The Roman Catholic Mass follows a dramatic structure with three acts: 1) The entrance rite where worshippers enter and dip their fingers in holy water. 2) The service of the word, where scripture passages are read. 3) The Eucharist, where the bread and wine are consecrated and received as the body and blood of Christ. Throughout the Mass, various rituals and symbols guide worshippers, including stained glass, statues, candles, and changing liturgical colors that mark different seasons. The order of the Mass follows set rubrics but allows for variation based on the occasion being celebrated.

1. The Virtual Mass
Roman Catholic worship on a typical Sunday

2. The Roman Catholic Mass is an unfolding drama, repeated
every day of the year except the time from Good Friday to the
Resurrection.
This is Karlskirche in Vienna, Austria. This city was the site of
Mozart’s first Mass, composed when he was just 12. Selctions
from Mozart’s Requiem Mass are being used for this
presentation.
Tradition holds
that the Mass
makes the
physical Jesus
Christ present
in the now – not
as a historical
event, but as a
real experience
for the believer.

3. As Catholics enter the nave
(the seating area), they dip
their right fingertips into the
font of water by the door and
make the sign of the cross on
themselves, touching first the
forehead, then the breast, the
left shoulder and the right
shoulder, finally drawing their
fingers to their lips. This is a
reminder of their baptism, the
means by which they became
part of the people of God.

4. A Roman Catholic church
is rich with sensory
experience: the smell of
candles and incense
burning, colorful images in
stained glass, hushed
echoes of people in the
pews, and the visual
imagery of crucifixes,
statues and painted art.
Along with the water at the
entrance and ceilings that
soar upward to draw the
mind toward heaven, it all
creates a sacred moment,
set apart from the daily world outside, so as to allow the re-
creation of the worshipper.

5. On the left and right walls of the nave (the main seating
area) are the Stations of the Cross. Sometimes painted,
sometimes sculpted from wood or stone, these images lead
the worshipper through the final day of Jesus’ life.

6. The presence of so many figures in the church is a reminder
that the Christian is part of a larger community – one that
includes all the faithful, in all the world, in all times.
Chartres Cathedral

7. Contrary to public
thinking, the mass is not
the same every week.
There are basics that are
appropriate for any given
Sunday – a joyful
celebration (like Easter)
will include very different
pieces from a sorrowful
celebration (like Good
Friday).
The order of these basics
(called “rubrics”) is set out
in the Missal.
Benedictine missal.

8. The Kyrie is the opening conversation between the priest and
the gathered congregation. In it is the recognition that
regardless of the different positions they might take in the
mass, all share the need for God’s
grace if they are
to stand as part
of God’s people.

9. Though the mass was conducted in Latin for 1500 years and is now
conducted in the language of the local community, the Kyrie has
always been spoken in Greek – the language of the Orthodox
churches – pointing to a deeper community that includes all the
Church of the great Councils of the 4th-, 5th and 6th centuries.
P: Kyrie eleison (“Lord have mercy”)
C: Kyrie eleison
P: Kyrie eleison
C: Kyrie eleison
P: Christe eleison (“Christ have mercy”)
C: Christe eleison

10. The colors on the altar, pulpit (from which the homily is given) and
priest reflect the time of the church year. Advent begins the year,
followed by Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter and Pentecost.
Certain high holy days are symbolized by red.
Epiphany (when Jesus made
himself known) and Pentecost
(after his ascension) are
represented by green.
Advent, the time of
preparation for the coming
king, is symbolized by
purple.
Easter and other key days (like
Ascension Sunday) are
represented by white.

11. The cry for mercy is immediately followed by the Gloria Patri
(“Glory to the Father”). It is the celebration of the very
redemption the Kyrie seeks:
Glory to God in the highest,
and peace to his people on earth.
Lord God, heavenly King, almighty God and Father,
we worship you, we give you thanks, we praise you for your glory.
Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father,
Lord God, Lamb of God,
you take away the sin of the world: have mercy on us;
you are seated at the right hand of the Father: receive our prayer.
For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord,
You alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

12. Passages from the Bible
are usually read by the
laity (the members of the
congregation). The order is
typically an Old Testament
passage, Psalm, and a
passage from a New
Testament letter (also
called “epistles”).
The first act of the drama
(the entrance rite) ends
and the second act (the
Service of the Word) now
begins.

13. Each day of the year has appointed readings – a particular reading
from the Gospels, along with Old Testament, epistle, and Psalm
passages. The schedule is on a three-year cycle, and a great
portion of the Bible is publicly read in that time.
Lectionary from Rome, 16th
century

14. The psalm comes
between the Old
Testament and
Epistle readings.
A
poem of praise
from
the Old
Testament
book by that
name,
it is typically
chanted – each
line
sung with the
same
musical phrase.
Traditionally this
was

15. Following the Old Testament
and Epistle readings, the
congregation sings “Alleluia”
(Hebrew for “Praise the
Lord”). The priest then
announces and reads a
passage from the Gospels.
The homily – the priest’s
message that seeks to
connect the Gospel
reading with the here-and-
now experience of the
faithful – is usually brief.

16. In this unfolding drama, the proclamation of the Gospel to those
who have been claimed by God draws the response of life lived
as sacred. Thus, the Creed of the Church is proclaimed by the
community – a declaration of unity (it begins with the word
“We”).
We believe in one God, the Father, the
Almighty, creator of heaven and earth …
We believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our
Lord …
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic
Church …

17. The prayers of the
community are then
gathered and voiced,
including the prayers for
all who have gone
before in the faith, and
all who now serve to
make that faith known
to the world.
The drama’s second act
– the Service of the
Word – ends here.
Jordan Lockhart, St. John’s Catholic School in
Churchtown, GA

18. In the final act – the Eucharist – the action moves to the altar.
From the medieval era until 1965 the altar was against the wall,
and the action there carried a sense of the people’s sacrifice.
Vatican II moved the altar away from the wall, symbolizing once
again a celebration of a divine feast.
St. Luke’s Parish,
Middleburg, FL

19. The offerings are received, including the offering of bread and
wine for use in the meal. No special bread or wine is required --
a simple loaf or the commonly used unleavened wafers, and a
simple red wine are typical.

20. The priest speaks the words of institution – voicing the words that
Jesus spoke at his last meal with his followers: In the night in
which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, gave thanks,
broke it and said,
‘Take and eat, all of
you. This is my
body. Do this in
remembrance of
me.’
Although Da Vinci’s Last Supper
is the most famous depiction of
the event, it is hardly the oldest.
This fresco from Sant’Apollinare
Nuovo in Ravenna dates to the
500s (900 years before Da
Vinci). Note the fish being
served.
(PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO
THIS DETAIL!)

21. As the words of
institution are
completed, the bells
are rung,
announcing the
miracle of
transubstantiation –
what looks like, and
tastes like bread or
wine has, through a
divine act, become
the body or blood of
Jesus Christ.

22. All who participate in the communion take into themselves
the Christ himself, and thereby become “Christ” to the
world.
Until Vatican II, the wine
had been withheld from
the laity for over 700
years. Today, as in the
first 1000 years of the
Church, the faithful both
eat and drink at the
feast. To each, the
priest declares, “The
body/blood of Christ,” to
which the believer
simply responds,
“Amen.”

23. The mass seems to end abruptly. As soon as the whole
congregation has received the bread and wine, a
benediction is spoken over them by the priest, and they
are dismissed with the words, “Go in peace
to serve the Lord.”
The mass is the way, not the
goal. The faithful are being
transformed and strengthened
to do the work of the Christ in
their world. In this way – as
the saying goes –
The mass never ends.

24. Hymns (the many different songs sung in praise of
God as part of congregational worship) do indeed
exist in the Catholic tradition, but they do not play the
central role here that they do in many Protestant
churches. Catholic congregational singing more likely
involves the liturgical settings – the set pieces of the
mass.