writing during mass?

[LilyM]

I often read the bulletin during the homily and if you quizzed me I could tell you every single word of the homily. I am fully capable of doing two things at once and I’m an adult. I do not feel I’m being disrespectful during mass as my full attention is on Jesus. Don’t assume people who are doing something aren’t listening.

It’s not a question of whether you can, it’s a question of whether you should.

You may perfectly well understand that I am able to listen to you AND my IPod both at the same time, but if I do it, it’s still sending a message to you that you’re not worthy of my complete attention. Which is very rude.

As for the poetry - I used to do a bit myself in my younger days. If I thought of something even half-decent I was certainly always able to remember it for at least an hour or so. Meaning your friend can easily commit her deathless verse to paper when outside Mass.

Stopping after the homily really doesn’t mean anything. The Mass is composed of TWO parts. The Liturgy of the Word is so important that without it there’s no Mass. So it deserves her undivided attention as much as the Eucharist. To be consistent, if she’s goin to scribble away during the homily, she may as well do so during the Eucharistic prayer and in the communion line too. she could probably wrote some fantastic stuff if she did so.

 

[roadsend]

While its a bit unusual, I don’t see a problem with it. For centuries people prayed the rosary during Mass.

Padre, folks still say the rosary during Mass, mostly while the “music groups” are doing their performance.

 

[TrueLight]

I agree. I always have a pen at Mass and if there is something said in a the homily that I feel I want for later, will jot the note down somewhere and pursue it later. I take pen and journal and Bible and prayer book with me to adoration and often write free verse of poetry about what comes to mind which often reflects my interactions with Our Lord, or even just my adoration.

Heck, how many priests wish their parishioners were taking notes on his homily if that meant they were actually listening and deepening their conversions by it?

Exactly. Some people learn better by hearing and reading, so its great to go back during the week and meditate on what was said at the sermon.

And I think writing poetry during adoration is fine. Sometimes during prayer God reveals something to our spirits or maybe we think of something that we want to pursue later.

I went to a lay Carmelite meeting and there was more than a couple of folks writing during the hour of contemplation. They would sit there quietly with their eyes closed, sometimes they would read from a spiritual book and sometimes they would write.

 

[Phemie]

i am a bit late in this thread but I wonder if Jesus’s apostles were writing during the last supper?I find this “writing” offensive and I also find my own wayward thoughts during Mass offensive to Jesus. **In our church we have a woman who picked up our bulletin and starting reading it during the homily.WHAT! **The homily is not a speech and the Mass is not a classroom.Both should be followed with strict reverence in my opinion.ger

Oh come on, reading the bulletin during the homily has been a favorite pastime of many since the bulletins came into existance. That’s why some parishes make sure they’re not available before Mass but are passed out as people are leaving.

Of course, when my pastor gives a great, or even a good homily I listen. OTOH, when he opts to read from “Chicken Soup for the Soul”, I’d rather read the list of Mass intentions in the bulletin – truth be known, if I was in a parish where they have sponsors for their bulletin I’d even rather read the ads.

 

[TheRealJuliane]

What if she brought a digital voice recorder, recorded the Mass, with permission if necessary, and went home and wrote her poetry while listening to it a second time?

A lot of pastors are recording their homilies and posting them on the parish website. Ours does. Maybe she could suggest that to her pastor. That would be a good idea.

There was a woman at one of our parishes who would write in her large day planner and flip through the pages during Mass…it was very distracting and made me wonder why she was there, if she needed to do other things so badly that she couldn’t pay attention.

OTOH, maybe she had OCD and had to do something…I don’t know, you don’t see a lot of people knitting or doing a Rubik’s Cube or whatever…

 

[Mrs_Sally]

What’s wrong with jotting down good points during a homily?

If that’s all she’s doing, I don’t see a problem with it either. I have been known to write a thought or two on the back of the bulletin.

However, if she is composing poetry or writing throughout Mass, I do agree that she should stop. How can she be saying the prayers, standing and kneeling, etc if she’s writing the whole time?

 

[Mrs_Sally]

What if she brought a digital voice recorder, recorded the Mass, with permission if necessary, and went home and wrote her poetry while listening to it a second time?

I have even more problems with this. A recording of the Mass would pick up not just the priest, but everyone around her also. Who yes shouldn’t be talking, but also shouldn’t have to worry about everything they might say (instructions to a child, etc,) being picked up on a recording.

She needs to learn to attend to Mass during Mass and then write poetry or other thoughts after.

Adoration is a different thing altogether. That is an excellent place for journalling as the Spirit moves you.

 

[thomas_jd]

I keep a pen and a small notebook in my sport coat, sadly to say it rarely is used!

 

[TheRealJuliane]

I have even more problems with this. A recording of the Mass would pick up not just the priest, but everyone around her also. Who yes shouldn’t be talking, but also shouldn’t have to worry about everything they might say (instructions to a child, etc,) being picked up on a recording.

She needs to learn to attend to Mass during Mass and then write poetry or other thoughts after.

Adoration is a different thing altogether. That is an excellent place for journalling as the Spirit moves you.

It wouldn’t work anyway, recorders aren’t that good unless she planted it right on Father. Most churches have a mic on the priest now and can record if they want to.

 

[ProVobis]

I don’t see any problems other than perhaps her drawing undue attention to herself. There are ways of being discrete about those sorts of things.

 

[NewEnglandPriest]

Father

did you know that here in Delaware a local pastor threw people out of the Mass because he felt that attendees were saying the rosary to loudly.The impression that I got is that he did not want people to say the rosary in the pews for any reason because the church had a room in the back for saying the rosary.ger

If the rosary is said during Mass it should be said silently so as not to distract others or prevent them from hearing.

 

[NewEnglandPriest]

Padre, folks still say the rosary during Mass, mostly while the “music groups” are doing their performance.

Ok.

 

[HonoraDominum]

Sometimes it is better to “conform” and to not call attention to oneself with one’s spiritual practices as an act of humility and to gain the virtue of detachment. If she is being a distraction to others during Mass to the point where people are talking to the priest about it, she is causing others to lose grace. I do think it could definitely also be a case of Spiritual Pride, as one of the other posters mentioned. This is what St. John of the Cross has to say about certain acts of beginers in regards to Spiritual Pride:

These beginners feel so fervent and diligent in their spiritual exercises and undertakings that a certain kind of secret pride is generated in them that begets a complacency with themselves and their accomplishments, even though holy works do of their very nature cause humility … When at times their spiritual directors, their confessors, or their superiors disapprove their spirit and method of procedure, they feel that these directors do not understand, or perhaps that this failure to approve derives from a lack of holiness, since they want these directors to regard their conduct with esteem and praise … Sometimes they want others to recognize their spirit and devotion, and as a result occasionally contrive to make some manifestations of it, such as movements, sighs, and other ceremonies; sometimes, with the assistance of the devil, they experience raptures, more often in public than in private, and they are quite pleased, and often eager, for others to take notice of these.

I found when I first began my spiritual path that I journaled a LOT. But after a while, when evaluating things in my life, I realized that the journaling was a symptom of something else altogether. At the time, I was very heavily involved with Twitter and Facebook and other online sharing activities. Journaling was yet another outlet to share myself. It was a huge lesson in humility for me - I was trying to share with others what I should have been sharing with God. I began taking those monologues and thoughts that were going into my journal and pouring them into my prayer. It was awkward, and a hard transition, but it has definitely changed my prayer life for the better.

Also, as always, there’s a great homily on Audio Sancto that addresses issues like these:
The Mass: How to NOT Deprive Our Neighbor of all the Graces He Ought To Be Receiving at Mass

 

[Mrs_Sally]

Wonderful resource. Thanks!

 

[SecretGarden]

Thanks for your insights. I’ll ask my friend to look at this site. As it stands, I agree, it was a bit drastic for the priest to kick her out, but priests are also human as well therefore they are bound to make mistakes. I think in her case, she tries to filter the writing, if it is spiritual, and spiritual poetry she’ll writes. The spirit seems to flow out of her. I don’t understand it. But she’s a writer. It is simply part of her spirit.

 

[Cathryn]

Thanks for your insights. I’ll ask my friend to look at this site. As it stands, I agree, it was a bit drastic for the priest to kick her out, but priests are also human as well therefore they are bound to make mistakes. I think in her case, she tries to filter the writing, if it is spiritual, and spiritual poetry she’ll writes. The spirit seems to flow out of her. I don’t understand it. But she’s a writer. It is simply part of her spirit.

I believe she should talk to her pastor and ask him for his spiritual direction in this matter. If he tells her no, not to write poetry during the Liturgy of the Word, she should obey. If she chooses to do it anyway, it seems not to be something God is calling her to do. Sounds like she needs some spiritual guidance.

 

[curlycool89]

Sometimes my pastor says some really great things in his homilies too, but I can’t sit and take notes like I’m in a seminar. It’s Mass, not class.

Why not? Are you only allowed to learn is a classroom environment?

No, Mass is not class and the homily shouldn’t turn into a lecture, but you should be learning at Mass. We don’t go to Mass just to listen and relax, you should be meditating on what you hear and see how you can implement these changes in your life. Some people use memory, but some people write things down.

What’s wrong with jotting down good points during a homily?

Nothing wrong with that.

Father

did you know that here in Delaware a local pastor threw people out of the Mass because he felt that attendees were saying the rosary to loudly.The impression that I got is that he did not want people to say the rosary in the pews for any reason because the church had a room in the back for saying the rosary.ger

Well, you shouldn’t be saying the rosary during Mass anyways. Mass is our communal worship. You shouldn’t be do your own individual devotions when you’re doing communal worship, it kind of contradicts with the whole “communal” part.

 

[LilyM]

Thanks for your insights. I’ll ask my friend to look at this site. As it stands, I agree, it was a bit drastic for the priest to kick her out, but priests are also human as well therefore they are bound to make mistakes. I think in her case, she tries to filter the writing, if it is spiritual, and spiritual poetry she’ll writes. The spirit seems to flow out of her. I don’t understand it. But she’s a writer. It is simply part of her spirit.

It may be ‘part of my spirit’ to dance, to paint, to preach, to prophesy - but these things do not trump the Mass, which is the source and summit of our faith.

It would be very wrong for me, regardless of my ‘spirit’, to pirouette up and down the aisle during the Gospel, or to set up my easel and canvas there during the Offertory and start painting.

It would be very wrong of me (as a layperson rather than a priest) to stand up in my pew during the Homily and disrupt Mass with even the most seemingly spirit-filled preaching or
prophecy of my own.

See that hour or two of Mass is a time during which we worship God in community in the
manner that He, through the Church, directs us to do. The Spirit Himself wants us to do so as well, as it is that same Spirit which guides and protects the Church in its task of developing the liturgy.

Anything which is contrary to that - acts which are the product of private ‘inspiration’ and
contrary to what is prescribed for public worship - are NOT appropriate for Mass.

Put it this way - if the Spirit inspires someone with wonderful poetry during Mass, do you
honestly think that He is either unwilling or incapable of allowing the person to remember that same inspiration after Mass so that they can write it down then? When He allowed the evangelists to remember the doings and sayings of Jesus DECADES after He uttered them so that the Gospels could be written?

Pretty weak sort of Spirit who cannot or will not do such a thing.

 

[MarkInOregon]

The Catholic author, Matthew Kelly, suggests keeping a Mass journal. I don’t personally see anything wrong with it, however I would end up distracted and unable to absorb the auditory stimuli that I’m meant to pay attention to.

Isn’t he talking about during the homily? I listen and try to find something to take from the homily which I write done in a note book–but only during the homily–the rest of the mass is prayer and worship–not journal time.

Peace of Christ,
Mark

 

[Cathryn]

Isn’t he talking about during the homily? I listen and try to find something to take from the homily which I write done in a note book–but only during the homily–the rest of the mass is prayer and worship–not journal time.

Peace of Christ,
Mark

Not only the homily, but including it, according to the OP. Mostly poetry.