Please review this summary of the Mass

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ethereality said:
Please comment if there are any misunderstandings or potential simplifications or other improvements.
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[Ethereality.―I followed your link to that other website and posted a reply to you there. I now see my reply was deleted, so I’ll repost it here, together with the reason why they deleted it.]

This is really a very daunting task you have set yourself here. I have never seen this kind of thing attempted before, but it occurs to me that perhaps you might be able to find a ready-made document available somewhere, either online or in a book.

In the meantime, I would like to address the following comment to the (anonymous?) commenter who posted answer No. 1 on this thread…

While everything you say is (as far as I know) absolutely correct, I would suggest changing the balance. Your explanation is in two parts: (1) From “There is one being …” all the way down to “ … the evil we experience” is a statement of Christian belief about the nature of God and man, sin and redemption. (2) The final paragraph is a section-by-section outline of what your Japanese friend will be seeing and hearing when she or he is present among the congregation. I think the second part should be at least as long as the first part. Possibly explain a bit more about the readings – usually a first reading from the Old Testament (what is that?), then a psalm (sung in a very abbreviated form), then a second reading, usually from one of the Epistles (what’s that?), and finally from one of the Gospels (what’s that?) – followed by what you interestingly call the “lecture” (you might add that it is usually timed to last about 15 minutes, but can vary greatly in length). And then explain that everything that has happened so far is only a preparation for the real Mass that is now going to begin with the recitation of the Creed (a short statement of Christian belief) followed by … And this is going to call for some historical background about the Last Supper.

The only thing I would leave out is that bit at the very end, that has the unfortunate effect of seeming to trivialize everything that has gone before: and we praise God because singing is fun and praising God improves our mental health.

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I am posting here as a reply to you so that you might have a higher chance of reading it. This frustrating forum is requiring me to edit it to enable me to post it again, since I posted it without being a reply to you minutes before:

Thank you for your effort. That Caleb is … really strict. He deleted parts of my question, too.

I wound up sending the woman that letter, basically, and she said it was well-received. Unfortunately her first Mass experience (she attended Sunday with me) was ruined a little by a mentally ill old Shinto-Buddhist woman who is infatuated with me (she came and bothered us right after the consecration, even kicking me in the shin after the sign of peace (for “cheating on her” with a woman my age), and stayed beside us for the rest of the Mass), but maybe matters will work out for the best.

Please pray for both of their conversions, and that the mentally ill woman receives medical treatment. (So far she has refused to admit of any problem, and consequently has gone years without treatment. The Japanese have what I consider poor mental healthcare relative to other countries, and the Christians at this church mostly ignore her, since Japanese custom is to ignore disagreeable or rude behavior. The mentally ill woman comes to our church almost every Sunday, but insists that “God doesn’t want [her] to be Baptized,” etc.)
 
BartholomewB said:
And then explain that everything that has happened so far is only a preparation for the real Mass that is now going to begin with the recitation of the Creed
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I remember being taught that the mass begins when we bless ourselves “In the name of the Father … (etc).”

The readings are the reception of the Word of God.
Communion is reception of the Body & Blood of Christ.

Two inseparable parts of the one mass, not that the second is the “real” mass.
 
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I commend you for taking on this effort. It is big challenge to get the translation right. Hope you can find a Catholic whose native language is Japanese.

(Remember the amusing but disastrous translation of the Pepsi commercial years ago?) 😬
 
Thanks. No, I’ve not seen it; please share.
 
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Yes, I was also taught this. I think the Catechism also says that Jesus is present in the readings as well. I seem to recall a four-fold presence of Jesus: in the person of the priest, in the congregation, in the readings, and in the Eucharist, if I recall correctly.

I think Bart was trying to convey that the second half is more sacred, such that in ancient days (if I recall Mike Aquila’s /Mass of the Early Christians/) non-Baptized were dismissed before it began (as today, children and catechumens are dismissed to go to Sunday school, if I understand correctly). Hence there was rumors that they were cannibalizing, because it wasn’t open to the public because it was so sacred …
 
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👍
Agree with the “four-fold presence” but my reference was about the mass giving us Jesus fully:
  1. In the Word
  2. In the Flesh
    Reminiscent of the Word became flesh.
Just got back from mass. Feast of Epiphany, the revelation of the saviour to the nations, praying for your friends. Got to thinking about how to evangelize the Japanese.

Maybe simplify your explanation of the mass, to something more like how the mass is introduced to children, with pictures if possible.

We gather together.
We listen to the stories of our faith; we hear them explained; we are encouraged to live the lessons in our lives.
We pray to God, asking for our needs, our community’s needs and the needs of the world.
We profess the faith we share.
The priest, in the place of our saviour Jesus the Christ, offers the sacrifice in our name.
In unity with our brothers and sisters we receive communion as Jesus asked us to.
The priest blesses us, sending us forth to proclaim God’s greatness by serving our neighbour with love.

St Francis Xavier was a missionary to Japan if I’m not mistaken. Have you read anything about him, especially gotten any tips on what in the culture is receptive to the Christian message? Thinking St Anne (respect for elders) as well as the Magi story.
 
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Oh dear! It was China not Japan and may be an urban legend though the hazard is entirely possible.

Search “brings your ancestors back from the dead” that’s all I want to say.😬
 
What is ‘the Maji story’? Do you mean the three Magi commemorated on the feast of the Epiphany?

They don’t know what a sacrifice is or why it’s necessary.

I have read about St. Xavier. Yes, he went to Japan.

The problem with the Japanese is a bit deeper than your post suggests: Generally speaking, the main problem is that they don’t care about religion and they’re not interested in it. They are very caught up in present reality, and their Buddhist background encourages them to not think about death or anything beyond the present moment. However, they do follow superstition and try to get good luck charms to help their lives; this may be an opening to discuss the source of such power. However, here is also difficult, because if it’s not a Japanese bringing up the topic, they’ll quickly shut down and say they don’t believe such “foreign" religions “because they’re Japanese”.

Thanks for your thoughts, though. My friend said she liked my explanation.
 
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Do the young people take up the Buddhist religion as much as the older people have?
 
The young people seem influenced by it the same way American agnostic youth are influenced by but don’t practice Christianity. Generally, they go through the motions of going to the temple on New Year’s, same as agnostic American youth go to Christmas with their parents.
 
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Why are you using ある for God instead of いる?

I don’t know if there is some deep theological reason but in common lingo you’d say いる pretty sure

Also in the 4th paragraph I think, you say ここには2つの理由があります, how about saying instead 二つの理由は…

Also I think you have a typo around here
したがって、私たちが神様に反抗して自分自身をイエスに結びつけ
You forgot the “stop” part in about stopping our rebellion against God!
 
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I basically proofread a Google-generated translation; perhaps I missed a few spots. Thanks for the thoughts. I see that community ‘closed’ the question, but are you able to edit the answer to include your revisions?
 
I have no idea how that site works. I tried to comment there but it didn’t work…
 
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