Having a Tough time

  • Thread starter Thread starter twk001
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
T

twk001

Guest
i’m having a tough time embracing the mass changes. yes, it’s been months…for the first couple of months i cried at the mass because it just isn’t the mass that i know anymore.

i don’t do change well, in general, but now i just feel like i’m going to some completely foreign service and don’t even enjoy it at all.

we are considering changing parishes just for a fresh beginning (and this has to do with our kids school as well-it’s part of the parish we are considering)…

Anybody else struggled with the mass changes? i just don’t feel like it’s anything familiar to me anymore and don’t know how to proceed…
 
just an FYI- our family devotes an hour weekly to sit at Eucharistic Adoration and i’ve talked to Jesus a LOT about this struggle…
 
Hi twk

You’re not alone. I missed the old mass especially saying “and also with you” cause “and with your spirit” just doesn’t feel right.

I’ve gotten used to it now and know all the responses but I to miss you good old days.

Its been really hard for the older people in my church too.

But, although obvious advice, all we can do is embrace the change and it will feel right in time.

As to changing parish - give it a try and see if it helps. A fresh start might help.

Take care

A
xx
 
I imagine you are familiar with the reasons behind the changes (consistency with catechism terms, biblical connotations, adherence to Latin original, poetical), so I won’t dwell on these for now.

I think, in many ways, the fact that the changes are quite small allows us to focus on what is different. You can find it difficult when you go to Masses (or confession, etc) with a priest that you have no experienced before - they might be doing everything right but pausing at the ‘wrong’ points or not make enough eye contact.
I found that I can look at the CofE, tridentine and polish Mass and see the similarity to the Mass I go to normally. so my point is, take a look at the Mass from first principles and come to see that the words are just one part of the sacred action.

It is in the Mass (whatever form that is Catholic) that our Lord becomes present in the Most Blessed Sacrament. That happens at Mass. That’s why we go. At Mass, we are present, in a mystical way, at the cross of salvation. The words help form us and prepare us for this encounter with grace. I would say focus on the action and come to pray the Mass - with time the words will feel more natural. You’ll come to experience their meaning more, as you are focusing on the words - your struggle may well be God’s way of reaching out to you and drawing you closer.

Keep going to Mass, praying about these difficulties and talk it out with friends, family, priests or strangers on the interweb (like me! 🙂 )
 
Hello,

Yes I felt the same but I’m used to it. I find it hard to remember the old version now. lol 🙂

JG
xx
 
twk001 said:
i’m having a tough time embracing the mass changes. yes, it’s been months…for the first couple of months i cried at the mass because it just isn’t the mass that i know anymore.

i don’t do change well, in general, but now i just feel like i’m going to some completely foreign service and don’t even enjoy it at all.

we are considering changing parishes just for a fresh beginning (and this has to do with our kids school as well-it’s part of the parish we are considering)…

Anybody else struggled with the mass changes? i just don’t feel like it’s anything familiar to me anymore and don’t know how to proceed…
Click to expand...
Not to be insensitive but try to imagine how earth shattering were the changes that took place in the late 1960s. I witnessed first hand how devestated so many people were with the vernacular entering the Catholic Church and all the innovations that accompanied this movement. Sanctuaries were white-washed and statuary disappeared. Popular music was sung instead of chant and Catholic hymns. Most high altars were taken to the dump and your parish priest now faced you throughout the entire Mass. The recent changes to the liturgy are so minor by comparison and only attempt to bring back some dignity to the Mass that it so badly needs.
 
I know where you are coming from. I’m still not comfortable with the translation. For me, I miss the beautiful Eucharistic Prayers from the Sacramenary. I feel like the Church is depriving us of our right to pray in the vernacular. The new words are just not in the English language we speak.
Anyway…I continue to pray about it and the following prayer has been helpful for me:

Prayer to Accept Change

Just when I thought I had it all figured out, Lord,
things change again.
When will I be able to rest
in the comfort of knowing what comes next?
You, who transcend all time,
who created the stars and set them in place,
you, who are ageless yet known in every age,
grant me the grace to accept
the changes that are happening.
Empty my heart of anxiety,
and fill it instead with wonder and awe.
Release me from the chains of complacency,
and bind me to your ever-moving Spirit.
When the things I believed to be permanent and stable
are left by the way side,
enfold me in your undying love
that I may remember in whom all things are bound.
When fear of something new paralyzes me,
and grief cripples me with anger
over the loss of what had been,
send your angels to give me a gentle push
over that frightening edge into the unknown,
so that I may learn to trust in you.
For you alone are eternal.
You alone are enduring.
You alone are the everlasting Lord.
And in you alone will this restless world find peace.
Amen.
.....Diana Macalintal
 
Sorry, but I have to say it: I really love the new changes! 😛 It feels so much more poetic and deep, almost making the older translation seem secularized. However, at 16, I’m pretty adaptive to change, and I can imagine how it would be harder for the older generation.
 
I personally like it. Especially Eucharistic Prayer I but I know of many who do not like it. Our Cantor was against the new Exultet.
 
I’m still have trouble changing from ‘et cum spiritu tuo’.

I almost had ‘and also with you’ down, but I would use the old response about twice/mass. Now I have to change again.

During the Triduum, I only used the Latin twice, the rest of the time I used that new phrase.

PS I learned English even before I learned Latin.
 
This may seem silly but… Go to daily mass. The more you are around it the more you will grow to understand and to love it.

Study the changes. Know why they were made and what they mean.
 
I’ve attended Mass for a long time. As someone who technically entered the Church as a convert, I don’t think there’s really anything tough about the changes. I love the changes, especially the part where you say: “I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof.” It reminds me that praying is an act of love.
 
onjac said:
I’ve attended Mass for a long time. As someone who technically entered the Church as a convert, I don’t think there’s really anything tough about the changes. I love the changes, especially the part where you say: “I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof.” It reminds me that praying is an act of love.
Click to expand...
For us younger folks, we more easily adapt to change and are quick to embrace change. I had no problem at all adjusting to the changes, but for senior citizens, they do not adapt to change well at all.
 
I am new to the church so take it with a grain of salt… I love the changes, mostly because I have an immense love for Scripture, and any change that brings the church closer to it (as they have by making sure the liturgy reflects the literal translation of the scripture) is a good change in my opinion.
sllhouette said:
This may seem silly but… Go to daily mass. The more you are around it the more you will grow to understand and to love it.

Study the changes. Know why they were made and what they mean.
Click to expand...
👍 This. If you only go once in a while it’s going to be hard to get a feel for them, but if you go every chance you can and put your heart INTO the liturgy, your heart will find that God is still right there before you just like before, he hasn’t moved at all.
 
garn9173 said:
For us younger folks, we more easily adapt to change and are quick to embrace change. I had no problem at all adjusting to the changes, but for senior citizens, they do not adapt to change well at all.
Click to expand...
I’m 54. By AARP standards that makes me a senior citizen. I certainly welcome the changes in the mass because it makes a lot of sense as they are truer translations of the latin. Change for the sake of change or somebody’s or some groups agenda is what rubs me. That is what happened when the liturgy was hi-jacked after V2.
 
twk001 said:
i’m having a tough time embracing the mass changes. yes, it’s been months…for the first couple of months i cried at the mass because it just isn’t the mass that i know anymore.

i don’t do change well, in general, but now i just feel like i’m going to some completely foreign service and don’t even enjoy it at all.

we are considering changing parishes just for a fresh beginning (and this has to do with our kids school as well-it’s part of the parish we are considering)…

Anybody else struggled with the mass changes? i just don’t feel like it’s anything familiar to me anymore and don’t know how to proceed…
Click to expand...
I don’t care for the changes either, (and I went through the big mess in the 60’s-70’s) but the Church is not a democracy and we must endure! One thing that helped me in the begining was to attend daily Mass. Going every day made it less weird on Sunday.
 
twk001 said:
i’m having a tough time embracing the mass changes. yes, it’s been months…for the first couple of months i cried at the mass because it just isn’t the mass that i know anymore.

i don’t do change well, in general, but now i just feel like i’m going to some completely foreign service and don’t even enjoy it at all.

we are considering changing parishes just for a fresh beginning (and this has to do with our kids school as well-it’s part of the parish we are considering)…

Anybody else struggled with the mass changes? i just don’t feel like it’s anything familiar to me anymore and don’t know how to proceed…
Click to expand...
I love the changes. I love to hear chalice instead of cup and it just seems so much more reverent to me. I was under the impression that the new changes were going over well because I haven’t heard anyone complaining, old or young. I did think it was funny to hear all of the “with you also’s” at Easter Mass. As usual I don’t think I recognised 75 percent of the people in attendance.:signofcross:
 
The change has created some funny moments however. Sometimes I would say right the first time but not the second time etc. Then I found myself saying “And ALSO with your spirit”

Then I heard someone say, “And also with you…oh darn, I mean”

We can get through it. Change can be hard for some people. I really do understand that. Expecially when one loves the sound of their first experience of Mass.

I personally was pleased with the new translation. Consubstantial threw me for awhile. But I love “From the rising of the sun to its setting.” so much better than from “East to West”.

I also like the word Chalice instead of Cup.
 
HelenRose said:
The change has created some funny moments however. Sometimes I would say right the first time but not the second time etc. Then I found myself saying “And ALSO with your spirit”

Then I heard someone say, “And also with you…oh darn, I mean”

We can get through it. Change can be hard for some people. I really do understand that. Expecially when one loves the sound of their first experience of Mass.

I personally was pleased with the new translation. Consubstantial threw me for awhile. But I love “From the rising of the sun to its setting.” so much better than from “East to West”.

I also like the word Chalice instead of Cup.
Click to expand...
My 85 year old Mother is absolutely livid that they use the word “consubstantial”, because, she says “nobody knows what it means” (and she’s probably right about that.) She is very upset about the changes. I do not remember her being upset about the changes after Vatican II, though. She was quite happy with them and the Mass in the vernacular. 🤷

Me–I’m in my 60’s and go with the flow. but I’m not crazy about “consubstantial” either.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top