The Very Heart of Catholic Worship! The Mass The Very Heart of Catholic Worship!

Mass is a VERY important part of being Catholic…. Because we celebrate the Eucharist at Mass. The Eucharist is the Heart of Christian Worship.

At Mass Jesus is present in: The Word The Priest The People AND ESPECIALLY The Eucharist

Mass is offered on an altar. This is a symbol of the sacrifice of Jesus made for all of us.

The Purpose of the Mass is…. Praise, honor, thank, and worship God. The Mass helps us grow closer to God and gives us the strength we need to be good Catholics.

Mass is divided into five parts: Introductory Rites Liturgy of the Word Liturgy of the Eucharist Communion Rite Concluding Rites ***the first part of the Mass prepares us for the Eucharist.

Introductory Rites The introductory rites are the prayers and actions at the beginning of the Mass. These prayers and actions help us focus on Mass and the reasons we are there. In the introductory rites, We speak to God.

Introductory Rite Actions Bless ourselves with Holy Water We genuflect because we come into the presence of Christ (in the Tabernacle) We greet and adore Christ We sing The ministers of the Mass process in – this represents our Journey to get to Christ and Heaven.

More Introductory Rite Actions: We make the sign of the cross together at the beginning of Mass The sign of the cross reminds us of Jesus’ sacrifice and our own baptism. We pray for God’s grace and peace for all We say the Penitential Rite (Lord, Have mercy…) We sing the Gloria We listen to and respond to the Collect (Let us pray…) We say, “Amen” which means YES! Then we are ready for the Liturgy of the Word

In the Liturgy of the Word, God speaks to us. This is the first main part of the Mass We listen to God speak and teach us The readings are in a book called the Lectionary for Mass

The reading shows us God’s love and faithfulness for His people The First Reading This reading usually comes from the Old Testament (the time before Jesus) The reading shows us God’s love and faithfulness for His people

The Responsorial Psalm The Responsorial Psalms are song-prayers from the Old Testament Jesus also prayed the Psalms There are four themes to the Psalms: Praise Thanks Sorrow Asking for help

The Second Reading This reading usually comes from a letter from the New Testament. The First Letter to the Corinthians The Letter to the Romans The Letter to the Galatians Etc. Another name for letter is epistle The apostles wrote these letters to instruct the new Christians. The letters instruct us today when we hear them in Mass.

The Gospel Acclamation The Gospel Acclamation is a welcome to Christ We stand when we sing the Gospel Acclamation so we are ready to follow Jesus and do His will

The Gospel The Gospel comes from the New Testament The Gospel reading comes from one of the four Gospels Mathew Mark Luke John The Gospel reading tells of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection The Gospel is also the Good News

The Gospel Through the Gospel reading, Jesus teaches us the same lessons he taught His followers. We trace a small cross on our foreheads, lips, and chests to represent Jesus’ words being in our minds, our on lips and in our hearts and actions.

The Homily During the homily, the priest speaks in Jesus’ name. The homily helps us to understand the readings.

Our Profession of Faith We usually say the Nicene Creed The Creed states the truths of our Faith The Creed tells what we believe as Catholics At certain times of the year we can say the Apostles’ Creed instead of the Nicene Creed. These two prayers are very similar.

Prayer of the Faithful Also called the petitions Also referred to as universal prayer During the Prayer of the Faithful we pray for: The Church The Pope, Bishops, Priests The World or our country The parish or archdiocese The sick and suffering Sometimes we add our own special intentions silently

Liturgy of the Eucharist We begin with the offertory which is a gift given to God When we receive the Eucharist, God gives us a gift

Bread and Wine The bread and wine symbolize unity because it takes many grains many grapes to make the bread and wine. The water poured into the wine represents us – we join Christ as the water joins the wine. The priest washes hands and asks God to cleanse his sins before he prepares the bread and wine

The Eucharistic Prayer Begins “Lift up your Hearts….”

The Consecration The priest uses the words from the Last Supper Jesus gave us the Eucharist through these words This is when the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ

The Eucharistic Prayer Concludes “Through Him with Him and in Him….”

The Communion Rite The Lord’s Prayer The sign of peace The Lamb of God prayer Then we walk together to meet Jesus (receive Communion) The priest says, “The Body of Christ” We respond, “Amen” which means, “It is true” The prayer after Communion

Concluding Rite This Rite is very short Final Blessing Dismissal The word Mass comes from the Latin word meaning “to send away”. We are sent in peace to take Jesus to others.

The Church Year/Seasons Advent – preparing for the coming of Christ (4 Sundays before Christmas) Christmas Lent – preparing for Jesus’ death Holy Week – the week leading up to Easter Easter – celebrating Jesus’ resurrection Ordinary time –ordinal or counting numbers – this is the part of the Church year that comes between the seasons Feasts Days – saints, Ascension, Pentecost