Ok, so, I have decided to attend mass next Sunday...need more advice

[ConflictedBoy]

I mean, doing that much couldnt hurt right? If my parents find out I’m just going to say i “want to see what its about”. My mom certainly won’t mind that, in fact she was saying she’d like to go to a Russian Orthodox service sometime (“Just to see what it is about” lol)

Anyway here’s the deal, sometimes we would attend mass in my Dad’s parents town during Christmastime (where everyone is catholic), but its been like a few years since Ive been to one. All I really remember was that presenting youself for communion as a non catholic is a no-no, as is reciting the Nicene creed? idk, I do remember kneeling down a lot for a long time, and how beautiful the church looked., and wondering why our church wasnt elaborate like that

So yea, what if any, directions/advice should I get before going to mass?

 

[MissMichal]

Cool for you! Have fun. Here’s what I would give you for prep:

1. You don’t have to do or say anything that makes you uncomfortable. If kneeling bothers you, sit. If crossing yourself bothers you, don’t. No one is watching you to make sure you’re “doing it right.” That said, you may want to give it a try.
2. Yes, it is a no-no to receive communion as a non-Catholic. You may stay in your pew for communion. As far as I know, though, you may recite the Creed if it doesn’t conflict with your beliefs.
3. Use the Missalette, which can be found in the pew, as a “cheat sheet.” It tells you when to stand, kneel, etc. and has the readings printed so you can follow along.
4. You may want to check out a crash course on the mass like this one before you go. It’s optional, but knowing what’s going on makes mass a lot more interesting.

Peace,
-S-

 

[puzzleannie]

since you ask, my advice is not to go overboard with preparation. Simply attend. Sit where you can see and hear, and simply watch and listen in an attitude of prayerful respect. I would not try to follow along with a missalette or worship aid the first time but simply watch and listen. You already know not to receive. You may sing, or not, as you please, you may stand, sit or kneel as you please. There will be other people sitting due to age or infirmity so don’t let it bother you if kneeling does not feel right yet.

trying to learn what to do or say from a book or video is trying to learn to play football that way when you have never even seen a football game.

 

[larousser]

I very strongly exhort you to go to a Traditional (Tridentine) Mass, prefarably a High Mass. You can do everything bar receiving Holy Communion, but you can recite the Creed and join in with the chanting. They are listed at the link below:

honneurs.free.fr/Wikini/wakka.php?wiki=ListeEtatsUnis

I presume you live in the United States?

The liturgy of the Mass explained here along with accompaning explanation videos (catechumens comes first and then the faithful):
sanctamissa.org/en/serving/low-mass/mass-of-the-catechumens.html
sanctamissa.org/en/serving/low-mass/mass-of-the-faithful.html

The rubrics of the liturgy are explained here:
sanctamissa.org/en/rubrics/

Here’s a lovely video of a Missa Cantata:
video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1872714663680800365

 

[larousser]

I very strongly exhort you to go to a Traditional (Tridentine) Mass, prefarably a High Mass. You can do everything bar receiving Holy Communion, but you can recite the Creed and join in with the chanting. They are listed at the link below:

honneurs.free.fr/Wikini/wakka.php?wiki=ListeEtatsUnis

I presume you live in the United States?

The liturgy of the Mass explained here along with accompaning explanation videos (catechumens comes first and then the faithful):
sanctamissa.org/en/serving/low-mass/mass-of-the-catechumens.html
sanctamissa.org/en/serving/low-mass/mass-of-the-faithful.html

The rubrics of the liturgy are explained here:
sanctamissa.org/en/rubrics/

Here’s a lovely video of a Missa Cantata:
video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1872714663680800365

The entire text of the Mass including advice on what to do
fisheaters.com/TLMinstructions.html

 

[Lainey63]

Try to relax and keep this in mind, it was God who inspired you to go to Mass. So have received an invitation from Him to attend and you are graciously accepting His invitation…so talk to Him while you are there and don’t forget to thank Him for the invite

 

[Disciple4Christ]

Lainey63 you have it right brought a tear to this old eye. I remember coming back to the Church for the first time after 33 yrs I was there for God only not the people they came after.
Since that point I have had so many blessings from the Lord I cannot count them.
Pray Pray Pray and if you don’t understand something find the “True answer” and please be patient the Lord works in his time.
Ask and you will recieve.

Bless you in your journey lad.

 

[Cat]

I very strongly exhort you to go to a Traditional (Tridentine) Mass, prefarably a High Mass. You can do everything bar receiving Holy Communion, but you can recite the Creed and join in with the chanting. They are listed at the link below:

honneurs.free.fr/Wikini/wakka.php?wiki=ListeEtatsUnis

I presume you live in the United States?

The liturgy of the Mass explained here along with accompaning explanation videos (catechumens comes first and then the faithful):
sanctamissa.org/en/serving/low-mass/mass-of-the-catechumens.html
sanctamissa.org/en/serving/low-mass/mass-of-the-faithful.html

The rubrics of the liturgy are explained here:
sanctamissa.org/en/rubrics/

Here’s a lovely video of a Missa Cantata:
video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1872714663680800365

I’m going to respectfully disagree with this. I think that at this point, it’s important for you to hear Mass in your own language and understand what is going on.

Disciple4Christ, I don’t know your background. I was evangelical Protestant all my life, and the first time I ever attended a Catholic Mass (Ordinary Form, in English), I was very confused. I felt like I was attending something ancient and ritualistic, and I had no idea what people were saying and singing, and I didn’t know the significance of anything.

I think that if I had tried a Latin Mass first, I would have run out of the church building five minutes into it! I would have been scared by the chanting and the position of the priest and all of the myriad of symbolic gestures and choreography.

If you don’t understand the Mass, then it will become an “experience” for you, like a rock concert or a visit to a Buddhist or Hindu church. You won’t understand what you are hearing and you won’t be able to make an intelligent decision about Mass. Would you join a Buddhist sect just because you like the way they worship? I hope not.

I think that for someone who is not Catholic, or who has been away from the Church for a long time, it is important to understand. In I Corinthians 12-14, St. Paul discusses the importance of speaking in a language that people understand.

When you understand what’s actually going on in Mass, then certainly try the Traditional Latin Mass. You’ll appreciate it more if it’s not just a strange ritual in a foreign language.

 

[Ockham]

I agree with Cat. Starting with the Traditional Latin Mass might be overwhelming at this point. I think I could comfortably follow along after my fifth TLM, with a missal, research at home, and forty years of NO Mass attendance. The basic Mass is the liturgy-lite making it a good starting point. However, this form is prone to abuse so hopefully your local pastor conducts a reverent Pauline Mass. Let us know your impressions and bring any questions back to this thread.

As for advice I think others have supplied good guidance. The Mass has been said for nearly two thousand years, in all cultures and places, so it’s user friendly. No one will glare at you for standing at the wrong time or anything. Just follow the flow and go along with what everyone else does. Maybe wait around after Mass for a bit and introduce yourself to the priest. He probably won’t have time for any lengthy meetings given their time constraints on Sundays, but ask if you can meet with him later for a chat - whenever you’re ready.

Take advantage of the links provided you and read up on the Mass ahead of time. Maybe sneak in a televised Mass on EWTN or other Catholic channels. The Catholic culture offers something for everyone. It is rich in tradition, philosophy, spirituality and community. You can take as much of it as you like and find your own rewards.

 

[Trishie]

God bless you! May He continue to guide you, and also to help you gently and wisely work things out with your parents at the right time.
They have cause to be proud of you for your sincerity and your determination to live what you believe is true.
May God surround you with His light and love and wisdom.
You are called by God, so please feel welcome at Mass becuse God has invited you!

Warm wishes, Trishie

 

[dixibehr]

I very strongly exhort you to go to a Traditional (Tridentine) Mass, prefarably a High Mass. You can do everything bar receiving Holy Communion, but you can recite the Creed and join in with the chanting. They are listed at the link below:<<

Why not go to an Eastern Catholic Divine Liturgy (as the Eucharist is called), too?

 

[larousser]

I very strongly exhort you to go to a Traditional (Tridentine) Mass, prefarably a High Mass. You can do everything bar receiving Holy Communion, but you can recite the Creed and join in with the chanting. They are listed at the link below:<<

Given that he has an Orthodox background that would probably be better than the Traditional Mass or the New Order.

 

[BayernAnhaenger]

I wonder what the converts did when the Traditional Latin Mass was the ONLY Mass for the Latin Rite. Guess those people were stupid, or merely having an experience.

rolls eyes

Go to the Traditional Latin Mass.

 

[ruslan]

Bless you! I think this is a great thing. Let us know how it went.

:heaven: :harp:

 

[cazayoux]

So yea, what if any, directions/advice should I get before going to mass?

Good stuff!

I have a paper called “The Mass: A Biblical Prayer” that shows the scriptural basis for every single part of the mass.
It is attached to this message.

michel

 

[jmcrae]

since you ask, my advice is not to go overboard with preparation. Simply attend. Sit where you can see and hear, and simply watch and listen in an attitude of prayerful respect. I would not try to follow along with a missalette or worship aid the first time but simply watch and listen. You already know not to receive. You may sing, or not, as you please, you may stand, sit or kneel as you please. There will be other people sitting due to age or infirmity so don’t let it bother you if kneeling does not feel right yet.

trying to learn what to do or say from a book or video is trying to learn to play football that way when you have never even seen a football game.

I agree completely with this. Your first time at Mass should not feel like a Final Exam. Just go, and be determined to enjoy the experience.

 

[jmcrae]

I wonder what the converts did when the Traditional Latin Mass was the ONLY Mass for the Latin Rite. Guess those people were stupid, or merely having an experience.

According to my reading (A Parish Priest’s Guide to Inquiry Classes, Paulist Press, 1957), converts began to be permitted to attend the Mass of the Catechumens after the third Instruction.

They were not permitted to remain for the Mass of the Faithful until the Mass of their First Holy Communion, which took place the Sunday after the 25th Instruction, which consisted of Conditional Baptism and First Confession. (Which I find to be eminently sane - it saves the bother of tracking down Protestant Baptismal certificates, and trying to figure out whether the Baptism indicated thereon is actually valid.)

They would then be Confirmed the next time the Bishop came to the parish to give that Sacrament.

 

[Cat]

I wonder what the converts did when the Traditional Latin Mass was the ONLY Mass for the Latin Rite. Guess those people were stupid, or merely having an experience.

rolls eyes

Go to the Traditional Latin Mass.

There is no need to roll your eyes. Over 40 years have passed since the implementation of the “new” Mass. A lot has changed.

I believe that in the decades before the 1960s and the advent of the OF Mass, a regular high school education in any public school, including the one-room schoolhouses in the country, included at least a basic introduction to the classics–Latin, Greek, history, culture, etc. Also back then, people did not disdain tradition, antiquity, and history, as they so often do now.

As for those who did not attend high school–and that number was quite large back then–they at least had a little classical education in grammar school or in their church, and those who did not receive this education respected those who did have it.

And most Protestant churches of that time were at least somewhat simliar to a Mass in that they used a liturgy of sorts and many of the same hymns and responses as the Catholic Church…

So back then, even a convert would have some clue as to what was going on in a Latin Mass, and if they didn’t, they respected that which they did not understand.

But today, so few people have any knowledge whatsoever of Latin and classical history and tradition. And many people have no respect for that which makes no sense to them. (I am not implying that the OP is someone like this.)

And today many Protestant Christians have never, ever experienced any kind of liturgical worship. Just last week, my brother-in-law was describing his non-denominational church in California, which makes a point of planning a totally different worship service every single week, and advertises this “variety” as a reason for people to attend their church.

The cultural norms of today are very very different than they were pre-Vatican II. So my advice to the OP stands.

Of course, if the OP has the kind of education that has given him/her a knowledge and love of classical tradition, than yes, by all means, he/she should visit the Traditional Latin Mass. It is up to the OP, of course.

And no matter which Mass form he/she decides to visit, JESUS will be Truly Present and that’s what’s important. It’s not about the language, the music, the vestments, the responses–Mass is about Jesus.

 

[Ockham]

I wonder what the converts did when the Traditional Latin Mass was the ONLY Mass for the Latin Rite. Guess those people were stupid, or merely having an experience.

rolls eyes

Go to the Traditional Latin Mass.

Good point, but if a NO Mass is available then in may be a good starting point. Like training wheels on a bike. If enough study and guidance is available then I guess a convert could just jump right into the TLM. I would definitely recommend attending it at some point.

 

[ProVobis]

I think that at this point, it’s important for you to hear Mass in your own language and understand what is going on.

Maybe, but I sat next to a 5-6 yr old young lady last Sunday who seemed to know what Dominus vobiscum meant and how to respond to it. Meanwhile the people attending the OF upstairs were responding “and also with you” without a clue as to what they were saying.

They may have a clue though when they change the text of the English Mass.