I think you’ve found one of my pet peeves without even looking for it!

All the noise after Mass is over is horrendous. It drives me crazy and I don’t have far to go! I try to pray my thanksgiving after Mass and sometimes the noise is so distracting I want to jump up and yell “Silence!” It just shows the general lack of reverence for God’s house that permeates this generation. I remember going to a Catholic Church as a child and being amazed at the stillness and peace found in the silence. Now, please, it is quieter in the gym after the game lets out!

What really amazes me is this: Technically for about fifteen minutes after receiving Communion you are in Communion with God – it would be wise to talk to Him at this point and try to listen to what He might be saying. This is theologically supported by all Church teachings and Communion with God in the Eucharist is supposed to be the source and summit of our Catholic Faith, but no body wants to either talk to God in prayerful reverence after Mass or listen to hear His voice in the silence. They’d rather start talking to their neighbors, the priest, the choir and whoever else might pop up at that particular time. Applause? Sure go for it! Aren’t we all supposed to clap when the “SHOW” is over? Actions speak louder than words. What all this noise in Church says to me, saddens me. Just know that while you guys n gals are having those lively conversations after Mass, I’m still on my knees offering a thanksgiving prayer for myself and for all of you. But ya know, I think God would rather hear from you Himself! ” title=”Confused” />

After Mass my wife, daughter, and I always spend a few minutes praying for family and friends that have past. I would find applause awfully distracting and frustrating.

Hi everyone! Ready for Palm Sunday? This Lent went by fast!

In response to the question of where did I hear about this “fifteen minutes” or so that we’re actually in Communion with God in our reception of the Eucharist, I’ve heard this recently on EWTN’s Web of Faith show and also on Catholic Answers. When I went through RCIA is when I first learned this and at that point decided not to waste a minute of it.

When I receive the Blessed Sacrament I talk to God. I might pray a formal prayer, like the Prayer Before The Crucifix or the Anima Christi or (more likely) I complain about all that isn’t right in my day or my sins or what I’m working on in me to change and ask Him to help me – ie: stop being critical or stop smoking or stop picking on folks, be kinder to the grocery clerk, pay my bills on time etc… Once in while I settle down and actually get myself quiet enough to listen, but since I’m more of a “talker” I’m usually rattling on. I ask for blessings for folks and causes and pray for the unborn , etc, etc, etc…. I always end my fifteen minutes with a Prayer of Thanksgiving, either one I’ve learned or one in a prayer book or the one I made up.

I hate having my “alone time” with God interrupted. I don’t really want to talk to my neighbors at this time. Maybe I’m nuts; maybe I’m a snob for Jesus, maybe I’m okay this way. Who knows? I do know one thing: Jesus and I have had some really special moments through these years in Communion and I’ve got an idea of Who I’ll meet when I get to Heaven.

You know I heard this good one liner: If you don’t pray, when you die and face God, He’ll say who are you?

I think the mind set behind those who feel compelled to applaud the choir or the priest or anything else they liked/approved of, is something like this: We’ve come here to be entertained and whoever we’re clapping for has won our approval. Or something like that. Whatever. I have a problem with folks coming to Mass to “get something out of it.” I prefer to focus on the fact that I’m there to worship and adore my God and give Him as much of my attention and participation as is possible for me on any given day. I think of Mass as more of a giving thing rather than a getting thing. Does this makes sense? I hope so.

Peace and all good,

Gail

P.S. The theology behind these Fifteen Minutes or so that we are actually in Communion with God has to do with the length of time it takes for the accidents of trasubstantiation to be digested by our bodies, the Host and the Precious Blood (if both or either are recieved) For as long as these accidents remain, we are in the Real Presence of our God. It can get complicated and I’m no Theologist.

Here’s a little blurb I found in the online Catholic Encyclopedia at New Advent:

“The permanence of Presence, however, is limited to an interval of time of which the beginning is determined by the instant of Consecration and the end by the corruption of the Eucharistic Species. If the Host has become moldy or the contents of the Chalice sour, Christ has discontinued His Presence therein. Since in the process of corruption those elementary substances return which correspond to the peculiar nature of the changed accidents, the law of the indestructibility of matter, notwithstanding the miracle of the Eucharistic conversion, remains in force without any interruption.”

Wouldn’t hurt you to spend three days there either!! LOL!!

My parish doesn’t clap after Mass, but at the youth mass, the hubbub that comes up at the end can get pretty intense. We’re also the clapping, Sign-Language-ing type. I find that it doesn’t distract from my worship, it adds to it–but I was never raised with the idea of church as a Very Solemn Event, so it isn’t for me. With great <i>importance</i>, yes, and sometimes great weight, but not a time for silence. Different strokes for different folks ” title=”Wink” /> it works for some of us.

Although in some of my research on social conditions in the Middle Ages, I came across fourteenth-century letters from harried bishops informing abbots that their monks could only recieve the Eucharist once a week because they got so excited (and rowdy) in the process that they disturbed the other worshippers. So I gather a lack of quietude at Mass isn’t a particularly recent phenomenon.