I went to a Catholic Church for the first time in my life (28M.) I was Seventh Day Adventist from the ages of 16-21 but now do not really practice any specific Christian faith - I just learn about different religions and spiritual perspectives.
I have been curious about going to Mass after listening to Father Mike Schmitz’s Bible in a Year podcast, and getting Catholic content on Tik Tok.
I went this morning, after reading on what to do and what not to do and now I’m feeling confused I guess? Mass was the most neutral thing I have ever experienced - I wasn’t even bored, just felt zero emotion during the service. I don’t see what the point of Mass was, or what I was supposed to get or do that was so special. I don’t mean to say that to offend or belittle, I understand some people there may have been feeling so close and so joyous and refreshed, Im saying I just did not feel a single thing. I’ve read a bit about how Catholics view God, their beliefs, and overall philosophy, but I just don’t see how any of that was relevant during Mass. It felt like I learned and experienced more reading and exploring Catholicism on my own than in the service.
Am I missing something here? Was today just a Holiday I wasn’t aware of and thats why it was different? I just don’t see why I would go back there.
It’s completely normal not to be very engaged in the beginning: it’s new, it’s a little weird. It takes time to become familiar with the rituals and their meanings.
The Mass, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, is the sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary, reproduced for us in a non-bloody manner, so that we may participate in his sacrifice, fittingly worship God, and draw the benefits of his grace from that participation.
I strongly recommend attending the Tridentine Latin mass - the venerable version of the Roman rite. It is much more expressive of the mystery of our faith. But it too takes some time to learn and appreciate. If you can attend at a high-mass (sung mass) in the Tridentine rite near you, I strongly recommend it!
Best wishes and prayers!
PS. Also, a book recommendation. This one is from the 17th century, but very readable, and available as an audiobook:
I’ll offer a few thoughts, and I think that some others here will too.
I would say that participation in Mass is not intended to induce feelings; rather, it is worship.
In the opening prayers we place ourselves before God, acknowledge that we are sinners, and ask forgiveness.
The Bible readings follow a three-year cycle so that we hear some Scriptures at least once every three years. I think that some Protestant churches follow the Catholic cycle of readings too.
On Sundays and some holy days, and often on other days too, a priest or deacon will preach a sermon.
On Sundays and some holy days, the congregation recites the Nicene creed.
Next is the “Prayer of the Faithful,” with invocations to which the congregation responds with something such as “Lord, hear our prayer.”
In the next part of the Mass, we offer ourselves and the not-yet-consecrated bread and wine to God.
Except for the priest, everyone who can kneels for the Eucharistic Prayer, in which the priest repeats the words of Jesus at the Last Supper concerning the bread and wine being His body and blood. Other prayers accompany these words.
After this we say the Lord’s Prayer and give an informal sign of peace to others.
Communion follows the instruction of Jesus “Take this, all of you, and eat of it.”
There are closing prayers, followed by a blessing.
In all, the Mass is structured worship, in which God gives himself to us and we give ourselves to Him.
I didn’t address every detail. For example, there are sometimes collections and announcements. Jamie Buckingham used to write a column called “The Last Word” for Logos magazine. One of the columns went something like this: Jamie was attending a church service in some poor area of a foreign country. Afterwards someone said he had been to church in a prosperous place. “They have one thing we don’t have,” he said. “Announcements. I have an announcement: Jesus is Lord.”
That’s because the Mass, like Catholicism, is not so much an emotional as an intellectual and spitirual matter. To understand that, you will have to do more than just read a bit about Catholicism.
In fact, you will have to read a lot about Western civilization in order to understand Catholicism, because as Tom Woods and others explain, the latter built the former.
I have to be honest that I know very little about how the Seventh Day Adventist worship. My Parents were Presbyterian until their Pastor converted to Orthodoxy. And in College I attended a non-Denominational Church for a few years.
Fr. Mike Schmitz is great!
Thank you for sharing your experience. What I would say is this. Rather than read what to do and what not to do at the Sacred Liturgy, look up why we do what we do.
Do you know if you attended a Traditional Latin Mass, a Novus Ordo, an Eastern Liturgy or Byzantine Mass? Was there incense, Gregorian Chant, and Latin? All of these are the same Mass, but different forms of the Liturgy.
We do not go to Mass for the emotion of it or how it makes us feel. When I attended the non-Denominational Church, they had really good air conditioning and when the band would hit certain notes, I would get chills. Combined with the air-flow, it might feel like the Holy Spirit moving in that moment.
Incense gives a similar calm feeling. And mixed with Chant, it can make you feel a certain way.
Feelings, like a relationship, come and go.
Oh man! What we get is more than you may have realized. The Mass is broken up into two main parts. The Liturgy of the Word. The First Reading is usually an old Testament Reading that relates to the Gospel Reading. Then we Pray a Psalm. The Second Reading is often from one of St. Paul’s letters. And then rising to the proclaiming of the Holy Gospel Reading. We stand during the Gospel, because the Gospel is Christ’s fulfillment of the Old Covenant.
The Mass relates to Covenant. It would be like someone who is not Married trying to understand Marriage. You can learn what Marriage is and you can even learn why Marriage. But, until you are in Covenantal Marriage, you may not truly recognize what is so special about Covenant.
How does one enter into Covenant with God (from a Catholic Christian perspective)? Can you share the Seventh Day Adventist view of Baptism? I do know that the Catholic Christian Church does not recognize Baptisms of that sect as valid.
Similar to the LDS (Mormon) Church, the SDA was founded by an individual who claimed to be a prophet. But, this is not why we reject their Baptism as being valid. For the LDS, it more has to do with their understanding of the Holy Trinity.
I think for the SDA, it has more to do with the fact that (and correct me if I am wrong) they do not always Baptize “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” but sometimes just in the name of Jesus.
This brings me to the second part of the Mass. The Holy Eucharist. This is where the once and for all Sacrifice of Christ on Calvary is made present to us. The Eucharist is the substance of Jesus (body, blood, soul & divinity). To receive Holy Communion worthily is very intimate. So, to those who are in this New Covenant with The Lord, it is special. Not that we are deserving of it, but we receive it humbly as the gift that it is.
It is why we kneel before we receive and after we receive (and in the Traditional Latin Liturgy, while we receive). And we truly mean it when we recite Matthew 8:8, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the words and my soul shall be healed.”
I’m not sure what you mean. Jesus is God (The Son) and He is the Word incarnate. The Mass is all bout Jesus. In His Word, in His Sacrifice, and in His Resurrection.
Jesus tells us in the Gospel of John, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him.”
The word Liturgy comes from the ancient Greek word leitourgia, meaning “the work of the people” and where Protestants get the word “Service” for their worship. Catholic Christians and Eastern Orthodox refer to our “services” as the Sacred Liturgy.
So going off this theme of work or service. It is one thing to watch someone build a home, but another thing to participate in building your home. It is more meaningful if you are participating in the work.
So, in the context of the Mass, Jesus is inviting the faithful to participate in the work of the Cross. We receive instruction (the blueprints), He shows us how to “do this” (The Holy Eucharist), and He gives us the tools and help to go out and do the work (Grace).
When I was in Youth Group, we used to close by saying, “The Mass never ends, it must be lived.” The Priest will often say something similar, “Go in peace, and love and serve the Lord” or “Go, and announce the Gospel of the Lord.”
We are currently in what is called “Ordinary Time” in the Liturgical Season, but it does not mean that the Mass is therefore ordinary.
The TLM Challenge is to attend a Traditional Latin High Mass four times and then you will begin to understand the beauty and truth of the Sacred Liturgy.
My family and I attend the Novus Ordo Mass, though I have attended a Traditional Latin Low Mass and a Byzantine Liturgy before and they were quite beautiful. But, I go to Mass for Jesus. So, though I do value the reverence that the TLM and the Byzantine forms demand, I just value the Mass in general. If we had a TLM closer to us, that might be the form that we would attend, because I do believe reverence to God is important. But, what is more important is our Covenantal relationship with God, in Christ Jesus.
I would encourage you to continue to learn the why’s of the Mass. Why do Catholic Christians dip their fingers in the Holy Water when they enter and exit the Church? Why do Catholic Christians genuflect before the Altar. Why do Catholic Christians stand during the proclamation of the Holy Gospel? Why do Catholic Christians kneel during the Consecration? Why do Catholic Christians have a Crucifix (“preach Christ Crucified, a stumbling block to many Jews and Gentiles” as St. Paul says in his letter to the Corinthians (1:23)? Why do Catholic Christians bow during the Creed at the acknowledgment of the moment when Jesus entered our World? Why do Catholic Christians make the sign of the Cross on their forehead, their mouth, and on their heart at the announcement of the reading of the Holy Gospel?
Feel free to private message me with any questions you have. And I would love to learn more about what SDA believe. I enjoy learning about what others believe and why they believe it. God Bless and go check out a Holy High Mass, as I have never been to one and would love to hear how it differs from your first experience of the Mass : )
Some parishes I visit the atmosphere is dry, the sermon is read off a paper, and it all just feels like everyone is going through the motions. In other parishes, the choir sings with power, the priest preaches with fire, and it feels other-worldly. So don’t write it off just because of a bad experience.
But that said, Catholicism doesn’t view itself as just another Christian denomination. If you’re deciding whether or not to be Catholic based off how engaging Sunday worship is… that’s the wrong way to think about it.
It’s also OK to offer Mass attendance up as a true sacrifice. Not everyone feels joyous, fulfilled, renewed, etc from attending Mass. People with sensitivities, for example. It would be “ableist” to expect everyone to get to a place where they love the experience of Mass each time.
Smell sensitivity: Excessive fragrances that you can even taste they’re so strong sometimes: soiled diapers, flatulence, halitosis, perfumes/colognes, detergents and “dryer sheets” (the bane of existence for chemically sensitive people because it’s everywhere).
Sound sensitivity: Too loud, unexpected piercing noises (e.g. baby or toddler scream), etc.
Touch sensitivity: Shaking of the hands is significantly unpleasant.
Some people are hyper-sensitive to external stimuli and are not wired to be able to “tune out” noises. People with ADHD and Autism often have such challenges. People with PTSD who are hyper-vigilant as a result and as such have difficulty tuning out extraneous sonic and visual activity.
Point being, there are many reasons or combinations of reasons that prevent a person from being truly engaged or even genuinely enjoy the Mass experience. It can instead be a legitimate form of suffering for some people.