Catholic Massterclass: All About Holy Mass

After the Holy, Holy, Holy (the Sanctus), the Mass enters its most sacred moment: the Eucharistic Prayer. Everything we have done so far has been leading to this prayer, and everything that follows flows from it. This is the prayer in which Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross is made present to us sacramentally. Although there are several Eucharistic Prayers, they all share the same essential structure. Understanding these common parts...

The Holy, Holy, Holy—the Sanctus—comes directly from Sacred Scripture. In Isaiah 6, the prophet hears the seraphim crying out “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts,” and in Revelation the same hymn resounds in the worship of heaven. This is the song of heaven itself. When we sing it at Mass, we are not merely recalling a biblical moment—we are entering into heavenly worship. The liturgy lifts us beyond time and space and unites us...

Once the gifts are prepared, the priest prays the Prayer over the Offerings. This prayer does not consecrate the gifts; rather, it formally offers them to God and asks Him to receive and sanctify what has been placed on the altar. This reflects a basic rule of biblical worship: offerings are never simply placed before God—they are named, offered, and prayed over.

In the Temple worship, the priest did not improvise a new meaning f...

Every Sunday, after the General Intercessions, something quiet but deeply meaningful happens: the Offertory. Bread and wine are brought forward either by the people or by the servers, a song is sung, and the priest begins a series of prayers at the altar. As usual, there is a nice connection with Old Testament worship that has been brought up through Christian history.

In the Temple, God commanded Israel to bring their gifts forw...

After the homily each Sunday, we stand and offer the Prayers of the Faithful, sometimes called the Universal Prayer or General Intercessions. Many people wonder: Why do we do this? Is this a recent addition to the Mass?

While the form we use today was restored after the Second Vatican Council, the practice itself goes back to the earliest Christian communities. Around the year 155, St. Justin Martyr described the Sunday Eucharist...

Each Sunday, after listening to God’s Word, the Church stands and professes the Creed. It can be easy to treat this moment as routine, something said simply because it is “what Catholics do.” But in reality, the Creed is an important moment in the liturgy. It expresses who God is, what He has done, and what we believe as His people—so that we may worship Him rightly.

Throughout Scripture, God consistently teaches that true worshi...

One of the most familiar moments of the Mass is the homily. After the readings, everyone instinctively leans forward and waits to hear something that will encourage them, teach them, or challenge them. This instinct is ancient. We can see its roots in the Scriptures themselves. In the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4), Jesus stands to read from the prophet Isaiah, and then He sits down—taking the posture of a teacher. St. Luke says, “...

For our Catholic Massterclass today we’ll talk about the readings proclaimed during Mass.The proclamation of the Word of God has always been part of Christian worship. St. Justin Martyr, who lived in the 2nd century, mentions that something is always read from what we would call the Old Testament and also from the “memoirs of the apostles”, which is the New Testament. The exact structure of the Biblical readings has had a few diffe...

After the Sign of the Cross and the greeting, the priest says, “Let us pray.” Then there’s a pause — a quiet moment easily overlooked. But in that silence, something profound happens: the whole congregation is invited to pray silently, offering up their personal intentions, gratitude, and needs to God.

When the priest then prays the Collect (pronounced KAH-lekt), he “collects” all those individual prayers and unites them into one v...

After the Sign of the Cross and greeting, the Mass continues with the Penitential Act, a moment of humble preparation to enter the sacred mysteries. We begin not by pretending we are worthy, but by admitting that we are not — and trusting in the mercy of the God who calls us here. Maybe you remember last Sunday’s Gospel about the Pharisee and the tax collector. The tax collector stood off at a distance, beat his breast, and said, “...

What most people would understand to be the official beginning of Mass is the Sign of the Cross, something all Catholics are taught to do from as early an age as possible. Interestingly enough, almost no other Protestant denomination makes the Sign of the Cross, even while they may begin “In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” When we trace the Cross upon ourselves and invoke the Father, Son, and Holy Spi...

When the priest enters the sanctuary at the beginning of Mass, one of his first actions is to bow to the altar and then reverence it with a kiss. (Whenever the tabernacle is in the sanctuary, the bow to the altar is replaced by a genuflection.) This gesture is rich with meaning, even though it is often quiet and unnoticed.

The altar is the central symbol of Christ in the church. It is not just a table where bread and wine are pla...

At the beginning of every Mass, the priest walks in while the people stand and sing. This might seem like a simple way to “get things started,” but in reality it connects us with a deep biblical pattern of worship.

In the book of Exodus, we read that whenever Moses went into the Tent of Meeting to encounter the Lord, “all the people would rise and stand, each at the entrance of their tent, and look after Moses until he had gone i...

Finally, we move into the Mass with our Catholic Massterclass. Can you believe we spent the first 29 weeks talking about Catholic Mass before actually getting into the details of the Mass itself? I don’t know what you thought about that, but I have found the Mass to be such a rich source of connections between the past and the present and, of course, of the eternal future. I have especially enjoyed seeing all of the connections wit...

For this week’s Catholic Massterclass, we’re going to dip our toes into something a little more controversial. To get to the point, I would like to ask a question: If you traveled to another country and tried to strike up a conversation, what language would you expect the people to speak? I hope the answer is obvious: you’d expect them to speak whichever language is primarily spoken in that country. In Germany, they would speak Ger...

We have just two weeks left of this portion of our Catholic Massterclass before we FINALLY start going through Mass step-by-step.

In the Gospel of Luke there is the famous story of the Road to Emmaus. Jesus has risen from the dead and appears to two disciples who are making their way to Emmaus from Jerusalem. He is hidden from their vision - they take up a conversation with Jesus and don’t realize it - while they talk about the s...

Last week I spoke about the Roman Missal as the primary book used by the priest during Catholic Mass and this week I want to take a moment to look at the other main book used during Mass, which is the Lectionary. The word Lectionary comes from the Latin word lectio, which means “to read”. 

The Church has always had a Lectionary, although it has taken different forms throughout history. Before Vatican II, the Roman Lectionary foll...

One of the many great things about being Catholic is knowing that you can attend Holy Mass anywhere in the world and it will look and sound the same as everywhere else, even if it’s not being offered in your native language. On any given Sunday, the prayers and readings are the same all over the world. The offering of the Eucharist in worship is the same all over the world. It’s a great gift that many other Christians don’t have. I...

Chalice

Last Supper cup; also Roman banquet vessel (calix)

Holds the Precious Blood. Symbol of Christ’s Passion (“the chalice of suffering”) and salvation (“chalice of blessing”).

Noble materials (gold, silver, or gilded interior); dignified, non-porous.

Paten

Roman banquet plate (patina)

Holds the bread to be consecrated into Christ’s Body. Sign of the breaking of bread at the Last Supper.

Noble material, same ...