I was watching a talk by a priest and he was emphasizing how God speaks to us after receiving the Holy Communion. Many a times it occured to me I was not giving full attention during the Holy Mass.
At Mass,we gather together as friends of Jesus Christ, we listen to story of Jesus as foretold from the Holy Bible.We gather and thank God for what He did through Jesus.
The mass is made of twelve key moments.
1.Greeting the celebration of Mass
2.Penitential Act-Where we tell sorry to God for not loving as we should have loved and to forgiva all our sins.
3.Following, the scripture readings by the people of parish
4. Priest reads Gospel, and explains to us in his homily.
5.The Creed is when everybody in the church stands up and says what they believe as a group.
6. The Prayer of Faithful is when we offer prayers for people in need which is led by parishioners.
7.The gifts of bread and wine are brought to the altar during "Preparation of the Gifts".
8.The consecration of bread and wine is when the bread and wine are changed into Body and Blood of Jesus.
9.We then pray 'The Lord's prayer which Jesus taught us. We say this to praise God and to ask forgiveness for what we have done wrong.
10. Next we give peace around us called 'the Sign of Peace'.
11.At 'Communion ' ,those of whom who have received First Holy Communion may move forward and receive the' Body and Blood of Jesus'. This brings us closer to God.
12.To finish Mass the 'Final Blessing is spoken.The priest blesses us and sends us from the church to impart the love of Jesus to those whom we meet.
Ref: https://www.togetheratonealtar.catholic.edu.au/receive/overview-of-the-mass/
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Many a times after knowing all these I have been a mere spectator during Holy Mass.
Meaning of the Holy Mass
Gathering: The gathering together in the church symbolizes the coming together of the Church.We take on the identity of "Body and Blood of Christ" and this why the action of coming together for Holy Mass is important.
Listening: The readings of Bible not only explains how God worked in the old testament, how Jesus came in person for us. Sometimes God's words penetrates deeply into our minds and help us to challenge ourselves to take "U Turn" in our lives.
(Then why do we sit and sleep through sermon. How can we awake ourselves?)
Even with the likes of St.Paul as preacher,dated back as the New Testament,there have been sleepyheads!
The New Testament depicts the story of a young man named Eutychus falling asleep during a sermon by St.Paul. When the sermon goes as long as midnight,he drifts into sleep and fall off the third story window which follows his death. We need to take these steps prior to the sermon.
1.Prayer for your priest's homily prep
Your prayer starts right from the time of your priests homily preparation.
Pray that his words are Jesus words speaking to you and you will receive God's message.
1.Prayer for your priest's homily prep
Your prayer starts right from the time of your priests homily preparation.
Pray that his words are Jesus words speaking to you and you will receive God's message.
PREPARE YOURSELF BEFOREHAND
Be prepared that Jesus will speak something to you
Anticipate that Jesus will say something at Mass. So, on Saturday evening, pray that the words will find a home in your heart, and pray that the preacher will open God’s words with a message for you.
Also, be sure to get a good night’s sleep(I suggest no OTT,8 hours sleep,early dinner). Nobody can speak to you if you are nodding off even before you arrive. Prayer and good sleep will help turn your Sunday focus to Jesus, where it surely belongs.
3TAKE NOTES
If you are a note taker, you can jot down something later about what you heard, how God spoke to your heart, and add a short prayer for the grace you need to live up to God’s message. Then, be ready for these next four ways you can respond to God’s message.
Buy cute note pads for these or use technology.
4BE READY TO PROFESS YOUR FAITH
When someone speaks to your heart, the next instinct is to affirm your relationship by saying something in return, which is what we do as Catholic Christians. After we listen to the homilist, we pause a moment to take in Jesus’ message for us. We then stand as a community and profess our faith in Jesus together.
The words we say have a name: the Profession of Faith. It is usually the Creed written by bishops at Nicaea in 325, where they discussed how to respond to heresies of the day, particularly Arianism, which distorted Christian teachings about Jesus. Their debates resulted in a statement affirming their faith in Jesus. We continue to make the same statement every Sunday in response to what God says to us.
Therefore, listen to the Sunday message for something to help you profess your faith.
5BE READY TO PRAY FOR OTHERS
God is a relationship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who loves us for no other reason than to love us. After the Profession of Faith, we pray for the needs of others, which is our first act of compassion inspired by Jesus’ words.
Listen to God speaking to your heart, and be ready to make an act of compassionate prayer for others.
6BE READY TO BE THANKFUL
After we profess our faith and pray for others, we set the altar with bread and wine for a sacred meal that the New Testament calls the breaking of the bread. Early Christians soon began calling it Eucharist, a word meaning Thanksgiving.
"Jesus said to them, 'Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink".
Yes ,inorder to have that spark in life, you need Eucharist.
In other words, the Sunday message intends to give you a reason to be thankful for what God has done for you through Jesus. Jesus said he would die and rise … and he did! Ever since, we have been privileged to share in his death and resurrection by living in Communion with Jesus. You have no more uplifting motivation for being thankful.
Thank God for everything in your life and for every shortcomings.
7BE READY FOR YOUR MISSION
God gives you a set of talents and gifts given to nobody else. When you hear Jesus speaking to your heart, know that he gives you a mission to use your unique set of God-given talents and gifts. With Word and Sacrament to bolster you, you can walk out through the church doors with an added bounce in your step, because you are accepting your God-given mission for another week.
The Apostle James writes: Be doers of the word and not hearers only. (James 1:22)
Question: What if the sermon (homily) truly is bad?
Answer: Not to excuse poor homily preparation (God knows that I do not always hit the mark), but I am convinced that Jesus always has a message for you, if you listen for it. If you prepare well, if you expect to hear Jesus speaking to your heart, and if you come to church ready to profess your faith, to pray for others, to be thankful, and to assume your God-given mission, you will also hear God’s message for you.
Ref:7 tips to not falling asleep during sermon
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After receiving Holy Communion, you ask for your hearts desires, I have always had a standard list and I never changed it. Slowly I started thinking over and realized most of them I have received and I should be thankful and grateful. And to give us the courage to bless and pray for those whom persecute you.May be ask God to bless them more than he blesses you..Sometimes if you listen carefully God speaks to you,may be he shows numbers ,letters,words,sentences. May be if you are asking God for a particular thing,may be if he shows a number,may be it is to work harder for that goal for say, six months or may be you have been praying about something.
Why I said 6 months, because Bible says,
Just as man was created in six days, Jesus restored the connection between heaven and man on the sixth day of Passover making a way for us to find salvation through His redeeming blood.
God also commanded the Israelites to harvest their land for six years and then let it rest the seventh year. The seventh year is called the Year of Jubilee. God’s command isn’t just pure agricultural genius, it’s also to illustrate God’s power to restore what He has made.
God’s fourth commandment tells us to work for six days and rest on the seventh (Exodus 20:8, Exodus 31:12–17). God may have given us this commandment because He knows our weaknesses so well and that we can’t continually work seven days a week. I know I can’t.
So it can be anything. We can ask God to show us the meaning of these?
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Have a nice day!!!
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