Do This in Memory
​Parish Preparation Programme for First Holy Communion

DATES 2015-2016
17th/18th  October 2015 - Enrolment Sunday

21st/22nd November 2015 - Feast of Christ The King

12/13th December 2015- Third Sunday of Advent

23rd/24th January 2016 - Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

20th/21st February 2016 - Second Sunday of Lent

19th/20th March 2016– Palm Sunday

9th/10th April 2016 – Third Sunday of Easter

29th May 2016 – Feast of Corpus Christi Procession after 11:30am Mass Cloghroe

Do This in Memory Mass Times
 Dripsey: Saturday Vigil 6.15pm
Berrings: Saturday Vigil 7.30pm
Matehy: Sunday 9.30am
Cloghroe: Sunday 11.30am

Some of the beautiful work for our Masses on 20th & 21st November

LEARNING ABOUT
THE MASS WITH 
KATH AND QUMEN
18. THE CREED
After the homily the priest invites us to stand and profess our faith. We do this by saying the Creed. There are two Creeds that can be said at Mass: the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed. The Creed tells us simply what we believe as members of the Church. We stand to show that we are proud to be followers and friends of Jesus.
PRAYER OF THE FAITHFUL
During this time we pray for all our needs, particularly for the Church, the leaders of our country, those who are sick and in need of God’s healing and those who have died. The Prayer of the Faithful is normally spoken by the Minister of the Word on our behalf. At the end of each prayer there is a moment of silence and then the Minister of the Word says: ‘Lord hear us’ or ‘We pray to the Lord’, and we answer: ‘Lord graciously hear us’ or ‘Lord hear our prayer.’
17.   THE HOMILY
We all sit down to listen to what the priest/deacon has to say about the readings we have heard and how we might be able to put this into practice in our everyday lives.  We call this the homily. The priest/deacon normally stands at the ambo to give the homily. At the end of the homily the priest may sit down and we can spend a few minutes in quiet prayer. This time lets us think about what the priest has said and ask God to help us to live as he would want us to

​16.   SEVEN WAYS WE KNOW THE GOSPEL IS IMPORTANT
•  We stand.
•  We sing or say an acclamation to welcome the Gospel.
•  The reading can only be done by the priest or deacon.
•  The priest or deacon greets us again with the same words used at the beginning of  Mass.
•  The priest or deacon makes the sign of the cross four times. First on the Book of the Gospels and then on his forehead, his lips and his breast. We do the same on our foreheads, lips and breast. We do this to remind us that God’s word should always be on our minds, on our lips and in our hearts.
•  At the end of the Gospel the priest/deacon says: ‘The Gospel of the Lord’ and we answer: ‘Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.’
•  The priest/deacon kisses the book.

15.  THE GOSPEL
After the second reading, the Minister of the Word will invite us to stand and greet or welcome the Gospel. Before the Gospel is read we sing or say the Gospel Acclamation. For most of the Church year we greet the Gospel with the word ‘Alleluia’, a joyful song of praise.
The Alleluia is followed by a verse of scripture from the Bible. This verse reminds us of the theme of the Mass and readings. During the season of Lent we do not use the word ‘Alleluia’.
The Gospel stories tell us about Jesus and we hear what he said to his friends and those who came to listen to him. So the reading of the Gospel is different to the other readings. It is the most important part of the Liturgy of the Word.

14. THE READINGS
The Minister of the Word goes to the ambo to read. The first reading is usually from the oldest part of the Bible called the Old Testament. In the Easter Season the first reading comes from the New Testament. The stories that we hear during the first reading are the same stories that Jesus would have heard when he was a child. Some of the stories from the Old Testament are thousands of years old.  They remind us of how long people have been listening to God’s word. They also tell us how much
God loves us. Even though the stories are very old, they still have an important message for us today.
THE PSALMS: The psalms are different from the other readings from the Bible. They were written as poems or songs. There are 150 psalms altogether. Sometimes the psalm is sung.  Between each verse there is a response which we are all invited to say. The psalm allows us to
reflect on the reading that we have just heard.
SECOND READING: This reading always comes from the part of the Bible called the New Testament. The reading is taken from the books that are found directly after the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
OUR RESPONSE TO THE READINGS: At the end of each of the readings the Minister of the Word finishes by saying, ‘The Word of the Lord’ and we all respond with the words, ‘Thanks be to God.’ This is our way of saying thank you to God for these stories which help us to grow together as members of God’s family.

13.  THE AMBO
The Word of God is so important for us that there is a special place in God’s house from which it is read. We call this the ambo.  The  only  time  that  the  ambo  is  used  is  for  the Readings,  the  Gospel,  the  Homily  and  the  Prayer  of  the Faithful.
MINISTER OF THE WORD
The person who reads at Mass is called the Minister of the Word. They are people who have volunteered to read at Mass. They will have had to do some training so that they are able to do the best job they can. Their job is very important.  The readings at Mass come from the Bible. They are the Word of God, and so we can say that we hear God speaking to us through the voice of the Minister of the Word.
12. THE LITURGY OF THE WORD
This part of the Mass is called the Liturgy of the Word. It might be helpful to think of this first part of the Liturgy of the Word as the time when we listen to the story of God’s love for us as it is written in the Bible. We sit down to listen just like we would when we listen to any story. During the first part of the Liturgy of the Word we usually listen to three readings from the Bible:
•  The First Reading is usually taken from the Old Testament
•  The Psalm is a poem or song from the Book of Psalms
•  The Second Reading is taken from the New Testament.
11. GLORIA
The Gloria is a very old prayer of praise and thanksgiving. The first few lines will sound familiar because it was the song sung by the angels when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. We do not pray the Gloria during the seasons of Advent and Lent.
Opening Prayer
After the Gloria the priest will invite us to pray. The prayer begins in silence. This gives us time to talk to God in our hearts. We might want to thank God for something good that has happened or we might want to ask God to take care of something that we are worried about.
Then the priest takes all our prayers and offers them to God. The words of the Opening Prayer differ from Sunday to Sunday and reflect the theme of the Mass. We respond by saying ‘Amen’. Amen means that we believe that whatever God does is OK with us.
10.  INTRODUCTORY RITES: THE PENITENTIAL ACT
This time in the Mass offers us an opportunity to prepare to receive Eucharist by reflecting on the things that we might have done during the past week for which we need forgiveness.  We are reminded that God always loves us. One of the ways in which God shows this love is by always forgiving us for those times when we haven’t been as good as we might have been.
There are different kinds of prayers that the priest can use at this part of the Mass. These prayers do two things. They help us to remember the times when we haven’t been as good as we might have been. More importantly they remind us of God’s love for us. Sometimes the priest may replace the Penitential Act with the blessing and sprinkling of water as a reminder of our Baptism.
9. ​MASS BEGINS
The opening parts of the Mass are called the Introductory Rites. When the priest arrives at the altar he kisses it. This is a sign of respect. He then goes to the special chair which is near the altar. We call this the ‘Presider’s Chair’. The priest leads us in prayer from this chair. We all make the Sign of the Cross together. This is the way we begin almost all our prayers. The priest then says, ‘The Lord be with you’ and we answer by saying, ‘And with your spirit.’ This is a special way of greeting us and reminds us that God is always with us. The priest then introduces the Penitential Act.
8. WHAT THE PRIEST WEARS
The special clothes that the priest wears for Mass are called vestments. There are three different pieces which he needs to put on. Over his ordinary clothes the priest puts on a white or cream coloured tunic called an alb. Then he puts on a long piece of coloured cloth which looks like a scarf and is called a stole. Over the alb and the stole he puts on his
chasuble. The colour of the stole and the chasuble is very important. It tells us what season we are in or what special occasion we are celebrating in the Church year. There are four main colours worn during the year: green, purple, red and white.
7. HOW DOES MASS BEGIN?
Mass usually begins with a song or hymn andif we know the song we should join in the singing. The words of the song might be on a hymn sheet or book on your seat. When this song begins we know that it is time to stand up. We stand to greet the priest who will lead us in prayer; in this way we are also greeting Jesus who is present among us.
The Opening Procession
Mass always begins with a procession. There are different kinds of processions. Sometimes there are lots of people; sometimes it is the priest on his own. The procession might come from the front door or from the sacristy. Usually the procession includes the priest and the
servers. In some places the people who are going to read and help to give out communion will also be in the procession. You might see one of the readers carry the book from which the Gospel will be read. This book is called the Book of the Gospels.
6. ARRIVING IN THE CHURCH
Usually when we come into God’s house we bow our heads or go down
on one knee. This is called ‘genuflection’. It shows respect and love for Jesus. We genuflect or bow in front of the tabernacle, the special place where Jesus is present at all times. The tabernacle may be behind the altar or to one side of it. There will be a red light near the tabernacle, called the Sanctuary Lamp. This light tells us that Jesus, the Blessed Sacrament, is present inside. The Blessed Sacrament is another name for Jesus.
5.PREPARING THE CHURCH FOR MASS
The sacristan is a very important person in church. He or she opens and closes the building, makes sure that it is warm and welcoming, prepares the altar, lights the candles,  puts  out  the  necessary  books  and  things
needed for the Mass and makes sure that there are enough candles, wine and altar breads for Mass. 
In most parishes there are people who look after the cleaning of the church. They also make sure that there are flowers to decorate the altar. They may put up the crib at Christmas and decorate the church building for special occasions.
4. WHO DOES WHAT AT MASS (2)?
At every Mass you will notice that some members of the assembly have different jobs. We call these jobs ‘ministries’. Let’s look at some more of them:
THE COLLECTORS: The people who collect our gift of money during Mass.
THE MINISTER OF THE EUCHARIST: The person who helps to give out communion at Mass.  They sometimes bring communion to those who are unable to come to Mass because they are sick.
MUSIC: Many parishes have choirs – groups of people who sing at Mass. Their singing helps the whole assembly to pray and we are all encouraged to join with the choir. Some parishes may have people who lead the assembly in singing. These are called cantors.
3. WHO DOES WHAT AT MASS (1)?
At every Mass you will notice that some members of the assembly have different jobs. We call these jobs ‘ministries’. Let’s look at some of them:

THE PRIEST: At Mass the priest leads us and encourages us to play our part in the celebration. How does he do this? He:
• Leads us in prayer
• Invites us to listen to God’s word
• Helps us to understand and make sense of the Word of God in our daily lives through his homily
• Takes our gifts, the bread and wine, offers them to God and prays that by the power of the Holy Spirit they will become the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

THE SERVERS: Servers are normally boys andgirls who have received their First Communion. Their job is to help the priest during Mass. They can carry books, bring water and wine, wash the priest’s hands and ring bells.

MINISTER OF THE WORD: Even though we sometimes call this person the reader, the proper name is ‘Minister of the Word’. The readings of Mass come from the Bible. They are the Word of God and so we can say that we hear God speaking to us through the voice of the Minister of the Word.
2. WHAT DO WE DO AT MASS?
There is a special name for all the people gathered together for Mass. They are called the Assembly. Everyone in the Assembly helps to make the Mass a celebration of God’s love for us by:
•  Joining in the prayers
•  Standing, kneeling and sitting at the right times
•  Singing
•  Listening carefully
•  Offering our gifts to be shared
•  Coming to the table to receive communion or a blessing.
In other words, we are all part of the action! In Church language this is called ‘full, active and conscious participation’.
1. WHY GO TO MASS?
When you were baptised you became a member of God’s family and we call that the Church. You might think the church is just a building but the Church is also the name we give to the people who gather in the building.  Without the people, the Church would be just another building.  One of the most important things we do as part of God's family is go to Mass.