5am Mass.

 

[Mrs_Sally]

 On the other hand I did talk to my parish priest who is a psychologist over the summer....

Speak to your priest again. Make sure he understands that you are not just trying to work 12 hours straight, but skipping Mass to do so. I’m sure he’ll give you different advice than just to work out.

I suggest you lose the attitude about the school counselors. That’s not a good way to go into the meetings. The person you speak to may have some excellent advice about how to manage your study schedule and still be successful. Brute force very rarely the right technique in mental situations.

 

[Jessup]

Starsmurf.
How long ago did you do your astrophysics degree?

 

[Jessup]

It’s all about priorities.

I also had an intense study schedule in the past, so I know your dilemma. That said, I found I was more less stressed and did just as well on exams if I made time for mass on Sunday and Adoration during the week.

 Thanks for chiming in, you know often times I will feel completely burned out, then go to mass, take sacrement and be calm and ready to go again for a few hours refreshed.

 

[PrayHarder]

I’ve been out of school for a while, but I remember what that conflict felt like. I remember someone asking me to create a spreadsheet (you can just us a paper and pen if you like) and write down all the hours allocated to different tasks in a given week (you can use estimates). The key is that you have to put down EVERYTHING so that your list adds up to 168 hours (24*7). That means accounting for sleeping, eating, dressing, classes, studying, commuting, watching TV, browsing internet, etc.

The value of that exercise was that it made me realize how much time 168 hours really is and how much of it I wasted or didn’t prioritize correctly. A one hour mass takes up 0.6% of your week. That leaves 99.4% of your time to focus on other things (okay, if you get 8 hours of sleep then have 1/3 less time). Maybe it’s the engineer in me, but that exercise was a real eye opener.

 

[thistle]

Anyone else here a student that needs to find time for mass while studying. I really hate missing mass, but on the weekends before tests, I need to power study 12+ hours a day on Saturday and Sunday. How do you manage to get both in ?
Ironically enough anytime I skip mass to study I usual fail the test anyway. I just hate loosing time.

Your priority is Mass. Studying does not dispense you from your Sunday obligation.
You will have to learn to manage your time better.

 

[Jessup]

I’ve been out of school for a while, but I remember what that conflict felt like. I remember someone asking me to create a spreadsheet (you can just us a paper and pen if you like) and write down all the hours allocated to different tasks in a given week (you can use estimates). The key is that you have to put down EVERYTHING so that your list adds up to 168 hours (24*7). That means accounting for sleeping, eating, dressing, classes, studying, commuting, watching TV, browsing internet, etc.

The value of that exercise was that it made me realize how much time 168 hours really is and how much of it I wasted or didn’t prioritize correctly. A one hour mass takes up 0.6% of your week. That leaves 99.4% of your time to focus on other things (okay, if you get 8 hours of sleep then have 1/3 less time). Maybe it’s the engineer in me, but that exercise was a real eye opener.

I like to try to go on 6 hours I feel lazy if I sleep 8 hours,

I’m feeling lazy today a because I slept till 6:45. I’m in the mechanical engineering program.
Its such a joke though, I’ve found out performance mostly depends on who your instructor is and if they are out to prove they are smarter then everyone. My materials instructor was a walk in the park. question banks, before test, a joke really. I wish he taught all the classes, I’d be an engineer in 2 semesters.
Cheers! :thumbsup:

 

[PrayHarder]

I like to try to go on 6 hours I feel lazy if I sleep 8 hours,
I’m feeling lazy today a because I slept till 6:45. I’m in the mechanical engineering program.
Its such a joke though, I’ve found out performance mostly depends on who your instructor is and if they are out to prove they are smarter then everyone. My materials instructor was a walk in the park. question banks, before test, a joke really. I wish he taught all the classes, I’d be an engineer in 2 semesters.

 Cheers! :thumbsup:

Welcome to engineering! You work all day and night in a lab for a three credit class while your liberal arts counterparts write an essay every once in a while for a five credit class. You did touch on something important though – knowing when to take a particular class is almost as important as what class to take. Get a good idea of who teaches what and when and try to take classes when a reasonable professor is teaching the course.

I was a computer science major and our motto was, “sleep is optional, but not recommended.” Good luck!