Why still attend church when this is the result?

[kage_ar]

The Mass IS prayer.

I would suggest some books

Fr Dubay’s “Prayer Primer” and “Deep Conversion, Deep Prayer”

I’d also suggess Scott Hahn’s “The Lamb’s Supper”.

Lastly, the way to meet people is to interact outside of Mass. Go to RCIA, join the ladie’s prayer group, the right to life group, adult bible study…

 

[dashso40]

The Mass IS prayer.

I would suggest some books

Fr Dubay’s “Prayer Primer” and “Deep Conversion, Deep Prayer”

I’d also suggess Scott Hahn’s “The Lamb’s Supper”.

Lastly, the way to meet people is to interact outside of Mass. Go to RCIA, join the ladie’s prayer group, the right to life group, adult bible study…

Very good ideas!!!

 

[pickguard1]

I only say this because I have gone through this wrestling match myself. “I don’t feel like it” is only natural. But if you wish to grow it will not be comfortable nor even enjoyable. If you wish to make, say, the Olympic weight-lifting team you must face the resistance and forge ahead with what strength you have currently. Only with discipline over time will your strength actually increase. In this instance, your capacity for quiet and internal contemplation will overcome the need for external stimulation. It will become a habit, and Mass will fly by and you will soon find yourself wondering where the hour went to so quickly.

For what it’s worth . . .

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head here. I think we have a tendency to think that unless something comes easily, it’s not worth the effort. But that definitely is NOT the case with Our Lord. He said many times about how difficult things would be for us. The path is narrow, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, the struggles faced by the people mentioned in the Beatitudes during His sermon on the mount, take up your cross and follow me. None of this points to “I will make everything easy for you.” I think it points to the fact that having daily struggles, boredom, inability to focus, etc., to be with God are sure signs that we’re on the right path. They help us to understand, in a minisucle way, the sacrifice that Our Lord made for us.

 

[banjo]

This is what Fr. Benedict Groeshel wrote in the forward of Scott Hahn’s book The Lamb’s Supper pg. [xv].

“The only thing that we ever do in this world that is real participation in the life we hope to live forever is to worship with Christ at the Liturgy. However humble the appointments of the church buildings, however limited the spiritual insight of the participants, when we are at the Liturgy of the Mass, Christ is there and mysteriously we are for that moment standing at the Eternal Supper of the Lamb.”

 

[hienieboo]

Hi all. I’ve had this problem in Episcopal services too, but very often, I have supreme difficulty making connections between Sunday’s readings, and the unrelated strings of thought in their attendant homilies or sermons. I find that unless I have something else to do, (singing in the choir, for instance), also, my concentration is used up by the time the homily begins, and the rest of the service or Mass is just beyond dull. This is only prevented when the voice of the priest is pleasant, his enunciation is clear, he speaks with conviction and is otherwise engaging. I want Mass to be a place of contemplation and prayer, but all I’m feeling is boredom. I end up thinking, “Why have I just wasted the last hour on this?” I’m not even sure I want to keep attending church anymore if I get so little from everything, not just the homily/sermon, but the lack of communion, the wrote prayers and hymns week in and week out, the sense that I don’t really know anyone beyond a passing first name, the nagging suspicion that they’re only nice to me because kindness to the weak is encouraged as a work of mercy, etc?"
I’m just very, very discouraged right now, and the inability to understand the point of most homilies is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

i can understand what you are saying about boredom and everyone has a right to feel what they do feel… as far as mass is being taken place… not a lot of people want to pay attention to the readings… they rather just sleep during mass, but the thing that i have also found is going to the right church… the church that you feel fitted into… maybe if you could find a church that you are at peace with…then, maybe you might feel more at ease

 

[Claire_from_DE]

To answer and clarify a few points:

1. most important of all. I am totally blind. I cannot see the altar, I cannot look around, (without asking for a sceen of ushers noisily walking up and down isles etc), for another who is lonely, though I would love to do that. It is also fairly impossible to do, as the majority of people have left the church by the time the priest says, “go in peace.”
2. I am still discerning whether I even want to convert to this faith, and have never attended RCIA classes, so truly don’t know what a communicant should bring to the Mass, other than a willingness to understand the words spoken and sung.
3. Theological concepts make little sense to me if I am generally discouraged, as now. They only serve to confuse and/or dishearten me further. Trying to understand them is like trying to scale an opaque, wooden wall.

Adendum: Oooo! Sally, Thank you! I’ll Google it right now and see what I can find. grin

Hi Julia,

I’d suggest beginning the RCIA process. Some people go through it more than once before deciding to convert. It would help you to understand the mass more and to get to know some of the people in the parish. It could be that some people don’t realize you are blind and think you are ignoring them or don’t want to be bothered.

If you sit near the front it might make it easier to hear and concentrate on the words of the priest’s prayers during the second half of the mass. Your signature says ‘trad’ Julia but I’m assuming you go to the ‘ordinary form’ of the mass which is usually said in English. These prayers are very meaningful and if you can hear them you can make them your own.

I hope you can get some of the books suggested on tape or CD as they are quite helpful. Just curious, being blind, how do you use the forums and the internet?

 

[Trad_Julia]

I currently go to the OF, yes, but would really like to attend the EF instead, hence the signature. I will be switching churches after I move house in the next month. I will be closer to one which celebrates the EF.

There are microphones and speakers all over the church, so hearing isn’t the issue, so much as understanding the deeper significance of all prayers, readings, etc.

To someone upthread: you may have something there regarding the fear of spiritual intimacy. What are other ways you close said distance, aside from constant prayer?

I use a screen reader which translates all text into synthesized speech, so I can browse the internet fairly easily. grin

 

[pickguard1]

I currently go to the OF, yes, but would really like to attend the EF instead, hence the signature. I will be switching churches after I move house in the next month. I will be closer to one which celebrates the EF.

I dont’ know how often (or if ever) you have been to an EF mass, but if you haven’t you will find that after the Creed, there tends to be a lot of silent periods at a low mass, as the canon and eucharistic prayers are read silently or in a low voice. Apart from the Preface, Sanctus, Domine non sum dignus (Lord I am not worthy), Pater Noster (Our Father), Agnus Dei (Lamb of God), and a couple other small prayers (or portions thereof) it’s pretty quiet. This would definitely be a case when knowing what actions are going on might be helpful to you getting a better experience out of the Mass.