Eucharist:
What happens at Mass?
It is always better to celebrate with others. It's not much fun being alone-- it's much better to share special times with family and friends. As members of the Church we gather to celebrate that we belong to a special family, a parish or faith community. Everyone in our faith community believes that God loves us very much, that Jesus came to show us how much we are loved by God and that we should live our lives as God would want us to. They also believe that the Holy Spirit helps us to be like Jesus.
As members of this special family we gather every Sunday to celebrate the Eucharist. We come together for Mass. To help us understand Mass better we can break it up into a number of different parts.
1. We Gather
We come together as members of our parish family to celebrate God’s love for us and our love for God. We remember that Jesus is with us in a very special way at Mass.
Even as we enter the church we are beginning our Mass. We bless ourselves with holy water to remind us of our baptism. Mass begins usually with a song and a procession. The song is a hymn, or a holy song, and the priest, the servers, and sometimes the ministers of the word process in from the back of the church as the hymn is sung. We all stand while this happens because we are an important part of this celebration. We are the community of faith, the assembly, and we believe that Jesus is really present in every part of our Mass particularly in Communion, the Word, but also in our priest our ministers and in each one of us. Our prayers and actions at the beginning of mass are called the introductory rights. They help us to get ready to celebrate.
The penitential rite is part of the introductory prayers and it helps us to remember that God always loves us and is always ready to forgive us. We all pray the Gloria together and then listen to the opening prayer which is led by the priest.
2. We listen to God’s Word
At Mass when we listen to the readings and the Gospel, we hear the good news the God loves us
After the opening prayer we sit down to listen to the Word of God. There are usually three readings from the Bible. Between the first and the second readings, the psalm is sung and prayed. This is how we respond to God’s Word. The third reading is called the Gospel which means “good news”. Before the Gospel is read we stand and greet the Good News with the song of joy, the “Alleluia”. After the gospel the priest gives a homily. The homily helps us to understand more fully the readings that we have heard and it also suggests ways that we can live the gospel in our everyday lives. At the end of the homily we stand to profess our faith by praying the creed. The Liturgy of the Word finishes with the prayer of the faithful when we pray for all those who are in need.
3. We Bring Our Gifts, We Remember, We Give Thanks
We bring bread and wine to the altar. We remember that God loves us so much that he sent Jesus. We give thanks for the gift of Jesus and we remember what he did at the last supper. The gift of bread and wine that we bring to the altar becomes the body and blood of Jesus.
After the Liturgy of the Word some members of the community bring the bread and wine to the priest. At this time, there is also a collection when we give money. This money is our way of saying that we are prepared to share what we have, to help the community in which we live. This call this part of the mass the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The word Eucharist means “Thanksgiving” and so at this time we give thanks to God. We remember that God loves us so much that he sent Jesus to save us .We give thanks for this gift and we get ready to share in the Bread of Life. The priest leads us in praying the eucharistic prayer and during this prayer we remember what Jesus did at the last supper. The priest takes the bread, says what Jesus said, “This is my body” then lifts it up for all to see. Then he lifts up the cup and says,” This is the cup of my blood”. The bread and wine become the body and blood of Jesus and we believe that Jesus is really with us.
4. We Share In The Bread Of Life
We are invited to the table of the Lord to share in the bread of life.
When we share a meal with others we become closer together, and this is what happens at Mass. Before we go to the table we stand and pray the Our Father together. This is the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples. We share a sign of peace with each other to show that we are always ready to forgive and make peace. The priest takes the large host and breaks it, just as Jesus broke the bread at the Last Supper. We pray the Lamb of God together. Then we are invited to the altar table to share in the bread of life. We spend some time after receiving communion in silent prayer, remembering God’s love for us and getting ready to bring that love into the world with us as we leave the church.
5. We Go Forth To Love And Serve The Lord
We are sent from mass with God’s blessing to go and live like Jesus
At the end of mass we are sent to bring God’s love out into the world. We are asked to go and do what Jesus did, to love one another, to help one another to care for one another. We have received the bread of life and this helps us to live like Jesus.The priest asks us to stand for the blessing and we leave the church with God's blessing.