Guide for how we celebrate Mass (also known
as ‘Eucharist’)
Citation reference:
Rev. Paul W. Kelly. 2008. Guide for how we celebrate
Mass (also known as ‘Eucharist’). Page version: 5/04/2008
11:09:00 PM. Saint Mary’s Roman Catholic Parish Website.
Maryborough.
The word ‘Mass’ comes from the Latin word ‘missa’. (This
word ‘missa’ forms the root meaning of modern words
such as ‘missile’ or ‘dismissed’ – that is, to send off or to impel outward).
In earlier years, the Mass was celebrated in the Latin Language and this word ‘missa’ was said by the priest at the end of the whole
ceremony; the whole Latin sentence being:
‘ite, missa est’ which roughly means: ‘Go, it is ended !’
Therefore, the whole meaning of the ‘Mass’ is to go out into the world
and try to make it more and more like the way Jesus Christ desires the world to
be. The other word we use a lot to describe ‘Mass,’ is the ancient Greek word
‘Eucharist’ which means: ‘to give thanks’. In this ceremony, we are giving a
great act of Thanksgiving and praise to our God. Our thanksgiving reaches its
peak at the ‘Eucharistic prayer.’ In the Eucharistic Prayer, we give thanks to
God for everything we have. We offer up a prayer of blessing over the bread and
wine. We believe that, in this prayer and thanksgiving action, Jesus becomes
present to us in the form of what looks like simple bread and wine.
(At the start
of Eucharist we gather together as one family, we are ‘the church’, and
individually members of the church. We recognise that we are united as one
people of God, by singing a hymn of praise or silently thinking about the fact
that we are in God's presence. We bring to this Eucharist all our joys and
sorrows, the fears and hopes of our lives. To our God, we offer up our
thoughts, words and actions. We also offer up our selves and our lives as we
join our prayers to Jesus' perfect offering of himself).
Priest: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit.
All Respond: Amen.
Priest: The Lord Be with You.
ALL: And
also with you.
PENITENTIAL RITE
(This part of the rite is not a time to
think about ‘how bad I am’ but it is a time to remind us of ‘how loving and
merciful our God is!’ We do not state what we've done wrong, but we do
make statements about who God is for us).
(For example….)
Lord Jesus, you
are the Resurrection and the Life! Lord have Mercy.
All Respond: Lord
Have mercy.
Christ Jesus, you are our hope and our
strength. Christ have mercy.
All Respond: Lord
Have mercy.
Lord Jesus, you set captives free. Lord
have mercy.
All Respond: Lord
Have mercy.
(Another form of
this penitential rite is the ‘I Confess’ which goes like this:
I confess to almighty God,
and to you, here present,
that I have sinned through
my own fault
in my thoughts and in my
words,
in what I have done,
and in what I have failed
to do;
and I ask blessed Mary,
ever virgin,
all the angels and saints,
and you, here present,
to pray for me to the Lord
our God.
The Priest then says: ‘May almighty God have mercy on us,forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life.’
All respond: Amen.)
{ On Sundays
and special feast days the ‘Gloria’ is said or sung:
Glory to God in the highest,
and peace to his people on
earth. Lord God, heavenly King, almighty God and Father,
we worship you, we
give you thanks, we praise you for your glory.
Lord Jesus Christ,
only Son of the Father, Lord God, Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the
world:
have mercy on us;
you are seated at the right hand
of the Father: receive our prayer. For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are
the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in
the glory of God the Father. Amen.}
-
OPENING PRAYER
(at the end of
this prayer the priest says ‘….through Christ our Lord’.. or ‘…forever and
ever..’ and we all respond by saying:..)
ALL: AMEN. (Amen is a Hebrew word meaning ‘yes,’ or ‘so
it is’)
THE LITURGY OF THE WORD
(We all stop and pray quietly as
we prepare to hear the word of God in the readings. The words are not printed
here so that we will truly listen to them and let the meaning enter our hearts)
THE FIRST
……..(at the end
the reader says)…
The Word of the Lord..
All Respond: Thanks be to God.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM:
(The psalms are from the
book of the Bible of the same name. They are the oldest hymns in our Jewish/
Christian tradition. It is always best to sing the psalms, as they were written
as songs. If the psalm cannot be sung then it should be read with a sense of
reciting powerful and meaningful poetry. If spoken, the psalm often has a
response line that the people all repeat after each paragraph of the psalm is
spoken by the reader).
Gospel Acclamation. (Prior to
the reading of the Gospel, everyone stands and says a short verse. It usually
starts and ends with the words ‘ALLELUIA’
: except in the season of Lent, when it is a more penitential season, so
we replace the word Alleluia, with words like this: ‘Glory and Praise to you,
Lord Jesus Christ.’ This verse is best to be sung and can be omitted if not
sung.
THE GOSPEL:
Priest:
The Lord be with you!
All
Respond: And Also with you!
Priest: From
the holy gospel according to ….
All Respond:
Glory to you, Lord. .
(AT THE END OF THE GOSPEL THE PRIEST SAYS)...
The Gospel of the Lord.
All
Respond: Praise
to you, Lord Jesus Christ!
-
THE PRIEST SPEAKS ABOUT THE MEANING OF THE
-
ON SUNDAYS AND SPECIAL FEASTS WE ALL RECITE THE
‘CREED’ WHICH SUMS UP THE THINGS WE BELIEVE:
All: We
believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and
unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven;
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his
kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver
of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
PRAYERS OF THE FAITHFUL.
(Everyone should pray these prayers with all their heart and
mind. The person reading the prayers is simply suggesting areas for us to pray.
It is our duty to then stop and pray for these intentions. After pausing a few
seconds to allow us to pray, the leader then sums up the prayer by saying…
‘Lord hear us’. We respond: ‘Lord hear our Prayer’. )
THE GIFTS OF BREAD AND WINE ARE
BROUGHT UP
n Priest: Pray, my friends, that our
sacrifice may be acceptable to God the Almighty Father.
n All: May the
Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands, for the praise and glory of his name,
for our good, and the good of all his Church.
EUCHARISTIC PRAYER
(This is the great prayer of
thanksgiving that remembers Jesus command at the Last Supper and how he gave
his life for us on the cross. It begins with the ‘Lord be with you’, and ends
with the priest praying the prayer of praise: ‘Through him, with him, in him….’
To which we strongly reply: ‘Amen!’
Watch out for when the priest
places his hands over the gifts of bread and wine and asks for the Spirit to
come down on them. This is called the epiclesis.
All Christian sacraments have this ‘calling down of the Spirit’ as a part of
the ceremony. This ‘calling upon the Spirit of God,’ makes what we do
effective)
PRIEST:
The Lord Be with You!
All Respond:
And also with You!
Priest:
Lift up your hearts!
All:
We lift them up to the Lord.
Priest:
Let us give thanks to the Lord Our God.
All:
It is right to give him thanks and praise.
(The following
mass parts, like the psalms should always be sung, but can also be spoken)
‘HOLY HOLY’
Holy, Holy Holy Lord, God of power and might! Heaven and earth are
full of your glory. Hosanna in the Highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name
of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
THE MYSTERY OF
FAITH: (one of the following:
Priest says: Let us
proclaim the mystery of faith.
All: Christ has died,
Christ is risen,
Christ will come again.
or
All: Dying you destroyed our death,
rising you restored our
life.
Lord Jesus, come in glory.
or
All: When we eat this bread and drink this
cup,
we proclaim your death,
Lord Jesus,
until you come in glory.
or
All: Lord, by your cross and resurrection
you have set us free. You
are the Saviour of the world.
Great Amen!
Amen. (Sometimes we add
extra Amens and extra Alleluia’s to this short
response to extend it on very festive occasions).
n
The Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father, who
art in heaven,
hallowed be thy
name.
Thy kingdom
come;
Thy will be
done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this
day our daily bread.
And forgive us
our trespasses,
as we forgive
those who trespass against us,
and lead us not
into temptation,
but deliver us
from evil.
Priest:
Deliver us,
Lord, from every evil,
and grant us
peace in our day.
In your mercy
keep us free from sin
and protect us
from all anxiety
as we wait in
joyful hope
for the coming of
our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
We respond:
For the kingdom, the power and the glory are
yours, now and for ever.
THE BREAKING OF
THE BREAD:
LAMB OF GOD,
YOU TAKE AWAY THE SINS OF THE WORLD, HAVE MERCY ON US, LAMB OF GOD, YOU TAKE AWAY
THE SINS OF THE WORLD, HAVE MERCY ON US, LAMB OF GOD, YOU TAKE AWAY THE SINS OF
THE WORLD, GRANT US PEACE!
Priest: (holds
up host and cup and says: )
This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of
the world. Happy are those who are called to this supper.
ALL: Lord I am not worthy to receive you, and only
say the word and I shall be healed.
(Communion. People are encouraged to receive from
the sacrament in the form of the bread and the wine as this is a more complete
symbol of Jesus Last Supper command. )
PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
DISMISSAL.
The Lord be with you.
All: And also with you.
May almighty God bless
you, the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
All: Amen.
Go in peace to love and
serve the Lord.
All: Thanks be to God.
(The word ‘Mass’ comes from the
Latin word ‘ite, missa est’ which literally translates as: ‘Go,
it is the dismissal !’ The whole meaning of ‘Mass’ or ‘Eucharist’ is
therefore to ‘go out’ into
the world to ‘live as we proclaim,’ and
to work towards making our lives more and more like Christ's vision).