I hope this week I am more successful at "And with your spirit" because no matter if I read off of the paper or even prompted myself "Hey Stacy, it's coming up. Do it right.", I continuously merged the old and the new, saying "And also with your spirit".
I am so, so, so thankful for the opportunity to focus better in mass. It's such a beautiful chance for us to quit saying things for memory (and admittedly, for me at least, often saying the various responses but not really focusing) and actually think about what, and more importantly, why, we are saying things.
I'm really excited for mass again this weekend to really focus on the Eucharistic prayers. For some reason, it was hard for me to catch last week what they were saying. I could tell they were saying changes, but couldn't quite make them out (possibly because both the bishop and priest were saying it together). I had my missal with me, but I really love watching that part, so I didn't want to start fumbling with my missal. I'll have to make sure I sit close again this Sunday.
We (as RCIA sponsors and candidates/catechumens) sat in reserved seating at the front of the church, which was really nice. We typically sit a little closer than the middle of the church on Sundays, but I could tell I was better able to focus sitting so close, which definitely helped me enjoy the changes even more. You know, not as many opportunities to look at the precious babies in the pews around me. It was also nice because I thought about how special it was for this year's catechumens/candidates that they don't have to feel out of place anymore- they are learning just like we are!
Slightly off topic, but it was interesting to see Steven get blessed by the Bishop. The priests always put their hand on his head (and the EM's seem to not know what to do with him lol) but the bishop put his hand on Steven's wrist. Speaking of the bishop, I wonder if his alter servers have to travel with him? It seems like your average alter server wouldn't know what to do since they don't ever have to carry the mitre or the crozier. We noticed they were teens while the average Sacred Heart server is probably 10-12 and wondered if his have to be older so they can drive to where he is at!
Back on topic. Our church did a really good job of preparing us. We had already been doing the singing for about two months and they would slowly incorporate more things. So all that was different for us was the responses and word changes, not the singing. Even though the transition was really that smooth, I'm sure it would have been much more chaotic if they had changed everything at once. I certainly appreciated the practice and the sneak peaks of what was to come.
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4- Precious babies doing adorable things always gets me distracted in mass too! I just have to wave at them and make silly faces.
ReplyDelete5- I don't know if this is how all Bishops do it but our Bishop always had one guy travel with him and he would be in charge of instructing the servers on how to do the different things or just doing them himself.
7- Your Saturday sounds great! I use Creighton and just love it, so I hope it goes well for you. Plus cupcakes, crafts, and overall Christmas fun...I'm jealous. :)
Creighton is fabulous! Have fun with all the stickers. Enjoy your special dinner out.
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