questions

[Guest rosylane]

I recently went to mass and have several questions regarding the service. I didn't have time to talk with anyone after the service because the person I was with needed to leave.

When the priest says "peace be with you" and the congragation responds "and also with you," why do you raise you hands up? (I also noticed that during the Lord's prayer they were lifted a second time)

I noticed that there were no Bibles. Why aren't there any Bibles if that is the Word of God?

Why aren't non-Catholics supposed to partake in communion?

Why are there two banners on either side of the cross?

Why is Jesus' body look unscathed on the cross?

Why is the congragation so far from the priest?

Why can't anyone complete the seven sacriments?

What is the reason for the attire that the priest wears?

Why do you do the sign of the cross (in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit)?

What is the significance of Holy Water?

[Pio Nono]

JMJk
11/ 7 - Thirty-second Monday

rosylane,

I'll see what I can't do. : Here goes:

1. I've never heard of hands being lifted at the response, "And also with you." During the Our Father, though, it is called praying in the [i]orans[/i] position, likened to how people prayed in the early Church.

2. There are no Bibles because we don't need the whole Bible at the Mass; oftentimes there are Missals provided which have the various readings and prayers in them. However, in Catholic thought, the readings aren't just meant to be read, they are first meant to be heard.

3. Non-Catholics can't receive communion because they're not [i]in[/i] communion with us. We should all pray for Christian unity.

4. That perhaps was a decoration peculiar to the parish you attended; however, it could be representative of the two thieves who hung on either side of Our Lord.

5. That's an artistic choice, typical of Western European Catholicism.

6. This is a deep theological issue; essentially, the congregation sits at a distance from the priest because he is entering the sanctuary to offer prayers and sacrifice for us. As such, he is "set apart" in order to perform his ministry.

7. In Catholic thought, the sacraments are precisely what the Church says they are. As a result, we layfolk are limited to one of the sacraments because the Church has so deigned. This isn't a cop-out, though - Christ gave the sacraments to the Church with the command to bind and loose. The Church has discerned through the ages, though, that these are proper to the ordained ministers.

8. It's symbolic. Here goes - he wears an alb as a symbol of his baptism (all Christians used to wear this at Mass), his cincture (a rope around his waist) represents chastity, his stole (band of cloth around his neck) represents the authority of Christ, with which he speaks, and his chasuble (the exterior robe) is a symbol of the charity of Jesus.

9. This comes from the book of Revelation, when Christians used to place a sign upon their foreheads indicating their baptism. That has developed into signing one's whole body as a symbol of fully embracing the cross of Christ Jesus.

10. Holy water has a twofold function - one, as a reminder of our baptism, and two, as a vessel of God's grace that washes away sin and wards off evil. There's a whole theology behind this kind of thing, called a "sacramental".

Hope this helps.

Yours,
Pio Nono