Zombies at Mass

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Madaglan

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Do you ever notice that a lot of times people at Catholic masses drone prayers and creeds as though they were mumbling zombies?

Sometimes I wonder if people really know what they’re saying. I’m all for the liturgical order of the Catholic Mass; but I’m really concerned that most people don’t know the meaning to what they are saying. This is especially the case with long prayers and recitations, such as the Nicene Creed. A few weeks ago at campus mass, halfway through one of the early prayers, someone accidentally trailed everyone else into the Nicene Creed. The priest had to stop everyone and start from the beginning again. It was sad.

Do you think that priests should raise awareness of what we actually say during mass and why we say it?

I think that the Mass would be a much more fulfilling experience for everyone if each adult knew the import and spiritual wealth of each and every moment of the Mass.
 
Sometimes the mind wanders, even during prayer. I’ve gotten halfway through a familiar prayer and lost my place and had to start again. I like your suggestion that priests raise our awareness of what we are saying at Mass. It couldn’t hurt and it would make a great series for homilies.
 
Evidently you’re not paying enough attention to your own devotion at Mass and have turned into a prayer enforcer.

Personally, I think you need to keep your mind on the Mass, mind your own business, and remember the scripture about “taking the log out of your own eye” etc. etc.
 
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Madaglan:
Most people don’t know the meaning to what they are saying.
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Meaning is highly over-rated. What’s most “meaningful” are mysteries. This is especially true of the prayer called the mass.

One can be a zombie in Latin as well as in the vernacular. But at least in the traditional Latin mass there are twice as many prayers and hence twice as many chances to pray them reverently. – Sincerely, Albert Cipriani the Traditional Catholic

http://www.geocities.com/albert_cipriani/index.html
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ReligiousPhilosophy/
 
I know exactly what you mean, a few weeks ago somebody led us all in the Apostles Creed instead of the Nicene Creed, and we ended up with half the church praying one, and the other side praying the other. Same thing with throwing in an “Amen” here and there where it doesn’t belong because you’ve lost track. I will be charitable and assume those who do this are lost in contemplation of the mysteries.
 
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Madaglan:
Do you ever notice that a lot of times people at Catholic masses drone prayers and creeds as though they were mumbling zombies?

Sometimes I wonder if people really know what they’re saying. I’m all for the liturgical order of the Catholic Mass; but I’m really concerned that most people don’t know the meaning to what they are saying. This is especially the case with long prayers and recitations, such as the Nicene Creed. A few weeks ago at campus mass, halfway through one of the early prayers, someone accidentally trailed everyone else into the Nicene Creed. The priest had to stop everyone and start from the beginning again. It was sad.

Do you think that priests should raise awareness of what we actually say during mass and why we say it?

I think that the Mass would be a much more fulfilling experience for everyone if each adult knew the import and spiritual wealth of each and every moment of the Mass.
Click to expand...
I agree. I think that everyone should know what each part of the mass means and why we say what we say. I also think they should know the roots of the mass and what the mass is. It creates an appreciation for the mass and a need for the mass.
 
Hi,
We are all human, and will be judged where we stand in our journey. Perhaps some of us could gently help those who are struggling more than we with the love of the Mass.

It is far more difficult for a person who has little Faith and really doesn’t want to be there to attend Mass, than for a person who loves the Mass and enjoys going. Person A is going, even though he doesn’t want to go because he is told to go, and being obedient.

I was A through some of my teen and early adult days, especially about the homily of the Mass. I think I do remember being more attentive during the Consecration, but I was a million miles away for the rest. You didn’t need to worry about me saying the wrong prayer—I didn’t say any.:crying:

It may have helped me, if someone was just kind and made some conversation about the beauty of the Mass and the comfort of prayer in general–I don’t know.

But I doubt if it would have been helpful for the Priest to say anything in the homily–I wasn’t listening anyway.
 
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Madaglan:
I think that the Mass would be a much more fulfilling experience for everyone if each adult knew the import and spiritual wealth of each and every moment of the Mass.
Click to expand...
I agree.

About zombies, sometimes a person does their best, but they are sick, overworked, and sleepy. It is simply going to happen that way once in a while.

At mass yesterday, the cantor skipped a verse of the gloria, which caused confusion. I think people are just trying to pray together as a group and so they go to whatever the leader is doing for unity. Your priest did the right thing and put things back on track. I don’t think this sort of thing signifies that nobody knows the mass. It is just group behavior and a leader made a mistake. Of course some confusion results. 🙂

We’ll all sing on key in heaven.
 
Maybe folks mumble because they aren’t comfortable belting out the prayers. You know, folks start out quiet so no one wants to be the dork that is loud… I love the prayers at Mass but everyone is quiet so I don’t feel like being a screech owl. (That’s what it’d sound like if I was louder then everyone else.)

We should give our fellow Catholics a break. People are so quick to judge one another in the pews and label one-another as “lifeless” or “dull” when maybe those very lifeless and dull folks are so deeply focused on God that they don’t have much to display on the outside. Maybe these Zombiees could teach us a thing or two about prayerfulness! Catholics are very introverted. We have a tendency to focus inwardly on God rather then clapping our hands, singing at the top of our lungs, and getting a rush out of other loud outward displays of faith and praise. It’s this very inward-focusing that makes it difficult to suddendly snap out and sing and pray loudly. We aren’t at a tent revival after all! We are before Christ in the Eucharist. 🙂 That in and of itself is so awe-striking and fulfilling that who needs to be loud in any way?

I’m not saying that Zombies don’t exist in the Church but I have a feeling there are a lot less then we give credit.
 
I think zombies should be encouraged to attend mass. However, I don’t think it is appropriate for zombies, even Catholic ones, to receive communion. Zombies lack the capacity to perform an examination of conscience, and so would not be able to properly confess their sins before mass.

😃
 
Certainly, the rote nature and habit which the Mass offers can tempt us to fall into a certain level of contempt. It is a good idea for people, then, to be occasionally reminded of the need to take extra time for more careful meditation upon what they are actually praying lest it go by without much effect.
 
While I may appear to be in a zombie state to my pew-mates, it is actually meditation. Well, at least, sometimes. Maybe.

Seriously, the Mass can be experienced on many levels. I remember reading about one of the saints–Teresa of Lisieux, perhaps–who would get so caught up in adoration that she never “followed along” with the Mass. The priest told her she needed to follow along in the missal. She just smiled at him.

In the days of the Tridentine Rite, some people used to pray the rosary during Mass, and those of us who followed along in the Missal tended to put them down. A Redemptorist priest once said he would never criticize those people, as their devotion was often deeper than those who were frantically flipping the pages.
 
Do remember that GOD calls each of us at our own time.

Be thankful about where you are in your relationship with Him, and pray for all that their relationship can be deepened.

It’s good that they’re even AT mass…leave the rest up to God. He is the only one fit to judge.
 
I have been using a St. Joseph’s Daily Missal for years and years. And I just about have it nailed down by now. I bought a new one two years ago and I cant make heads nor tails of it. Give me the old one.
 
This thread’s title reminded me of my days as a Cantian postulant.

You know what we used to call communicants at the Missa Normativa who took Communion in the hand?

“The Body Snatchers”

😃
 
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