Quiero Mas Mass!

So last Sunday, I was lucky enough to find a group of people who wanted to attend Catholic mass.  It's something that I've always wanted to got to, so I was really excited when I heard a group was going.  We were lucky to find one that was in English so that we would at least understand what they were saying.  Here are some thoughts that I wrote down during the it:
First, sang creeds with the Bishop
woman read a passage from 2 Deuteronomy
Man read from Romans

The chapel is beautiful.  But I have this overwhelming feeling of solitude, pressure, and isolation.  I feel like Heavenly Father is far away, rather than closer by coming to church.  The doctrines  for the most part are all in similitude with my beliefs.  They have a different idea the trinity, but they believe he has the same characteristics such as that he is kind and merciful.  One thing that I didn't understand was that God is a "communion of persons".  Maybe that the trinity is one being/ essence?  There's a lot of motions and involvement of the congregation.  I do think that we could learn a thing or two about reverence from them.  Their countenances are very solemn and focused.  Their hymns have only one-part melodies.  It made me appreciate how beautiful our hymns are.  

Even though this church is very different than ours, I think that it really grasps the doctrine of subjecting yourself to the will of our Savior. 

It was really interesting sitting through this service with a statue of Jesus hanging on the cross right in front of me.  It made me feel really sad.  It does help to remember Christ's suffering in a very literal way though.  I think sometimes it's hard for us to really imagine and put ourselves into Christ's suffering.   Well, that's all I've really got.  It was a very neat experience.  I like learning to appreciate other peoples' beliefs.  But in the words of my Survey of World Religions Professor, Keller, " Learning about other people's beliefs will bring you closer to your own."  Being here in Jerusalem has testified to me of the truth of that statement!  I am so grateful for the wonderful lessons that I am able to learn in the Holy Land!

After mass holding the Hymn book

Notre Dame Center:  Hotel that has a chapel in it where we went to Mass.