Has any one else developed personal responses or prayers for parts of the Mass that don't resonate with their heart or mind?

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Has any one else developed personal responses or prayers for parts of the Mass that don’t resonate with their heart or mind? For example, I found out on one post that the command “Lift up your heart” is a poor translation of “let nothing burden on your heart” and I now I take a deep, thankful breath instead of lifting up my hands and pretending I am holding my heart.
 
tlnd said:
Has any one else developed personal responses or prayers for parts of the Mass that don’t resonate with their heart or mind? For example, I found out on one post that the command “Lift up your heart” is a poor translation of “let nothing burden on your heart” and I now I take a deep, thankful breath instead of lifting up my hands and pretending I am holding my heart.
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Nope. I’m good with words given me to say at the mass.

And I never lift my hands like many do, and I never pretend to be doing a literal thing when the language is figurative.

“Lift my heart” never meant that we are physically lifting our physical hearts.

But I do have personal meanings/understandings of the prayers at mass. These are not in contrast to the Church’s meanings/understandings, just relating to Our Lord on a personal level, with my own needs and hopes and concerns in each moment of life.
 
tlnd said:
Has any one else developed personal responses or prayers for parts of the Mass that don’t resonate with their heart or mind? For example, I found out on one post that the command “Lift up your heart” is a poor translation of “let nothing burden on your heart” and I now I take a deep, thankful breath instead of lifting up my hands and pretending I am holding my heart.
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“One post” from where? And while it’s been a few years since I studied ye olde Latin and Greek, the translations were always 'lift up your heart" (and not ‘holding it out’ either), NOT 'let nothing burden on your heart".
 
Gertabelle said:
Nope. I’m good with words given me to say at the mass.

And I never lift my hands like many do, and I never pretend to be doing a literal thing when the language is figurative.

“Lift my heart” never meant that we are physically lifting our physical hearts.

But I do have personal meanings/understandings of the prayers at mass. These are not in contrast to the Church’s meanings/understandings, just relating to Our Lord on a personal level, with my own needs and hopes and concerns in each moment of life.
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How very monastic of you 😉

I agree, I go with the flow of the Mass, with gestures that are appropriate to my station in life (i.e. not clergy).

That old monastic obedience thing… takes a lot of stress out of our lives doesn’t it?

We’ve also been saying “Élevons notre coeur” for as long as we’ve had Mass in the vernacular in these parts.
 
Only thing that gets me is when they switch up between the Apostles and Nicene Creeds, I know certain liturgies require one or the other, but sometimes the stand ins prefer the Apostles Creed (which is the one I grew up with)…just gotta be quick on my feet to get it right! (I’m still put off by the term consubstantial 🙂 ) Guess I’m just an old Catholic who’s made a lot o mistakes!
 
tlnd said:
Has any one else developed personal responses or prayers for parts of the Mass that don’t resonate with their heart or mind? For example, I found out on one post that the command “Lift up your heart” is a poor translation of “let nothing burden on your heart” and I now I take a deep, thankful breath instead of lifting up my hands and pretending I am holding my heart.
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I could never lift the black oozing stone of a heart that’s in me, over my head.
 
Thanks for the (name removed by moderator)ut, Gertabelle, Oralabra,et al- The first post was years ago and you got me to go another step. The Matthew Henry Commentary for Lamentations 3:41 -“Our hearts must go with our prayers. If inward impressions do not answer to outward expressions, we mock God, and deceive ourselves.” The Literal translation from Hebrew into English is “Let us lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens.” The Jews see themselves as collective group- notice the use of heart rather than hearts- and we are meant to see ourselves as a collective as well.

The lifting of the arm gesture I see at Mass where I live are a very dramatic response to the priest request. It is rather touching to see so many people reaching out as far as they can. Maybe that was the tug I kept feeling on my heart when I lifted my hands with them. I guess I let myself seek a simple answer using what I was feeling and the command. I wrote a post a few years ago to find out if anyone else had some insight regarding the command. I’m thankful for the responses you gave and was a bit surprised by some of them because I thought my example might provide a basis for developing some responses to the issue of responding to the Mass Liturgies in some personal way. I was content with my understanding of the command to “Lift up your hearts.” I really liked the idea of unburdening one’s concerns as we prepare to approach the table of the Lord but your responses led me to see that the idea encapsulated in the command to “Lift up your hearts” is that we must remember to approach the table of the Lord with a sincere heart.
 
Gertabelle said:
Nope. I’m good with words given me to say at the mass.

And I never lift my hands like many do, and I never pretend to be doing a literal thing when the language is figurative.

“Lift my heart” never meant that we are physically lifting our physical hearts.
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Yes, the literal translation of sursum corda is “upwards hearts,” directional.The Polish has it right.
 
tlnd said:
Has any one else developed personal responses or prayers for parts of the Mass that don’t resonate with their heart or mind? For example, I found out on one post that the command “Lift up your heart” is a poor translation of “let nothing burden on your heart” and I now I take a deep, thankful breath instead of lifting up my hands and pretending I am holding my heart.
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The Latin is “Sursum corda.” which is much more closely translated to “lift up your hearts” than it is to “let nothing burden your heart.” There is no hand gesture prescribed at this point of the Mass.
 
ProVobis said:
Yes, the literal translation of sursum corda is “upwards hearts,” directional.The Polish has it right.
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Both my grandad and my mother used this phrase and smiled when I needed to smile precisely that all would be well… . Mom still does every now and then and she needn t say any more…Sursum corda…love that you brought it up.
And I repeated it as " sumsum" corda:) guess it sounded more musical, who knows…
 
tlnd said:
Has any one else developed personal responses or prayers for parts of the Mass that don’t resonate with their heart or mind? For example, I found out on one post that the command “Lift up your heart” is a poor translation of “let nothing burden on your heart” and I now I take a deep, thankful breath instead of lifting up my hands and pretending I am holding my heart.
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In my opinion, we lift our hearts out of the mire of earthly burdens and concerns. We are actually supposed to prayerfully meditate on the words and actions of the Mass, and it seems to me that that is precisely what you are doing.

I have found that I will “use” a certain reflection for a period of time, and then it will kind of drop away. We each need particular things in our lives for a time, and then we grow and move on.
 
1ke said:
I don’t understand why you would ever have done that in the first place.
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This. 👍 For the OP, it is best not to dissect the mass, as it is a cohesive whole, not an agglomeration of bits and pieces. Again, this modern age has insisted that we add this unnecessary physical element to a spiritual activity. Clapping, hand-holding, and other such distractions we must simply put up with until this generation matures or passes from the scene.
 
I have one!

When, after the consecration, in (I think) Eucharistic prayer # 3 (the older version) the priest wouls say, “…and be ready to greet Him when He comes again”; I would quietly say,“He’s right in front of you”.

dj
 
I can’t wait until I’m a 2000-year-old polymath in theology and languages.
 
If, when measuring the stars for navigation, you find that you’re off course, it’s more logical to blame the instrument than the stars.
 
po18guy said:
This. 👍 For the OP, it is best not to dissect the mass, as it is a cohesive whole, not an agglomeration of bits and pieces. Again, this modern age has insisted that we add this unnecessary physical element to a spiritual activity. Clapping, hand-holding, and other such distractions we must simply put up with until this generation matures or passes from the scene.
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This modern age? Hardly. The physical element of spiritual activity has been around for centuries and will be around until Christ returns…thanks be to God.

nashvilledominican.org/our-vowed-life/st-dominic/nine-ways-of-prayer/
 
po18guy said:
. Again, this modern age has insisted that we add this unnecessary physical element to a spiritual activity.
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Kneeling, standing, genuflecting, prostrating, bowing, making the sign of the cross, veneration of icons, relics, the cross. All of these physical elements are ancient practices in Christian worship. God has given us bodies and we worship with our whole selves, bodies and souls, as have people across cultures throughout human existence.
 
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