Sleeping at mass

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Sometimes staying awake can be a real challenge. We recently visited a neighboring parish which has a priest whose English is almost impossible for me to understand. I would guess I miss at least half or more of what he says, no matter how hard I try. The thing that makes it worse it that he believes in very long homilies, about 20 minutes each.
When you hit a language barrier and long talking, it becomes a real exercise to stay focused. The mind only goes so far.
 
I also will admit to falling asleep at mass at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. (Long before my conversion.) I do not speak French and of course the homily was in French. The fact that I could not understand what was going on, plus the fact of the jet-lag was more than I could handle that day.
 
I can get sleepy when there are pews, but a lot of Eastern Catholic churches don’t have them. I never get sleepy in those! 😃
 
Is it sleep? Or is it prayer? And, are you jealous? Limits are the curse of our human condition. But, how do you know it is not prayer. Pope John Paul was known to pray so reverently that he looked like a statue. If he was asleep have you prayed for him that God would give him more strength? Or, are you only wanting to point out the fault?
 
It’s near impossible for me to fall asleep in Mass; Father has quite the deep booming voice. 😃 (That, and my four-year-old is still in his wiggly stage.)

Prayers for our Holy Father. He’s exhausted and certainly stressed. :signofcross:
 
Why are people falling asleep at Mass? Maybe because the liturgy and the music has become so disjointed. Maybe because so much of the liturgy is a hold hands and embrace one another experience where we nourish each other. The music has become boring and uninspiring. The focus of Christ’s sacrifice and suffering is painfully de-emphasized.

Case in point, yesterday’s Mass:

Yesterday I attended the 5:30 p.m. youth mass at a local Dallas church. The Deacon had long duck tails and a beard. He was an older man and a high energy “Rah Rah!!” type of guy. He starts his sermon talking about the attributes of a pencil and how a pencil relates to our life in the church. It was an ok sermon but predictable. I had worked that day and was tired and dozed off.

I slept through most of the sermon. The music group did not help a bit because the sound is terribly bland. I am praying and hoping for a renewal in the church and one such area is with the music. Later during Mass as a stood behind the priest the Deacon started swaying back and forth to the music! Really? Does the Deacon need to dance at Mass?

I have heard many versions of the Gloria and at this church it is yet another one where everyone sways their arms back and forth and claps their hands. Why are people clapping and waving their arms at Mass?

At Communion I received from a Eucharistic Minister on my tongue but the Host tasted as if it had some of the residue of lotion or some substance. Maybe it was the hand sanitizer. I don’t know for sure but I called the parish today and pointed this out the Pastor’s secretary. I did not identify the EM.
 
sometimes what brings about sleepiness is not what goes inside the church but outside. our society today is complex and necessitates a lot of people to be working on weekends and even overnight. or sometimes we work too much on weekdays and that weekends, instead of our rest day, becomes the day we do all our house chores.
 
Something I believe it helps is when the homily relates to our lives, and it is delivered in a clear ,loud enough voice, so that people can understand what it is being said,Some priests in addition to that"walk the main aisle a little bit" and look at the people in the eyes as they deliver the sermon. Not unlike a college professor that tries to engage the students.
The opposite is a priest whose homily has no practical implications in real life, speaks in an inaudible way and stays very removed in distance and eye contact to his audience.
As far as music, we all hear enough music with beats in the radio.I personally prefer
a more classical , gregorian, celestial sound, that you can only find at church.
All the above keep the church experience vibrant enough to stay alert.
 
Sometimes my GrandFather falls to sleep in Mass sometimes.
“Seanathair!! Seanathair! Wake suas! Táimid i Aifreann!”(Grandfather, Grandfather! Wake up! We’re in Mass!)
Up he jumps! The Priest tends to prach about death, ALOT. It puts my poor Grandfather to sleep!
 
There is a funny joke on this topic:

There was a man who every Sunday would sit in the front pew and every Sunday he would sleep through the whole Mass. This distressed the Priest very much and the Priest though long and hard about how he could teach this man a lesson. So one Sunday at the end of his homily, the man was asleep per usual. The Priest said to the congregation in a very low whisper: “I would like to take a quick survey. Now would everyone who is going to Heaven, please remain seated,” and of course, everyone remained seated. Then he said: “Now would every who is going to HELL STAND UP!!!” Naturally, the man bolted right out of his seat completely startled. He looked around for a moment or two and noticed that everyone else was sitting. So he turned to the Priest and said: “Well Father, looks like it’s just me and you.” 😃
 
JMJ that’s hilarious! 😃

Before I became devout, I nodded off during a Mass the night before New Years. I had been nodding for the entire Mass, and I knew I wouldn’t make it through to the end. I preferred not to miss the consecration or the Eucharist, so I figured the homily was my best bet.😊

I’ve had more problems with this at school. I had an Economics class right before lunch and something about the lighting, the color of the room, and the calm and pleasant voice of the teacher, made me extremely tired. Every day for the entire semester I fought with the nods. 🙂 Once you get a nod big enough, it’s so embarrassing that your adrenaline is enough to keep you awake quite a while longer! I can only imagine how much worse you would feel about this at Mass 😛
 
I went to a Youth Rally after spending the day at an academic team completion and driving 5 hours back. I was kneeling on the floor, and I seriously almost passed out. I hadn’t eaten much either. But God kept me up. lol. And I was ok after having the Eucharist.

-Jeanne
 
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