During the Mass, the priest follows a structure for the Mass. The structure goes:
The Penitential Rite
The congregation confess that they have sinned and ask for God's forgiveness. The priest then gives absolution.
The Liturgy of the Word
This contains three readings from the Old and New Testaments (including a Gospel reading). These readings are taken from a lectionary based on a three year cycle to cover the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). A sermon (homily) on the readings follows, then recitation of the creed and prayers of intercession.
The Liturgy of the Eucharist
The people's gifts and the bread and wine are brought to the altar symbolising the sacrifice of the Mass as a sacrifice of the people as well as God's sacrifice of himself. After the celebrant has washed his hands he says the Eucharistic prayer, fining the sacrifice of the people to the sacrifice of Christ renewed in the Mass. The prayer of consecration follows, and the priest repeats the words of Jesus at the Last Supper which change the whole substance of bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus. (A bell is usually rung at this point to mark the change of the bread and wine.) All join in the memorial acclamation which highlights what is remembered in the mystery of the Mass, The priest continues the Eucharistic prayer.
Rite of Communion
The people then say the Lord's Prayer to pray for daily food (in both the spiritual and material sense) and forgiveness. Before sharing Holy Communion, they give each other a sign of peace to show their love for one another and pray for peace and unity. The priest then receives Holy Communion, and distributes it to the people. Any remaining consecrated hosts are placed in the tabernacle.
Concluding Rite
Finally, the priest blesses the people and ends the Mass by sending them out into the world in the peace brought by the Mass.
These notes were taken from the teachers notes given to us.
B) The Christian practice of dividing days into weeks is an inheritance from Judaism. For Jews each period of seven days ended with the Sabbath, the day for rest and worship of God. The Gospels state that Jesus died on the day before the Sabbath, on what is now known as Friday. His body lay in the tomb on the Sabbath (Saturday. The women discovered that he had risen very early on the morning of the first day of the week, then it was Sunday not Monday. Because of the importance of the resurrection the first day became known as the Lord’s Day and the preferred day of the week for worshipping God. Christians gathered together for readings, prayers and instruction and to receive the Eucharist. Catholics continue these practises today by going to Sunday Mass. Protestants also attend church on a Sunday but their tradition often places more emphasis on hymns, readings, prayers and Sermon rather than focusing on the Eucharist.
Going to Church and receiving communion are at the centre of their lives for most Catholics as Christians. This is because the Mass combines the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. On Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, Catholics are obliged to go and celebrate the Eucharist at mass. Going to Church gives Catholics the means by which to express their communal life in the church. They hear the word of God through the Bible readings, by praying together and also by receiving the body or Christ in the form of the Eucharist. Sunday is the weekly renewal of their faith and vocation as Christians and a celebration of Jesus’ resurrection. The Eucharist reminds the Christians of God’s love in their lives.
The Mass is important to Catholics because they believe it is the means of regenerating their lives. The Catechism says that Catholics 'receive in the Eucharist the food of eternal life'(1211). It is called "The Holy Mass because the liturgy in which the mystery of salvation is accomplished concludes with the sending forth (missio) of the faithful, so that they may fulfil God's will in their daily lives.'(1332).
The Mass is a sacrifice;
- Te sacrifice of the people is seen in the offering of gifts and bread and wine and in the commitment of their lives;
- The sacrifice of Christ is renewed on the altar and offered by the Church to the Father. The faithful are nourished on the body and blood of Jesus.
In the Eucharist Christ gives us the very body which he gave up for us on the cross, the very blood which he 'poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins'. The Eucharist is thus a sacrifice because it re-presents the sacrifice of the cross...
Catechism of the Catholic Church (1365-1366).
The Mass is a communion:
- It unites the faithful with Christ and it unites them with each other through the sharing of bread and giving the sign of peace.
The Real Presence refers to the belief that Jesus is realty present in the Eucharist. At the time of the Reformation this was a major issue dividing Catholics and Protestants. The Catholic belief is that at the moment of consecration the bread ceases to be bread and becomes the body of Jesus, and the wine ceases to be wine and becomes his blood. The substance of the bread and wine had changed although they appeared to remain the same. Some Catholics today are exploring new ways of speaking about the real presence of Jesus in this sacrament, under the appearances of bread and wine.
Most Protestants believe that the Eucharist is a sacrament in which the bread and wine are symbols of the presence of Jesus. Catholics and Protestants agree that Jesus is present to Christians through the sacrament of the Eucharist, though they have different understandings of how.
The Mass reminds us if God’s covenant of love and his command to love and serve others. Jesus broke the bread and poured out the wine curing the last supper to symbolize the life that he was about to give up to save people from sin. By the Eucharist, we are reminded that we are to break ourselves, meaning to overcome our selfishness and to serve others as Jesus served us. It also reminds us that we are to pour out our lives for fellow human beings.
C) ‘Praying to God in private is more important than attending services in church.’
The idea of the Sabbath day came from the story of creation where God rests on the seventh day and looks down at the work he has done. The early Christians made Sunday their Sabbath so they could remember the resurrection of Christ. Most Christians try to attend the Church service on Sundays, this is because Christianity is a community faith so that means that if your are to be a Christian, you have to meet with other Christians in a shared service of the Eucharist. On Sundays, Christians are expected to spend time with their families and not work; the purpose of this is to allow people to live a full life. A day of rest is very important for the wellbeing of a society of community such as Christianity.
No prayer means that no religious life is possible. To be Christian is to love God and all those who are around you. When you love someone, such as God, you want to spend as much time as is physically possible with them so that you can grow closer to them. By praying to God, Christians are helping to develop their relationship with the Lord. Christians also try to develop their love and understanding of God during prayer. In some cases though, Christians do not pray to God with the intention of understanding the Lord more, they just simply want to spend time with God, even though he may not directly answer them. By this, their relationship with God, their love and understanding of the Lord grows from just simply turning their minds to God. One of the things that Christians want from praying to God is to get closer to God, but there are a couple of other reasons such as Christians want to be freed from sin and strengthened in goodness but also to be guided through the problems of life by God. When praying to God, most Christians do it because they are facing difficulties in life and want to ask God for guidance in their time of need.
Personally, I think that the statement is neither right nor wrong. At times in their lives, when they are facing personal problems, Christians might not want to go to a church service with everyone else in the Christian community; they might just prefer to keep their problems private with God. There is however an advantage of going to the church service. There, you are with the local community who want to help you because it is the Christian way. As Jesus said “Love One Another As I Have Loved You”. Another advantage of just praying to God by yourself is that God is always with you day or night, this means that you don’t have to go somewhere special to communicate with God.
