Personal Narrative: My Experience In A Catholic Church

The purpose of this paper is to discuss a service that I got to attend that was different from my own religious tradition. I decided to go with my chosen topic because to be honest I had never experienced or thought to experience a different type of church service other than the one I grew up in. I grew up in a Christian home and attended a non-denominational Christian church on a regular basis. I just never felt the need to experience something that was different. So I decided to attend a mass at a Catholic church. I had been to weddings in a Catholic church and even funerals with a Catholic involvement but not an actual mass. To fulfill the requirements of my project I decided to look up a church that I see quite often because it is on

I was a little lost when I arrived because mass was not held in the big church that I thought it was going to be in. It was in a little chapel to the side of the big church and a sign on the door read “daily mass held here”. I walked into a quiet, dim room that had several other people sitting quietly and waiting for it to start. There were stained glass windows, pictures of Jesus, the Virgin Mary and candles all throughout the room, and a cup filled with water by the door so people could get it and do the sign of the cross upon entering. There was also the crucifix at the front of the room. Several other people walked in after me and I noticed that before they walked into the aisles to take their seats a few of them knelt and did the sign of the cross. I am a little familiar with the sign of the cross because I have seen it done at funerals and weddings. Right when it was time someone started off by reciting what seemed like a prayer. It was a lot of repeating. There was a lot of reciting of different prayers. Some that I had heard the words of before such as Daily Bread. This was a similarity because we have also read the scripture of the Daily Bread. It seems that this prayer or scripture is recited at every mass. What I noticed is that a different person throughout the room started each of the different prayers that were being said. Someone would lead and the other people in the room would repeat and follow after them.

It gave me the chance to see how other people worship or fulfill their spiritual need. I was able to see and get a better understanding of the things that go on. It seems that we all share the same goals. To be good people, listen and receive the Word of God and to go out and spread to other people what we have been