Mass Insight - Learning About Elements of the Catholic Mass

At weekend Masses during the upcoming months, clergy members will offer a brief explanation of one element of the Mass. Below you may find the explanation and more resources to dig deeper into how, why, and what we celebrate together.

Procession and Opening Hymn

At the start of each mass, a procession with accompanying music takes place. The servers, readers, deacons, and priests walk to the sanctuary before greeting you, the assembly. It is a very sacred moment in the liturgy. Here, you see a procession of ministers, but all of you who are gathered here are represented in this procession. We are all coming before the Altar of God. We all make this liturgical action even more sacred and more noble when we sing together.

During the hymn, you are invited to turn and face the ministers in procession and bow toward the processional cross as it passes.

Sign of the Cross

The Sign of the Cross is the first action we do together at Mass, uniting us to God and to one another. It reminds us that we worship not in our own individual names, but in the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. When we make the sign of the cross, we recall our baptism, our identity in Christ, and affirm that we belong here as God’s own sons and daughters.

Greeting

The words after the Sign of the Cross are called the Greeting. Here, the priest proclaims the presence of the Lord at Mass for the first time, and the people ask for God to be with the priest. By this greeting, and the people’s response, we embody the mystery of the Church gathered together. This dialogue, and others during Mass, are not simply outward signs of communal celebration, but cultivate communion between the priest and the people, between the entire Body of Christ gathered together. When we pray with full heart and full voice, we respond to the Lord’s presence by expressing our own presence.

Penitential Act

To be updated week of October 8