Part II - The Mass: Making An Entrance!

Today we thought we'd continue our series about the Mass. By doing it today you can practice so that you are ready for this Sunday's Mass!

In Part 1 we talked about why humans go to Mass. Today we want to talk about the 2 things you do when you go into the church before Mass even starts.

Holy Water
At the back of every Catholic church you will find Holy Water. Sometimes it is in a little dish attached to the wall (just inside the door),

sometimes it's in a stand alone "dish"

and sometimes it looks like a fountain. 

Dip your fingers into the water, that has been blessed by the priest, then make the sign of the cross. You do this to remind yourself of your baptism, when you first became part of God's great big family.

Genuflecting
Tallulah, do you know what the next thing is that the humans do?

Well Cloë I LOVE to greet people and say hello when we go visiting, so it must be say hi to Jesus when you arrive!?! (That's me saying hi to our granny.)

That's right Tallulah, but maybe people should not be quite as boisterous as you are - :)

This is how to say hello to Jesus. Before you sit down in the pew...

Ha!Ha!Ha! does that mean it's a stinky chair Cloë.

Very funny Tallulah. The benches or seats in the church are called pews.

As I was saying, before sitting down it is important to properly say hello to Jesus by genuflecting.  Watch this little video to know how to properly genuflect.

Hey Cloë, I sometimes see humans making a little curtsey or they genuflect to the pew! And sometimes they don't do anything. They must not have watched this video.

So Tallulah, do you know how you know where Jesus is in the church?

I do Cloë! It's actually very easy, you just look for the red light, which is called the Sanctuary Light!

That light always hangs above the Tabernacle, which is the "box" where we keep the Eucharist, which of course is how we receive Jesus.

Can you find the sanctuary light and the Tabernacle in this photo?

 

Well this seems like a lot Cloë, my brain feels like it is going to bust!

Tallulah it's actually very simple, when you go into the church you dip your fingers in the Holy Water, you bless yourself by making the sign of the cross, you say hi to Jesus by genuflecting to the tabernacle. Easy Peasy!

See you at Mass!

Cloë & Tallulah

Parents here is a neat video about how to get your children prepared to go to Mass.