I don't like Mass

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Meggie18 said:
My name is Meggie. I converted to the Catholic faith when I was about sixteen, but it took me quite a lot of time to understand how crucial it was to be attending Mass on Sundays. I’m almost nineteen now, and it’s still a big challenge for me to go to church. It’s not because I’m lazy; I don’t have a problem getting out of bed. I guess it’s because I almost always go to Mass alone. My parents do not practice any religion (I think my dad doesn’t even believe in God!), and I am an only child. My extended family doesn’t practice, either. I don’t have close friends that believe in God. Sometimes, a lady I know comes with me, and I’m grateful for that, but that doesn’t happen often. She’s very busy.

I feel bad for saying this, but I also think I have a problem attending Mass because it can be, well, boring. (I’m sorry, God! I feel terrible for writing this!) I live in a country (or rather, a province) where few people care about God. It’s almost only elder people that go to Mass now. I don’t have anything against them, but I would just feel so much better if there were more teenagers or young adults attending Mass. I would feel more comfortable, more at home, I guess, and I could make friends.

Plus, we always say the same things at Mass, I feel like it’s repeating over and over, and the music is so not joyful… when I compare our music with the one that the gospels choirs sing, I can’t help but be disappointed.

I know I probably sound a bit immature… believe me, I’m not, I love Jesus, and I keep going to church because I know that the host is keeping me alive.

Do you have any kind of advice to give me so that I can learn to enjoy Mass?
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Dear Meggie,
In a world were we think all of our senses need to be stimulated all the times I can understand were the mass may seem boring. But the purpose of the mass as you know is not to entertain. The book by Dr Scott Hahn ‘The Lamb’s Supper’ has been mentioned and gives wonderful imagry of what is happenening each time we attend the Euchaistic celebration.
We are coming together a community to here God’s own word. Would it be as boring if each time yor came Christ was standing there, and in a very real way that is exactly what is happening. God’s words as given by the Father, Son and Spirit proclaimed in the readings and the Gospels. The very presents of Christ in the body and blood. The mass as Dr. Hahn describes it “heaven on earth” as we are joined as a community, with all the saints in heaven as we worship. It doesn’t matter that the music isn’t hip or the homily not what it should be at times, what matter is for that time we are experiancing the Holy Spirit and the the love of God in a very special way.
 
FAB said:
Dear Meggie,
In a world were we think all of our senses need to be stimulated all the times I can understand were the mass may seem boring. But the purpose of the mass as you know is not to entertain. The book by Dr Scott Hahn ‘The Lamb’s Supper’ has been mentioned and gives wonderful imagry of what is happenening each time we attend the Euchaistic celebration.
We are coming together a community to here God’s own word. Would it be as boring if each time yor came Christ was standing there, and in a very real way that is exactly what is happening. God’s words as given by the Father, Son and Spirit proclaimed in the readings and the Gospels. The very presents of Christ in the body and blood. The mass as Dr. Hahn describes it “heaven on earth” as we are joined as a community, with all the saints in heaven as we worship. It doesn’t matter that the music isn’t hip or the homily not what it should be at times, what matter is for that time we are experiancing the Holy Spirit and the the love of God in a very special way.
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Excellent post… that’s it in its reality… entertainment was never a part of Christ’s sacrifice. It’s a crying shame that the Mass has to compete with charismatic preachers, bands, and whatever else entertains. We are at the foot of the cross and there is no singing and dancing there. At least that’s not how it was described in my bible…teachccd
 
teachccd said:
Excellent post… that’s it in its reality… entertainment was never a part of Christ’s sacrifice. It’s a crying shame that the Mass has to compete with charismatic preachers, bands, and whatever else entertains. We are at the foot of the cross and there is no singing and dancing there. At least that’s not how it was described in my bible…teachccd
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Thank you for you complement. The mass thou is a celebration. We celebrate the risen Lord. We share in the sacraficial feast. We recognize that Christ is alive with us as our Lord and King. We celebrate because we can come, the sinners that we are and lay our crosses at the foot of the one true cross so we can go into the world revived and renewed with the Spirit.
 
FAB said:
Thank you for you complement. The mass thou is a celebration. We celebrate the risen Lord. We share in the sacraficial feast. We recognize that Christ is alive with us as our Lord and King. We celebrate because we can come, the sinners that we are and lay our crosses at the foot of the one true cross so we can go into the world revived and renewed with the Spirit.
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Yes, you are correct in that the Mass is a celebration. But, taken in the context of what we are celebrating, we are to realize that entertainment is not the goal of our expectations. Our expectations should bring us to the realization that the Mass is the perpetuation of the one Sacrifice of Christ. And while we do celebrate the risen Christ, we cannot allow our Mass to be rated by the charism of the homilist or the zest of the music or whatever. The Mass is the Mass and we need to appreciate its beauty and effectiveness regardless of the indvidual dislikes…
 
teachccd said:
Apparently Judas didn’t agree with the homily and he found another place…
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No. Judas rejected Christ, He didn’t “find another place” to worship Christ. Huge difference.

Or maybe I misunderstand, are you equating Judas’ action of rejecting Christ as equivalent to a Catholic going to a different parish?
 
teachccd said:
We are at the foot of the cross and there is no singing and dancing there. At least that’s not how it was described in my bible…teachccd
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Regarding worship, it’s not really how it’s described in “your Bible” (whatever that means?) but rather, what the Church teaches and does.
 
teachccd said:
We are at the foot of the cross and there is no singing and dancing there. At least that’s not how it was described in my bible…teachccd
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So, no singing at Mass, huh? Now there’s a weird novelty.
 
Vince1022 and MarkThomson: Thanks for the jabs but I will continue to find beauty in the Mass outside of having to be entertained. Thank you for sharing, however.
 
I think that how you feel is completely normal. When I was younger, I HATED to attend mass by myself-now I enjoy it, but I do know how you feel.
Your faith is a lifelong journey-you will have many spiritual awakenings as you age and find yourself in different life circumstances and faced with new challenges.
Ih have a few suggestions for you:
  1. Just go with it. Make yourself present at mass and don’t get caught up in how you should be feeling or whether you are bored. Just get fed by the eucharist and then go out that week and try to “put skin on the eucharist” by being the presence of Christ to others.
  2. Look at the readings ahead of time. It is easier to be engaged in the proclaiming of scripture and the homilies if you have an idea of what the readings are about ahead of time.(You can see the readings at usccb.org and there are many workbooks that give a little exegesis on the readings to help you out.)
  3. Think about how you WANT to feel at mass and then pray for that feeling.
  4. Remember that your spiritual life is a journey and to encounter what you need to on that journey, you actually have to go out and take that journey. Stay on it-find a ministry to get involved with. Take classes that feed you spiritually and use your moments of doubt as an opportunity to explore your faith.
 
Philomeena said:
I think that how you feel is completely normal. When I was younger, I HATED to attend mass by myself-now I enjoy it, but I do know how you feel.
Your faith is a lifelong journey-you will have many spiritual awakenings as you age and find yourself in different life circumstances and faced with new challenges.
Ih have a few suggestions for you:
  1. Just go with it. Make yourself present at mass and don’t get caught up in how you should be feeling or whether you are bored. Just get fed by the eucharist and then go out that week and try to “put skin on the eucharist” by being the presence of Christ to others.
  2. Look at the readings ahead of time. It is easier to be engaged in the proclaiming of scripture and the homilies if you have an idea of what the readings are about ahead of time.(You can see the readings at usccb.org and there are many workbooks that give a little exegesis on the readings to help you out.)
  3. Think about how you WANT to feel at mass and then pray for that feeling.
  4. Remember that your spiritual life is a journey and to encounter what you need to on that journey, you actually have to go out and take that journey. Stay on it-find a ministry to get involved with. Take classes that feed you spiritually and use your moments of doubt as an opportunity to explore your faith.
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Great post! 👍
 
I suggest you get a copy of Do I Have to Go? 101 Questions About the Mass, the Eucharist, and Your Spiritual Life by Matthew Pinto, Chris Stefanick.

This is an excellent book! It explains the Mass in such beautiful terms. It could really change your outlook.
 
teachccd said:
Vince1022 and MarkThomson: Thanks for the jabs but I will continue to find beauty in the Mass outside of having to be entertained. Thank you for sharing, however.
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You’re more than welcome – though it was less of a jab at you than at the trotting out, yet again, of the hoary old “The Mass is Calvary!” line, intended to imply that if you are enjoying yourself any more than you would at an execution then you’re having too much fun. “There was no clapping or laughing at Calvary!”, people whine, oblivious to the equal truth that there were no fiddlebacks or maniples, no Missa de angelis or polyphonic Sanctus, no altar-boy pirouettes, no Asperges, and right on down the line. So I’m not very impressed with the logical force of “They sure weren’t doing X at Calvary!” as an argument against X. There may by other perfectly valid reasons to reject X, of course, but its absence at Calvary is not one of them.
 
MarkThompson said:
You’re more than welcome – though it was less of a jab at you than at the trotting out, yet again, of the hoary old “The Mass is Calvary!” line, intended to imply that if you are enjoying yourself any more than you would at an execution then you’re having too much fun. “There was no clapping or laughing at Calvary!”, people whine, oblivious to the equal truth that there were no fiddlebacks or maniples, no Missa de angelis or polyphonic Sanctus, no altar-boy pirouettes, no Asperges, and right on down the line. So I’m not very impressed with the logical force of “They sure weren’t doing X at Calvary!” as an argument against X. There may by other perfectly valid reasons to reject X, of course, but its absence at Calvary is not one of them.
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You make a good and valid point but for so many they completely lose the foundation of the Mass and ONLY seek entertainment. While the liturgy is a celebration, it must be underscored that it is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and that we are there to celebrate the passion of our Lord. You are correct in stating that we should not limit the liturgy to the foot of the Cross but we also should not forget that that is why we are there. We need to find the place in liturgy where we recognize the Last Supper as the perpetuation of the Crucifixion and the celebration of the resurrection.

So many leave the Catholic Church because of dry homilies, bad music, lack of fellowshipping, restrictions and so on. But when we come to a full understanding of the Eucharist as the very core of our faith then how can one complain about a bad homily? We are not there to fill our emotions. We are there to become one with Christ in the Eucharist and that occurs at every Mass regardless of the priest and/or people.

I challenge any Catholic to correct me on this post and if someone can then I will have to toss out all of the Church documents that back up my claim. So please sing at Mass and even clap if you must but do not replace that with the very essence of why we are there… God bless… teachccd 🙂
 
teachccd said:
Vince1022 and MarkThomson: Thanks for the jabs but I will continue to find beauty in the Mass outside of having to be entertained. Thank you for sharing, however.
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I did not intend any “jab” (whatever that means). Sorry for any offense.
 
You are a very normal Roman Catholic in the aspect of your feelings toward mass, but what makes you exceptional is that you are trying to find answers. The reason why its seem like most people are not interested in God is because there are to many bounderies. There are Laws to follow, and rituals that have been handed down, but they are hard to follow. If God made everything easy to follow, how would he know who truly loves him, and how doesn’t.
My best advise to you is go spend time with Christ. Take a few minutes after mass to sit, or kneel, in front of the Blessed Eucharist, and ask Christ to send you the Holy Spirit to guide you. Read your Bible daily, and prayer for guidance before you read. and Finally, when you visit Christ ask him to take your life, and use it to do God’s will. Following these steps will help you bring peace to you heart, mind, and Spirit. But I must warn you, once you give your life to God, you will begin to go through trails, and you faith will be tested.
May God send his Spirit upon you, and give you peace.

ybiC (your brother in Christ)
Joe
 
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