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DEFENDING THE BRIDE
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How to Pray the Mass
The Mass is called a
Eucharistic Celebration. Eucharist means thanksgiving. So, at Mass
we offer thanks and praise to God for all that He Is and all that He has done. By
reminding ourselves of all that God has done for us we can pray the
Mass in a much more fruitful way. There are events in the Old
Testament which prefigured the Mass. By learning about these events
in salvation history and how they relate to us we will be better
equipped intellectually to understand the Mass and its meaning. As
we grow in our understanding of the Mass we enable ourselves to grow more
deeply in love with God and to
get more out of the Mass.
By learning the different parts of the Mass we will better understand how to present our lives in faith to our Heavenly Father in union with the Life, Death, and Resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. Listen to the prayers of the Mass and mean them in your heart as you pray them.
Jesus humbled Himself by becoming Man. He gave us an example to imitate. By humbling ourselves we open the door to receive His grace. We begin the Mass by recognizing our need for him. We offer up our repentance for past sins trusting in His bountiful mercy that is even greater than our worst sins.
In faith give to God your praise and your adoration. Offer up to Him your joys and sorrows, your gratitude and your sufferings. Specifically lift up to God in faith the intimate details of your life over the past week. Also, ask Him for the grace to grow in virtue to handle well the tasks that will come in the following week. And offer up to Him any glory for all the good works that you have done. Do this recognizing that it was only by His grace that you were able to do them. Offer them all to God and ask Him in faith to use them and to work through them to make you a better and holier person.
“We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28
Consider reading the
booklet Understanding the Mass which is mentioned below and you will
find the Mass a most joyful experience as you come to learn how to
pray the Mass well.
What Do We Get Out of Mass ?
Anyone who claims not to be getting anything out of the Mass must not be receiving Holy Communion or else he does not know what he is saying. At Holy Communion we receive the very Person of Jesus Christ, His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.
Devout Protestants do receive Him in a spiritual sense. Because of the validly ordained priests, Catholics are privileged to also receive Jesus’ physically as we receive His resurrected Body and Blood in Holy Communion. Because the bread and wine have been transformed into His Body and Blood we worship and adore Him there. The Holy Communion hosts that are left over are kept in the tabernacle where we can worship Him there throughout the day.
Saying an intimate prayer to Jesus after receiving Him in the Most Blessed Sacrament is one of my favorite times of the Mass. I lift up to Him my deepest concerns from the depth of my heart. I offer up to Him my prayer and accept on faith that He does love me and that His will is what is best for me. I pray the following prayer while inserting my particular concerns of that day.
(based on
The
Anima Christi)
Soul of Christ,
sanctify me and save me,
Body of Christ, nourish me and build me,
Blood of Christ, wash me and inebriate me.
By your passion Christ, please strengthen me
With courage and fill me with zeal for Your Kingdom.
Make me a vessel of
joy and love for others
And help me to focus more on the positive than the negative
As I carry the crosses in my life, and
As I die to myself to live more abundantly in You.
O Dear Sweet Jesus, please hear me.
In your most precious wounds please hide me.
Never let me be separated from you.
Help me to grow in
my recognition and
Appreciation of the love you shower upon me.
From the malicious enemy protect me and defend me,
And by your Divine Wisdom please guide me,
So, that at the hour of my death you may bid me to come
be with You,
to praise Your Holy Name
Forever, and ever, up in Heaven,
with all your holy Saints Amen.
*****************************************************
For more resources see:
The Lamb’s Supper
by
Scott Hahn.
This book is also
available on CD. Call Saint Joseph Communications
Ph: 1-800-526-2151
UNDERSTANDING THE
MASS,
by Father Maynard Kolodziej, O. F. M.
Catholic Book Publishing Corp.
It cost $5.95 including shipping and handling, but it is worth so
much more, especially seeing what is at stake.
It is about 80 pages. From experience I find that many people will
find the length to be overwhelming and tend to put off reading it and
sometimes never get around to it. So I ask them to read *only*
chapter three, the most important part. It is pages 41-66.
I stress for that I only want them to read the third chapter, so
that at least the will start reading it. Usually they will like it
so much that they read it all. By learning how to pray the Mass
better, we learn how to put more into it, and learn how much and WHO
we receive from it. It is FANTASTIC.
The prayers of the Mass are based on Scripture. [Off site article]
Scriptural Passages concerning the Mass, Fathers of Church
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