Sacraments
How to Participate in Mass
Preparing for the Eucharist · 8 steps
The full, conscious and active participation the Church asks for: arriving prepared, the postures of standing, kneeling and sitting, the responses in full, listening to the readings, the Creed and the Prayer of the Faithful, the Eucharistic Prayer, Communion and thanksgiving, and the dismissal.
8 steps · About 20 minutes
The Second Vatican Council asked that all the faithful be led to that full, conscious and active participation in the liturgy which the very nature of the liturgy demands. Participation is not first of all doing things; it is uniting yourself, body and soul, with Christ's sacrifice as it is made present on the altar. But it has a body: postures, responses, silence and song. This guide walks through the Mass of the Roman Rite as celebrated in the United States, giving the responses in full and the postures the General Instruction of the Roman Missal and the American adaptations ask for.
What you need
- Ten minutes before Mass to arrive, find a place and settle
- The Sunday readings, read once beforehand if you can (a missal, the parish's missalette, or the USCCB daily readings)
- The responses of the Mass, given below until they are yours by heart
- A state of grace and the one-hour fast if you intend to receive Communion
When to pray it
Every Sunday and holy day of obligation, and as often as you can on weekdays. Canon 1248 allows the obligation to be satisfied at a Mass on the day itself or on the evening of the preceding day.
Steps
Step 1: Arrive early and prepare
Come ten minutes before Mass begins. Bless yourself with holy water at the door, a reminder of your Baptism. Genuflect toward the tabernacle (or bow to the altar if the Blessed Sacrament is not reserved there) before entering the pew, kneel, and pray briefly: thank God for bringing you, ask forgiveness for the week's sins, and offer the Mass for an intention. Glance over the readings. Then sit or kneel quietly; the minutes before Mass belong to God, not to conversation.
Tips
- Postures differ slightly from country to country; when the local custom differs from what is written here, follow the assembly.
- Sing. The General Instruction says the singing of the people is of great importance; a spoken Gloria is a lesser thing than a sung one.
- Keep silence at the moments the Missal asks for it: after the readings, after the homily, and after Communion.
- Put the phone away entirely; even a missal app is a distraction for most people. A printed missal or the missalette is enough.