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Winning Entry 2000
Dear Dominic,
Thank you very much for asking me the question "What happens at Mass?"
I will be very pleased to explain as much as I can about the Mass.
First I will explain about why Catholics go to Mass. We go to Mass
because we want to praise God and thank Him for all He gives us and
to pray for ourselves and others. I pray for you at Mass. We also
go to Mass to be in union with all Catholics. This shows that we are
part of one big family because the Mass is the same around the whole
world. We go to Mass because we need sanctifying grace which is a
present from God. We need it to help us to get rid of our sins and
change our lives. We get sanctifying grace when we receive the Body
and Blood of Jesus in Holy Communion. We also go to Mass because Jesus said "Do this in remembrance of Me". He said this to His Apostles when He was on earth. By this He meant: offer the bread and wine to God and God will transform them into the Body and Blood of Jesus. These words are not only for priests however. All Catholics are asked to take part in this worship.
God gave us ten commandments to obey and the third one is: Keep Sunday Holy. This means that it is a special day to honour God by going to Mass, not working, spending extra time in prayer and helping people who need help.
Now I am going to explain about what we do at Mass. First we go into
the church and we genuflect. This is going down on one knee and getting up again. We do this to show reverence for Jesus in the tabernacle.
Next I get a missalette which has all the words of the Mass in it.
I sit in a pew which is a long bench with a kneeler attached to it.
Then I say hello to Jesus and I say my morning prayers before Mass
starts.
Mass begins with a hymn because we want to praise God. Then we make the sign of the Cross to remember that Jesus died on the cross and to show that we believe in the Holy Trinity. Then we think of our
sins and say sorry in the Confiteor which is a prayer to God to say
sorry. The priest next says the opening prayer and then we pray the
Gloria to praise God. After the Gloria we take part in the Liturgy
of the Word which is readings from the Bible. A person goes up to
the lectern and reads the first reading which can be from the Old
or New Testament and then the psalm which has a response for all the
people to say for example "My soul give praise to the Lord". Then
we listen to the second reading and the gospel acclamation. We say
or sing "Alleluia" to greet the gospel which means the Good News.
The priest reads the gospel which is Jesus words from the Bible. After
the gospel the priest gives a homily which is a talk that explains
the gospel. Then we pray the Creed which says what we believe. After
the Creed we respond to the bidding [prayer] when we pray for ourselves and others.
We give an offering to the collectors to help support our priest and
our church. Next we have the Liturgy of the Eucharist which is the
most important part of the Mass. The bread and wine are brought to
the altar in the offertory procession. The priest offers the gifts
to God the Father and we offer ourselves in union with Jesus and the
priest. The priest prays the Eucharistic Prayer which has in it the
words of the Consecration which Jesus said at the Last Supper: "This
is my Body which will be given up for you" and "This is the cup of
my Blood the Blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be
shed for you and for all men so that sins may be forgiven." At this
moment the bread and wine becomes the body and blood of Jesus which means that God is really present in the host and in the cup.
We go up to the altar rail to receive Holy Communion and the priest
puts a host on our tongue. He says "The Body of Christ" and we answer "Amen". Then we go back to our seats and we thank God for giving us Jesus. The priest gives us a special blessing and sometimes we sing a final hymn to end the Mass
Now I am going to explain about the Mass being a sacrifice. Almost
2,000 years ago Jesus offered himself to God the Father on the cross
at Calvary as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. This was
a bloody sacrifice where Jesus shed his blood for us but at the Mass
which happens every day Jesus offers himself to God in an unbloody
way as a sacrifice on the altar. The Mass is sometimes called the
Holy Sacrifice. It is still the same sacrifice as the one on Calvary.
In the Old Covenant the Jews used to sacrifice animals to God to thank
Him and to say sorry for their sins but their sacrifices weren't changing
lives because they didn't have grace. So God sent Jesus to begin the
New Covenant where Jesus died on the cross to save us. Jesus offered
himself as a sacrifice to the Father as the Lamb of God. His sacrifice
changed everything because he is innocent and perfect.
I hope that my letter will answer your question. If you need an explanation of anything in this letter please ask me.
Love,
Your friend,
Maria Byrne.
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