mass: A dinner date with God

History of the Mass

The Mass, also called The Liturgy, or The Eucharist, is a time where Catholics come together to celebrate the presence of God among us in a special way. At mass we nourish our relationship with God and with one another. It is, in many ways, like a dinner date. Its structure is very similar to that of a meal. At this meal we are given the “food” we need to grow in our Christian journey. Our understanding of the Mass as a dinner has its roots deep in the history of the Jewish people. In the Hebrew Bible, heaven is described as a banquet.

During their wanderings in the desert, God fed the people with “manna” from heaven. The clearest parallel in the Hebrew scriptures is in the annual Passover meal. The Passover meal was a ritual meal in which the people of Israel remembered the time of their deliverance from slavery in Egypt.

For Jews the Passover was (and still is) rich in symbolism. Each part of the meal had significance. They would physically re-enact the night of their “Passover” from slavery to freedom, and this re-enactment made their history real to them. They were not just reminiscing. It was so real to them that they felt the events were actually happening in the present. They were the ones being called out of Egypt. They were connected to the events they were re-enacting.

On the night before he died, Jesus was celebrating the Passover meal with his friends. During that dinner, Jesus took the symbolism of the Passover meal and took it one step further. They were no longer to simply remember the Passover from slavery to freedom of their ancestors, but to remember the freedom that Jesus offered from the “slavery” of oppression, prejudice and selfishness.

Throughout his ministry, Jesus had reached out to the poor, the outcasts, and those on the margins of society. He often did this through sharing a meal with them. This scandalized the religious authorities, for whom eating with someone who was “unclean” broke the religious laws and rendered them ritually impure. To eat with someone was to be “in communion” with them, and implied an equality that the authorities couldn’t tolerate. Jesus smashed the boundaries between rich and poor, male and female, by sharing meals with “unclean” people, and thereby showing his disciples that ALL are welcome at God’s table. At his last meal with his friends, Jesus asked his followers to continue sharing inclusive meal fellowship together, by saying “Do this in remembrance of Me.”

After Jesus death and resurrection, his followers continued to share this meal together. They re-enacted Jesus final meal, remembering his death and resurrection, believing that in the re-enactment, what was re-enacted was present “here and now”. They believed that, like the Passover meal, the meal they shared was more than a reminiscence. They believed that when they met together that Jesus was present among them. When they broke the bread and shared the wine, they were participating in the death and resurrection of Jesus “here and now”. Jesus was present in the assembled community, and in a mysterious way, present in the bread and wine. By partaking of the bread and wine, they were transformed by Christ’s presence within them. They were also strengthened to be the arms and hands and feet of Christ to a needy world. By taking Christ into their bodies, they were molded together into the body of Christ.

At first they met in one another’s homes, sharing an actual dinner, but as Christianity grew and became the official religion of Rome, the meals became sharing of bread and wine in pubic buildings.

So, for the last 20 centuries, people have come together to celebrate the presence of Christ among them in this way. Today mass is celebrated all over the world, in every language, country and culture.

The Mass has four basic parts, the same as a dinner with family.

Gathering:
This is a time when we come together as a community. We come together as one body, ready to listen and to break bread together.

Storytelling: When we gather with family members or friends for a meal, we always begin with conversation. Telling our stories. At this part of the mass we listen as readings from the word of God are proclaimed. They are the stories of our faith, binding us together as a community.

Meal Sharing: After the readings, we move to the table. As at a meal with a friend, we set the table, say grace, and share the food. At mass these ritual actions are called the preparation of Gifts, the Eucharistic Prayer, and the communion rite.

Commisioning:
After sharing in the Eucharist together, we are commissioned to go out into the world, and be the hands and feet of Christ to those around us. We are strengthened by the Spirit to love one another as Christ loves us.

Helpful Hints

Before Mass: It is important to prepare ourselves for mass by coming to church with our hearts and minds focused on growing in our relationship with God. It is helpful to read the readings for the day beforehand, and spend a little time before mass reflecting on our week, giving thanks for the blessings we have received and asking God’s help with the areas of our lives where we need forgiveness and healing.

On Arriving at Church:
Most Catholics dip their right hand in the holy water and do the sign of the cross, as they enter the church. This is a reminder of our baptism, when we were baptized with water.

The Parts of the Mass

Part One: Gathering
Welcoming
Gathering Hymn
Sign of the Cross p.7
Greeting
Penitential Rite p.8-9
Gloria p10
Opening Prayer p 12- 23 (According to the date)

Part Two: Storytelling (Liturgy of the Word)
First Reading (From Hebrew Scriptures)
Responsorial Psalm (Book of Psalms)
Second Reading (From Paul’s letters)
Acclamation (We stand for the Gospel)
Third Reading (Gospel)
(The Readings are found on pgs.24-93 According to the date)
The Creed p 94
General Intercessions p. 95

Part Three: Meal Sharing (Liturgy of the Eucharist)
Setting the Table (Preparation of the Gifts)
Hymn (We sing as the ushers collect the envelopes, and the gifts are brought up to the altar)
Preparation of the Altar and Gifts p96
Prayer over the gifts pgs. 96-101 (according to the date)

Saying Grace (The Eucharistic Prayer modeled on the Jewish Barakah)
Preface (We name God and remember all God has done) p102
Acclamation “Holy, Holy, Holy” p 103

First Petition: We are asking that the Spirit make our gifts holy)
1. “We come to you father” p 103
2. “Lord, you are holy indeed” p106
3. “Father, you are holy indeed” p 107
4. “Father, we acknowledge” p 108

We remember the last supper (the words of institution, sometimes called “the consecration”)

Memorial Acclamation (Sometimes Sung)

We remember Jesus passion, death, resurrection and ascension
Second Petition (We ask that the Spirit make us holy)

Other petitions (for the pope, bishop, the dead, ourselves)

Acclamation “The Great Amen” p. 111

Eating and Drinking (the communion rite)

Lords Prayer (We hold hands for this. On Sundays it is usually sung) p112

Sign of Peace p 112 (shaking hands with your neighbors and greeting them with “Peace be with You”

Lamb of God p 113.

A hymn is sung and we go up by rows to receive communion. Afterwards we return to our place and pray in silence while the rest of the community receives communion.

Part four: Commissioning
Prayer after communion p 119-123 (according to the date)
We stand and the celebrant says a final prayer.

Greeting p124
Blessing p 124
Dismissal p 124

Closing Song

FAQS
Q: Why do people at St. Johns stand during the Eucharistic prayer, when in some other Catholic Churches they kneel?
A: We stand because standing is the traditional posture of the Christian at prayer. It expresses our attentiveness to the word of God and our desire to carry it out. Also, standing is a joyful posture, and the mass is a joyful celebration. It is a more respectful posture. The Early Christians stood in reverence. The tradition of kneeling developed only later, in the middle ages. It was a sign of submission before a king, since Christ was perceived as a monarch, very similar to the kings ruling Europe in those days. But with Vatican II, the church revived the early practice of standing in joy rather than kneeling in fear.

Q: When I was visiting a Catholic Church once I almost tripped on a person genuflecting before they went into the pews. Why do Catholics do that?
A: Genuflecting, or bending the knee before entering the pew, is another one of those traditions from the pre-Vatican II times. It is meant to acknowledge the presence of Christ in the tabernacle behind the altar. The tabernacle is a gold box where consecrated hosts are held, to be distributed to the sick and shut ins. In most churches the tabernacle is behind the altar, so people pay reverence to the presence of Christ in the tabernacle by kneeling. At St. Johns the tabernacle is not behind the altar but in a little chapel in the back of the church.

Q: Why does St. Johns not have a traditional Crucifix or statues, like most other Catholic Churches?
A. The architecture of St. Johns reflects the way the worship space was arranged in the early Church. The focus of the early church was on the worshipping community, and the presence of Christ in their midst. There were no statues in the early church because the Roman Temples had statues of their gods, and the Christians wanted to distinguish themselves from that. Also, the first Christians were influenced by the Jewish prohibition that there be no graven images in the worship space. Statues, and crucifixes did not become part of Christian Churches until centuries later. The crucifixion was so horrible that they did not depict it until the 5th century.

When the mass begins
Like a meal, the mass has several distinct parts.

1. The Gathering Rites: Coming together, assembling, is at the heart of our Sunday worship. The reason behind each of the actions of the first part of the mass is to bring people together, into one body, ready to listen and to break bread together.
a. Entrance Song: As the celebrant enters the church, the community stands sings a song. Standing is the traditional posture of a Christian at prayer: It expresses our attentiveness to the word of God and our desire to carry it out. (That is why there are no kneelers at St. Johns and why we stand for the Eucharistic prayer. Whenever the celebrant says, “let us pray”, we stand.)
b. Greeting: The celebrant begins the mass with the sign of the cross, again reminding us of our baptism, and greets the community with “The Lord be with you.” This is an expression of both a desire that the lord be with us, and an affirmation that that the Lord is with us. It is an ancient biblical greeting.
c. Penitential Rite, Gloria: We recall our need for healing and forgiveness by asking saying “Lord have Mercy”. Then we rejoice in God’s presence by saying the “Gloria”, an ancient, 6th century prayer proclaiming the greatness of God.
d. Opening prayer: The celebrant leads the community in a prayer, to which we respond “Amen” a Hebrew word that means “So be it.”

2. Telling the Story: When we gather together for a meal, we always begin with conversation, with telling our stories. At mass, after the rites of gathering, we sit down and listen as readings from the Word of God are proclaimed. This part of the mass is also called The Liturgy of the Word.
a. Readings: On Sundays there are three readings from the Bible. The first reading is from the Hebrew Scriptures. It recalls the origins of our faith among the Jewish people. It ties in with the Gospel reading and gives background and insight into what Jesus will do in the Gospel. Then we will sing or recite a psalm, from the Book of Psalms in the Hebrew Bible. The next reading will usually be from one of the letters of Paul. The third reading will be taken from one of the four Gospels. We stand during the reading of the Gospel because of the special place that the Gospel has for us. We believe that Christ is present in his word, that it is he himself who speaks through the Scriptures. So we stand in attentive reverence and listen to the words as if we were among the crowd when Jesus said them centuries ago.
b. Homily: “Homily” is more than just a “talk” or a “sermon”. The word of God is “broken open”, to be applied to our life situations today. Just as a piece of bread is broken to be digested so the word is “broken” open so we can find its meaning for our lives as individuals and as a community.
c. The Creed: We stand as a community and recite the creed, as an expression of what we believe.
d. General intercessions: After the creed, we pray for people in need, in our community and in the world. We pray for those and whatever needs are in our hearts, and we respond with “Lord hear our prayer.”