What to do when Mass isn't available?

  • Thread starter Thread starter ThomasDoubter
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
T

ThomasDoubter

Guest
Hello,

Northern Sweden (where I live) is a tough place to be a Catholic, I am discovering! On the whole, Sweden has only 23% of the population believing in God, so that gives you some idea of the antipathy towards religion here. Only 2% of the population are Catholic, and they are mainly in the south of the country.

My local situation is that once a month, there is a Catholic Mass held in my town, at a church ‘borrowed’ from the Lutheran Church of Sweden. For three months in the summer, the Mass is not available. Regular Church worship would involve the Pentecostal and Lutheran denominations, which are dominant in this area. The only other denominations I have encountered are the ‘Filadelfia Kyrkan’ or the Philadelphia Church (not sure what it is!), and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Without regular Mass, what can I do to reinforce my fledgling faith? If I, for instance, found a little group of local Catholics, and we agreed to meet up on the Sundays we couldn’t partake in the Mass, what can we discuss without the guidance of a Priest? The ‘one Mass a month’ situation can leave you feeling a little isolated. Other than this forum, there are precious few options available to me, when I probably most need them!

Is it better that I just pray alone, read Catholic literature, and take the Mass when available to me? The friends that I have here who are Christian are Pentecostal missionaries - so I’m reluctant to get into deep-and-meaningful theological discussion with them. At the moment my reading is purely the NT and the Church doctrine. I want to keep my faith uninfluenced by the beliefs of non-Catholics. I fear that at this early stage in my reversion, my belief could unwittingly become a hybrid faith of bits of several Churches - through my own ignorance of the full teachings of the Church!

Any advice is appreciated!
 
As before I’d say this is a good question to ask your priest/bishop.

Personally I’d suggest logging on to EWTN and seeing if you can stream the mass that is offered there three or four times a day.
If this is too difficult due to time issues, you might purchase a video of the mass that you can run on your TV.
However I’d opt for the EWTN mass if at all possible. This has the benefits of being in English, proper daily readings and excellent homilies.

In addition, all of the other things that you have mentioned are good ideas. Meeting with other catholics for prayer and fellowship, creating a stong prayerlife in the home, reading the daily mass readings (also available on the EWTN site I believe) as well as reading other books and articles on the faith.

Hope these ideas are of help

Peace
James
 
ANother vote for EWTN.

I have a medical situation that sometimes makes it difficult getting to Mass, esp when the weather is bad. Having access to EWTN has been a great grace for me.
 
Fantastic advice! Thank you both so much. I never honestly gave a thought to online Mass - that in actual fact may be better for me whilst I get to grips with the Swedish language!

Now, I’m happy. 🙂
 
If you could round up a small group of Catholics, one thing you can do on a regular basis (in fact daily if you chose) is to recite a portion of the Liturgy of the Hours together. Sunday Lauds or Vespers would be most appropriate for those times when Mass isn’t available.

You would be participating in the public prayer of the Church, would learn the psalms, and if you make a regular habit of doing the entire office (yourself when others aren’t available), you’ll get a healthy dose of Bible and Patristic readings in the Office of Readings.

The nice thing about the LOTH, is that you don’t need a priest to preside. The rubrics cover the circumstances when only laypeople are present.

You would thus maintain your connection to the Church by praying with her faithful and religious, in an ancient practice of a prayer vigil that is continuous and global. Somewhere, every hour of every day in different time zones, someone is praying an Office from the Liturgy of the Hours.
 
ThomasDoubter said:
Hello,

Northern Sweden (where I live) is a tough place to be a Catholic, I am discovering! On the whole, Sweden has only 23% of the population believing in God, so that gives you some idea of the antipathy towards religion here. Only 2% of the population are Catholic, and they are mainly in the south of the country.

My local situation is that once a month, there is a Catholic Mass held in my town, at a church ‘borrowed’ from the Lutheran Church of Sweden. For three months in the summer, the Mass is not available. Regular Church worship would involve the Pentecostal and Lutheran denominations, which are dominant in this area. The only other denominations I have encountered are the ‘Filadelfia Kyrkan’ or the Philadelphia Church (not sure what it is!), and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Without regular Mass, what can I do to reinforce my fledgling faith? If I, for instance, found a little group of local Catholics, and we agreed to meet up on the Sundays we couldn’t partake in the Mass, what can we discuss without the guidance of a Priest? The ‘one Mass a month’ situation can leave you feeling a little isolated. Other than this forum, there are precious few options available to me, when I probably most need them!

Is it better that I just pray alone, read Catholic literature, and take the Mass when available to me? The friends that I have here who are Christian are Pentecostal missionaries - so I’m reluctant to get into deep-and-meaningful theological discussion with them. At the moment my reading is purely the NT and the Church doctrine. I want to keep my faith uninfluenced by the beliefs of non-Catholics. I fear that at this early stage in my reversion, my belief could unwittingly become a hybrid faith of bits of several Churches - through my own ignorance of the full teachings of the Church!

Any advice is appreciated!
Click to expand...
I think this is something that you need to discuss with your parish priest or spiritual director or confessor.

The Church document “Directory for Sunday Celebrations in the absence of a Priest” may be worth a read. You can find it here.
 
I would like to give a couple suggestions. to make an act of spiritual communion daily whenever Holy Mass is not available…and know that Jesus will truly give you this spiritual communion and much grace and love will be given to you. (I’ve included 2 examples of Spiritual Communion prayers or you can use them as a reference and make your own personal prayer)
The other suggestion is that as long as you continue to study your faith and deepen your devotion to Our Lady it would be a great thing to pray with other Christians. This can be highly beneficial to your relationship with the Lord, help open you up to vocal prayer from the heart and can help you make friends who have a “living faith” although they’re off on some theology…, but this is contingent on your relationship with Our Lady because if she will not let you stray. I suggest reading True Devotion

** An Act of Spiritual Communion**
Code: 
My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love You above all things, and I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.
or this one

Send Your Angel to Mass:’
Holy angel at my side, Go to church for me, Kneel in my place at Holy Mass ,Where I desire to be.

At offertory in my stead, Take all I am and own, And place it as a sacrifice,Upon the Altar throne.

At Holy Consecration bell, Adore with Seraph’s love My Jesus hidden in the Host Come down from Heaven above.

There pray for those I dearly love And those that cause me grief That Jesus’ blood may cleanse all hearts Give suffering souls relief.

That when the priest Communion takes Then bring my Lord to me That His sweet heart may rest in mine And I His temple be.

Pray that the sacrifice divine May all man’s sin efface Then bring me Jesus’ blessing home The pledge of every grace.

Amen
 
The advice given above is great, especially the recommendation first of all to talk to your priest about it the next time you see him. I’m sure that he has experience trying to help other people in your situation build their faith.

One other suggestion would be that if you are able to get a group together on Sundays when there is no Mass, you might ask your priest (or another priest) if he could join you via Skype for a portion of it to lead you in prayer, answer your questions, or whatever. Obviously you can’t have Mass over the internet or anything, but having your priest “present” in that way even for five or ten minutes, if he’s able to, might help set the right tone for your gatherings and strengthen your ties to the Church.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top