Sleeping at mass

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Hey!! Jesus said “Come unto me, and I shall give you rest!” Right? 😛

In all seriousness, one should do all they can to stay awake and attentive at mass. It’s hard sometimes when you are exhausted, but drink some coffee or something before you go if you think you are going to have problems. Sometimes the mass can have a very relaxing effect, but get your mind going!

I have to admit, I myself fell asleep at a christmas mass. I had driven almost three hours at midnight the night before from my parent’s house to mine (got home at 3) and I had to be up at 7 to get to church on time. Not to mention it was just after the sleep deprivation of finals week. I felt so bad about it, but I took it as a sign to stop spreading myself so thin so I can give Jesus my all at mass!

I also have a story (since you linked the photo of the pope) about a choir falling asleep at a church service. When I was in college, the choir was singing in a local church. It was a protestant church, and we had to be there at 8. That meant most of us were up at 6am or earlier. The problem was, all the music majors had a big concert the night before. We had stayed up late the night before doing the post-concert wind down (this means going to to a local restaurant for munchies and hang-out time) and were out REALLY late. You just can’t sleep for a while after a big concert because of the nerves.

Protestant sermons can last anywhere from half an hour to an hour and a half. This one lasted a good hour. I had nodded off about 1/3rd of the way though. I woke up at the end, and frantically asked the people around me (after service) what the message was. Ashamed, my neighbors admitted they fell asleep too and missed it. We then started asking everyone in the 40 voice choir what the message was so we could thank the pastor. EVERYONE was asleep at one point, or through the whole thing. What’s more is a congregation member told our director that “you all looked so professional and thoughtful during the sermon!” We were all asleep sitting up, and heads down towards our laps!! oops…😊
 
Don’t feel bad. I once went to the 4pm Mass on a Saturday at the Cathedral after working an 8 hour shift. I was tired and warm, the sermon was boring and hard to hear, and I fell asleep and pitched forward into the pew in front of me.:eek: That woke me up. To make matters worse, many of the congregation were doctors and nurses from the hospital I work at, as the Cathedral is only a few minutes from the hospital, and I pitched in to a couple of them.😊
 
I’ve never fallen asleep at Mass. However, Pope Benedict XVI has been going through Hell recently and has probably had some very sleepless nights.

Obviously, sleeping during Mass isn’t a good thing. However, we are human.
 
When I was a kid, grandpa was going on and on about how important it was to pay attention during Mass and I said ‘But the homilies are SOOO BOORRRINGG!’ and he said ‘Sweet pea, Father is reflecting on Scripture. That is time for reflection on God’s WORD!’ and I said, ‘But grandpa you SLEEP during the homily.’
He said ‘And, that, my dear is how I reflect!’

HAHAHA!

I knew a guy who came after working a shift that ended thirty minutes earlier. So, he had been up from 10 pm, until 9 am Mass. He ALWAYS fell asleep during Mass. He would wake up, and drift off, wake up, and drift off.
I think of how much he would rather have been in his own comfortable bed. I think of how hard it must have been for him to push himself to be awake even ONE more hour when he was obviously SO exhausted, and I would just think that his heart and mind while SLEEPING still has more love for Jesus than mine does.
Quite an impressive individual.

So, I guess you can ‘try’ not to fall asleep, but that’s alot like ‘trying’ not to go to the bathroom. At some point, it just HAS to happen!! 🤷
 
rwillenborg said:
I knew a guy who came after working a shift that ended thirty minutes earlier. So, he had been up from 10 pm, until 9 am Mass. He ALWAYS fell asleep during Mass. He would wake up, and drift off, wake up, and drift off.
I think of how much he would rather have been in his own comfortable bed. I think of how hard it must have been for him to push himself to be awake even ONE more hour when he was obviously SO exhausted, and I would just think that his heart and mind while SLEEPING still has more love for Jesus than mine does.
Quite an impressive individual.
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Reminds me of the story of the widow who gave only a penny, but Jesus recognized her immense sacrifice and praised her for it!!
 
Sometimes I start nodding off and might yawn during a long homily. I mean that as no disrespect towards the priest at all. The same thing use to happen to me when I went to college. No matter what time the class was or even if the subject matter was interesting, I was start yawning like crazy. Same thing still happens when I sit down at home to read. :confused:
 
I fell asleep during the long readings of the Easter Vigil. I had slept only 3 hours the night before, chanted Lauds with our choir at 8 am on Holy Saturday at the cathedral (and we rehearsed at 7 am), and went for a 47 km bike ride on the afternoon of Holy Saturday.

I was reminded at the Vigil that I’m not 20 anymore (51 to be precise).

At least I woke up from the Epistle onwards.
 
I remember once when our son was only about a year old, my husband had been working long days and even weekends, and one Sunday morning, as he sat holding our son, he began to nod off during the homily. Our son stared at him intently, then patted his face and yelled “DAD!!!” My husband sat bolt upright in shock and I nearly fell over laughing! I’m sure the pat felt like a slap, but he didn’t nod off during the rest of the Mass!
 
There are people who suffer from narcolepsy and/or sleep apnea. They fall asleep in all sorts of situations. It can even be dangerous if one were driving a car for example.🙂
 
No one should plan to sleep during Mass–except little babies and noisy toddlers. 😛 The rest of us should do our best and if we do fall asleep because of late nights. long homilies, or whatever, please refrain from snoring or drooling! 👍
 
Mrs_Sally said:
No one should plan to sleep during Mass–except little babies and noisy toddlers. 😛 The rest of us should do our best and if we do fall asleep because of late nights. long homilies, or whatever, please refrain from snoring or drooling! 👍
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Now that would be hard for me. I always snore when I fall asleep. Its bad enough I fell asleep in the cinema and started to snore. I do all I can to stay awake at Mass. Especialy if Im serving at the altar during Christmas midnight Mass
 
sometimes for one reason or another, i do get sleepy at mass

of course being in a restful state (sitting and listening especially during homily) does induce sleep. try to concentrate on the priest

at least we’re not doing it intentionally. although i did before, when i was a kid. but i was a kid then. i have no excuses now. i guess just find a priest that you find interesting. our parish priest gives interesting homilies so even though i’m sleepy, my mind is alert and listening
 
jayk15 said:
Now that would be hard for me. I always snore when I fall asleep. Its bad enough I fell asleep in the cinema and started to snore. I do all I can to stay awake at Mass. Especialy if Im serving at the altar during Christmas midnight Mass
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I suppose it’s only slighty better than being a sleep-talker. Boy do I have stories about that. Though thankfully not involving mass…LOL
 
Back when I was growing up in the Baptist Church I would always fall asleep on my grandfather’s shoulder. The last time I fell asleep though was last year (about 4 months before my conversion) I did not sleep well at all the night before and I could not stay awake at all during the service I was at. It was at a Methodist Church. It was very noticeable and I apologized to the pastor. Luckily the pastor just told me not to worry about that it is a problem that everyone has occasionally. I also fell asleep our first night in Taize during my week there 2 years ago. The jet-lag was horrid, but luckily even the professors with us admitted to falling asleep so we did not feel to bad. 😃
 
We had a lady houseguest that came from out of state.All during the stay she made sure we understood she would need a ride to mass on Sunday, and we assured her we would all go.
After putting so much emphasis in her not missing Mass, when Sunday came, she slept through most of it.😃
 
I’ve dosed off a few times during Mass. Not so much anymore because I make sure I get enough sleep the night before but things happen. I know it’s wrong but we’re human; it happens. That pic of the Pope is pretty funny though.
 
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