First Mass

[Blood_Angel]

Not sure where to put this but I went to my first mass this morning at the church where I am doing RCIA.

It was very good and interesting but I have some questions.

I felt a little shy when it came to singing and speaking the words such as “Amen” where I am supposed to (there was a booklet for the mass saying what I need to say, but I felt too shy and the words don’t leave my mouth, I say them in my head.
And singing, I’ve never been a fan of singing.

That being said, it was lovely. There was a bit when people started shaking each others hands, I wasn’t prepared, there was a family next to me (wife, husband and child) and the child went to shake my hand, I just looked at her sheepishly, and then she went to shake someone elses hand. I then shook hands with her father and another woman on the pew next to us.
I hope I didn’t offend anyone! I wasn’t sure what this part was about other than showing goodness to your neighbours and it caught me off guard because while I was following the standing and kneeling quite easily, this bit surprised me.

I guess I might sing in due time, but right now I just felt like I couldn’t.
So my 2 questions are this, what was the hand-shaking thing mean?
And also do some Catholics often choose not to sing?

 

[Mintaka]

Oh, heck yes. There are a lot of Catholics who respond either silently or very quietly, and a lot of Catholics who either sing under their breath or not at all. And they are well within their rights. Many people feel called to silent awe, while others express noisy awe. These things go in and out of fashion. Neither one is wrong, and you will probably do various stuff at various times in your life or on various occasions.

Participation is an inward thing of the will, from which outward expressions grow. Don’t worry too much about fitting in, and you will fit in.

(Actually, the nonsinging probably made you seem just like a cradle Catholic. Heh!)

(Full disclosure: I sing a lot and am a cradle Catholic, but I come from a family that likes to sing. And there are some Masses where even I stay super quiet.)

 

[PaulfromIowa]

The hand shaking is the “Sign of Peace.” “The peace of the Lord be with you always”, “Let us offer each other the sign of peace”.

Believe it or not, in the early Church, it was the “Kiss of Peace”. Men would kiss other men and women would kiss women. Of course, this was in the Mediterranean area and was appropriate in that culture.

Wikipedia: Kiss of Peace:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiss_of_peace

 

[Blood_Angel]

Oh, heck yes. There are a lot of Catholics who respond either silently or very quietly, and a lot of Catholics who either sing under their breath or not at all. And they are well within their rights. Many people feel called to silent awe, while others express noisy awe. These things go in and out of fashion. Neither one is wrong, and you will probably do various stuff at various times in your life or on various occasions.

Participation is an inward thing of the will, from which outward expressions grow. Don’t worry too much about fitting in, and you will fit in.

(Actually, the nonsinging probably made you seem just like a cradle Catholic. Heh!)

(Full disclosure: I sing a lot and am a cradle Catholic, but I come from a family that likes to sing. And there are some Masses where even I stay super quiet.)

Thanks, I think I understand now. It’s more of a case of do what you feel inclined to do?

The hand shaking is the “Sign of Peace.” “The peace of the Lord be with you always”, “Let us offer each other the sign of peace”.

I like this for some reason, shaking hands with this man next to me without knowing him or saying a word seems like such a nice gesture.

Believe it or not, in the early Church, it was the “Kiss of Peace”. Men would kiss other men and women would kiss women.

Yikes! That would have been super awkward!

 

[Milestone]

I can relate. I’m a very anxious person, so I had a very similar experience at my first mass. I was sweating bullets and I found it very hard to concentrate. Just getting through the door of the church was nerve racking. I didn’t even shake anyone’s hand at the sign of peace. I just looked around confusedly. Haven’t gone to mass since, though I really want to. Getting through the door is the hardest part for me.

 

[pianistclare]

You did fine. Welcome home.

 

[brad90956]

When I returned to the Church after a long absence, I didn’t say the words out loud or sing at all. I did everything internally. Gradually, I started to “come out of my shell”. Sometimes it just takes a little time to feel comfortable. You accomplished the most important thing…you went to Mass.

God Bless

 

[tawny]

Welcome home. You did just fine. Feel free to ask your RCIA instructors/Spiritual Advisor any questions you may have about your experiences at Mass. That’s part of the RCIA process.

 

[Karen107]

Welcome! Firstly, Amen is saying you agreeing to, affirm, approve, or ‘so be it’… Like Mary said… ‘Let it be done’ according to Your Word in agreeing to carry Jesus… She could have said "Amen’ there… Jesus said "Amen Amen I say to you many times…telling us like it is because He has the authority on earth to speak as God as the Son of God… So if you say it in your head that’s good, but as you feel more comfortable you may want to show your ‘conviction’ as a witness you might think about saying Amen out loud and not be afraid to do so especially after receiving a sacrament so the Priest or minister and witnesses know you are in agreement.

You did not offend anyone, I love when people come to mass whether they fully participate or not glad to see you ! Shakes hands… or greet each other with a Holy Kiss…

2 Corinthians 13:12 Greet one another with a holy kiss.

So that answers your question about why we shake hands as a peace offering. Its a sign of friendship and love that we have for each other…

As for participating in the singing. Well we do because we are One with our Lord Jesus so we sing together joining with the Choirs of Angels in heaven as One with the Lord as One body of Christ…

Just listen up as to why we sing and you can make your decision… Of course it is up to you to sing with us, and many do not sing, but singing is something that comes from within and brought up to God with the Choirs of Angels in One Voice so it is part of how we participate in the Life of Christ through music. Participating makes the most out of the Mass experience because it can only help you bring the love of Christ into your heart. The Mass centers on Communion with God and singing is one way we become in Communion with God as One Body of Christ. Remember it’s been said that singing at mass is praying twice! It doesn’t matter if you sing well either, it is in praise of God that you sing and God loves you no matter what.

For example we sing or pray the Gloria together…

Luke 2:13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

This describes what happens at Mass when we pray together, and the hymns are prayers as well which are given up to God…

The Seventh Seal and the Golden Censer

Revelation 8:1 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.

3Another angel with a golden censer came and stood at the altar; he was given a great quantity of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that is before the throne. 4And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. 5*Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth; and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

Remember never feel awkward, it’s good that you are there and I personally like when people sing around me because it inspires me more because of others witness… Welcome!

 

[Karen107]

I like this for some reason, shaking hands with this man next to me without knowing him or saying a word seems like such a nice gesture.

Many love shaking hands during the Mass because in many places it is not an acceptable practice to express friendship and love for another person whether stranger or not.

 

[Bill_Martin]

I choose not to sing as an act of mercy upon the congregation. It’s perfectly fine.

 

[Cassandra_Lyn]

I went to my first mass yesterday and loved it, I felt so peaceful. Took me a bit to figure out that “Breaking Bread” thing was the hymnal and also includes all the recitations… Profession of belief, is that what it’s called? I didn’t realize it was in that book… And I did feel awkward saying “peace to you” out loud to strangers… I ended up seated behind a really sweet family, husband and wife not too much older than me with two young boys, old enough to be done with Sunday school. The woman seemed amused at the expression on my face when we shook hands. But other than that, I did not feel awkward saying things out loud where I could, and singing when I could… I’m not saying I was audible to anyone seated around me, but I feel like vocalizing these things aloud is part of worship, for me.

Oh, kneeling feels awkward to me. I put my knees on the thingy but my bum was still on the edge of the pew and nobody else was like that… next week I’ll be better lol

I want to know if I am supposed to genuflect to the tabernacle like everyone else does… is this something all Christians should do or only confirmed Catholics…

 

[Karen107]

Hi Cassandra I’m glad you loved it! I love Mass too!

Its called the profession of faith or the Nicene Creed. It is our profession of what we believe which was originally written during the Nicene council in the third century AD… Sunday school, if you mean Religious education usually goes on through 8th grade at which time our youth make their confirmation and then many participate in youth ministry in high school. Of course that may differ in different diocese. Cassandra I often lean back into my seat because of my health condition and I’m 56, but I try to stay upright… Sometimes with the books in the rack in the back of the seat in front of us it’s hard to stay upright while kneeling, and sometimes when people are sitting in front of me it’s hard to kneel behind them. Which is also a reason to kneel, (so that we give the people behind us some room to kneel…. So don’t worry too much about it and I see you want to that’s good! . I actually have calloused knees from kneeling so it doesn’t hurt me to kneel…Kneeling has been a practice from way back in the early Church and we find it in scripture:

Philippians 2:10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Anyone coming into Church are encouraged to pay homage to Our Lord in the Tabernacle by genuflecting towards it when we enter the worship space and before we enter our pew. We dropped down our right knee to honor Jesus Our Heavenly King, that as opposed to dropping down our left knee which historically was done to honor earthly Kings and honorary people. It was one way of differentiating the honor reserved for Jesus alone.

Take care…and have a Merry Christmas everyone!

 

[Cassandra_Lyn]

Hi Cassandra I’m glad you loved it! I love Mass too!

Its called the profession of faith or the Nicene Creed. It is our profession of what we believe which was originally written during the Nicene council in the third century AD… Sunday school, if you mean Religious education usually goes on through 8th grade at which time our youth make their confirmation and then many participate in youth ministry in high school. Of course that may differ in different diocese. Cassandra I often lean back into my seat because of my health condition and I’m 56, but I try to stay upright… Sometimes with the books in the rack in the back of the seat in front of us it’s hard to stay upright while kneeling, and sometimes when people are sitting in front of me it’s hard to kneel behind them. Which is also a reason to kneel, (so that we give the people behind us some room to kneel…. So don’t worry too much about it and I see you want to that’s good! . I actually have calloused knees from kneeling so it doesn’t hurt me to kneel…Kneeling has been a practice from way back in the early Church and we find it in scripture:

Philippians 2:10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Anyone coming into Church are encouraged to pay homage to Our Lord in the Tabernacle by genuflecting towards it when we enter the worship space and before we enter our pew. We dropped down our right knee to honor Jesus Our Heavenly King, that as opposed to dropping down our left knee which historically was done to honor earthly Kings and honorary people. It was one way of differentiating the honor reserved for Jesus alone.

Take care…and have a Merry Christmas everyone!

I heard someone describe it before simply as bending the knee toward the tabernacle and I was confused what that meant… they said it looked kind of like they’re tripping slightly on their way in to the pew… um, it doesn’t look like that, it is a very clear intentional gesture.