When people attend services in churches, they must give some Responses to the Mass, which is good for every Catholic person to know and know what their meaning is, since they contain some truths that have to do with faith, so If you do not know them, in this article we are going to mention them, so that you can learn about each one of them.
Mass Responses
When attending mass we must be attentive to everything that will happen at that time, since blessings will be received there, and if we are faithful believers then we must understand what are the rituals and prayers that we must know in it and recite them with joy. When mass begins there is always a priest in front of us, people must stand to show respect to the priest since he represents Jesus, so they must approach the altar and kiss him since it represents the table of the last supper of the lord
At the Second Vatican Council, which began on January 25, 1959, and is called by Pope John XXIII, all the representatives of the Catholic churches in the world were called, making it one of the greatest events of the XNUMXth century. , more than anything because of the issues that were discussed in it, its main function was to make a new promotion of the Catholic faith and also the renewal of the Christian morality of believers.
Another of his topics was to make a new adaptation of the mass that would be adapted to the new era and that they could have a better relationship with other religions, to achieve an agreement and a better organization. In this aspect, a better definition is achieved of how to praise God and above all how to pray to him, always in the same way so that a believer could attend any church and know how to function in it since there would be a uniformity in the acts.
Entrance and Greeting at the Beginning
When the priest enters and is about to begin Mass, the first thing he does is make the sign of the cross, which those present should also make. This sign represents love and respect, as we are in a sacred place. The priest will make the sign of the cross aloud, and all those present will do so silently, saying "Amen" at the end.
The priest will then say that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the Holy Spirit are with us, to which we must respond, “And with his Spirit.”
act of penance
The act of penance is one in which all believers who are in the mass accept that they are sinners, and that they can easily fall into some temptations, and with great humility we must recognize the sins we have committed. This act tells us that we must do it with the heart and that our repentance is sincere, to ask for God's mercy, and continue receiving the mass, in this part the priest will tell us that to make this celebration with dignity and continue with the mysteries we repent of our sins.
The answers that we all make is the I confess: “I confess before almighty God and before you who are my brothers, that I have sinned in thought, word, deed, and omission (we take the fist of our right hand to our chest near our heart and we give three soft blows saying "Because of me" on all three occasions), that is why we pray to Holy Mary, always Virgin, to the angels and saints and before you my brothers so that you can intercede for me before God Our Lord ".
The priest will then tell us that God, who is almighty, will have mercy on all and forgive our sins, leading us to eternal life, to which we should all respond " Amen ." Then the priest will say the responsorial psalms: "Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy," and each of these should be repeated by those present after the priest.
Gloria
This is another of the prayers that are used in the church, this is to make a veneration and that the Holy Spirit is present in that sacred place, with it we give glory to God the Father and at the same time we ask the lamb of God to is Jesus Christ, this can be recited, but in many churches they do it in the form of a song.
At this time all attendees must say glory to God who is in heaven and on earth may peace to all men who love the Lord and for his great glory we praise, bless, adore, glorify and thank him now who is our Lord, King of Heaven and God the Father Almighty.
The glory prayer is very easy and simple and it is a prayer for faith and salvation, everyone should say it out loud. The priest is the one who concludes this prayer when he says that Jesus Christ lives and reigns throughout the centuries, and all those present say Amen. As we said, this prayer must be done with love and devotion.
Liturgy of the word
When we speak of the liturgy of the word, we refer to the rituals that take place in the mass after the beginning of the mass. When the Second Vatican Council was held, an agreement was reached that they should make known what the Holy Scriptures contained, so that the spirit of Christian people be nourished.
The Council decided that the first reading would be from the Old Testament, followed by the Psalms, and the second reading from the Gospels. This practice ensured that the Word of God would nourish faith and reach hearts, preparing them to receive the Body and Blood of Christ. At the end of the first reading, the priest concludes by saying, “This is the Word of the Lord,” to which all those present respond, “Thanks be to God.”
Then the Psalm is read, usually a responsorial psalm. It has a first line that must be repeated after each phrase the priest says, and when he finishes he again indicates that it is the word of God and those present respond again We praise you Lord.
The second reading, taken from the Gospels, begins with the priest saying, “The Lord be with you.” The congregation responds, “ And with his spirit .” The Gospel reading then follows, according to the theme and saint chosen for the Mass. After hearing the saint's name, the congregation responds, “Glory to you, Lord .” At the end of the reading, the priest again says, “The Word of the Lord,” to which the faithful respond, “Glory to you, Lord Jesus . ”
The Profession of Faith: The Creed
The creed is a prayer of declaration of our faith that must be recited aloud at mass by all the faithful who have attended mass, with this declaration the attendees affirm to follow and believe in one God, who was our creator, in his son Jesus Christ who died for us for the redemption of our sins.
Presentation of Offerings
The presentation of the gifts is a renewal of the sacrament of Christ's sacrifice. In it, the wine and bread are presented, representing the blood and body of Christ that will be given to us in communion for our sanctification. When the bread and wine are presented separately, the faithful should respond to the priest, " Blessed are you forever, Lord ."
The priest will ask for prayers for the sacrifice so that it may be received with grace by God, and the response of the faithful should be " May the Lord accept from your hands this sacrifice of praise and glory to his name, for our good and that of all his holy church ."
Eucharistic Prayer
When we reach the Eucharistic Prayer, we are in the middle of Mass, and we imitate the Last Supper of our Lord, where he instituted the Paschal Sacrifice, which culminates in his death on the cross. In this prayer, we invoke devotion and union with Christ and acknowledge God's greatness in offering his only Son for our sacrifice. At the end, the priest will say that the Lord is with us, and the faithful should respond, " And with your spirit ."
Then he will say to lift up our hearts, and we should respond, “ We lift them up to the Lord.” He will give thanks to the Lord for being our God, and we should respond, “ It is right and just ,” to which the priest will make the proclamation for the day. Once he finishes, he asks us to say the prayer, “Holy is the Lord.”
Consecration
At this moment we should get on our knees, if we have the space and enough health to do it, this is a sign of respect and reverence to the Lord that we do to give thanks for his great love towards us, there we are worshiping him and at the same time we renew Christ on his cross for having become our bread, plus we are showing our humility before how great God is.
We must stand, and at the end, the priest says that the sacrament of our faith, in which we must all say, “ We proclaim your death, we profess your resurrection, come, Lord Jesus .” Then the priest announces the end of the prayer, saying that to Christ be all honor and glory forever and ever, to which the faithful should respond, “ Amen .”
Last Part of the Mass
In the final part, the communion ritual takes place. The Lord's Prayer is recited, followed by the exchange of the sign of peace. Then, those who will receive communion are called forward; those who will not receive remain in their places praying. All present recite the Lord's Prayer aloud. At the end, the priest says that we hope Jesus Christ will deliver us and that we await his glorious return. The response of those present is, " For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever, Lord ."
In the ritual of peace is where we recognize that Jesus will come, that we must move away from sin which makes us separate as brothers, that we must not lose faith or hope, when we do this ritual we give not only our embrace of peace but also our charity.
The priest will say that Jesus Christ lives and reigns forever and ever, and we should all respond “ Amen .” He will tell us that the peace of the Lord will always be with us, and we should say “ And with your spirit ,” and then he will say that we should offer each other a sign of peace.
He then recites the Lamb of God prayer and extends the invitation to the faithful to the Lord's Supper. The faithful are to respond, " Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my soul shall be healed ." Those who are to receive Communion respond to the priest with " Amen . "
To explain a little what the communion or Lord's Supper consists of, in the times of the apostles around the year 55 after Christ, the Christian communities gathered around a table there they remembered the last supper of Jesus and repeated the words that he gave in it to consecrate the body and blood of Christ. Afterward, all shared the same bread and the same cup of wine. In these meetings they remembered important aspects of the Last Supper:
- The bottom line is that this was the body and blood of Jesus.
- She establishes a union of charity among those present, making them one body.
The Eucharist is the center and heart of the life of the Church that we have today, and she consecrates herself to this central moment of communion, the church is no longer just an instrument of evangelization but is also the place where the men can experience the union between them and Christ in a close way.
Here the proclamation of the death of the Lord is made until he returns again in his second coming, that is why the same is done in all parts of the world, to remember the death of the Lord. Jesus said that he was the bread of life and everyone who believes in him will never hunger or thirst, at the time of the exodus God supplied the Israelites with the bread that came down from heaven, the Manna, but now with Jesus that bread, it had become a body, the body that gives us eternal life and the only thing a person should have is to believe in Christ.
In the Lord's Supper it is faith that leads us to receive the body and blood of Christ transformed into Bread and Wine, causing Christ to rise to become our food. Jesus is the bread of life, that our body can assimilate and transform it, in the same way that Christ does in us.
At the end, the priest will say that the Lord is with us, and the faithful will respond, " And with your spirit ." He will then give us his blessing, and we must make the sign of the cross. Afterward, he will tell us that we can go in peace, and all the faithful will respond, " Let us give thanks to the Lord ," thus concluding the Mass.
Finally, the priest kisses the altar in the same way as he did when he arrived, and bows, and then leaves the sacristy, thus ending the Holy Mass and the faithful can leave the church, some prefer to stay a while longer. to continue praying for thanksgiving, individually to praise God and for having received communion.
History and civilizations have been able to overcome and advance through the centuries, but in the act of the Eucharist it can still be appreciated that the death of an innocent managed to destroy the imposition of an empire, to emerge gracefully and victoriously. That is why the church remembers the death of Christ so that new energies arise from it that serve to achieve the reconciliation of human beings.
The gospels do not make us understand that the promises of Jesus, but also that it is not enough to take communion for us to be perfect, since not all those who make communion have a spirit that lives in Christ, so in order to live in Christ we must persevere To be able to obtain the fruits, this is a sacrament that makes us mature in life with God, but it has to act from the depths of our hearts and our being.
If we have little faith, then we are going to receive this sacrament with many defects and prejudices in our minds and we are not going to understand that the transformation process that we must have as people is not visible to the eyes of people but to the eyes of God. Jesus' message at his dinner was that his death would bring salvation to the world, his message was to guide humanity and that it become the leaven of the dough, people who were committed to God's work of just as he promised.
Every time we celebrate the Eucharist we are renewing an alliance with God, Jesus will be with us whenever we remember him in his sacrifice, he is our spiritual bread and consecrates us to his Father God so that we continue to be part of his work of salvation. .
The last supper of Jesus was the first ritual or cult that institutionalized Christianity, that instead of going to make a sacrifice in the temple, he did it in a fraternal meal where Jesus is our bread of life. That is why the Second Vatican Council decided to remove many rituals that are crowded into them, long prayers, to make it a simpler rite to be followed by the faithful and where the words of the gospel are explained to them.
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