However, Cantemus is not your only option. The order of Mass is also available at the beginning of the blue plastic-covered song books, and in that version you have handy little figures that show if you should be standing, sitting or kneeling during that part of the Mass.
The first Mass that I attended in Finland was in English, on a freezing dark winter evening. After I settled, I started remembering my “good days” of going to Mass daily. So I started attending Finnish Mass without knowing any Finnish. It was not easy at the beginning, when I used to pray in my own language (Spanish) as I listened to the Finnish. As a new academic year is starting, I decided to write this guide for all the people who are new in this country, to make it easier for you to follow the Mass in Finnish. And I seriously encourage you go to weekday Mass, because even if you do not know that much Finnish, you can always learn! The Order of Mass. In most parishes in Finland, there are red* books called Cantemus available at the back of the church. At the beginning of the book there is a complete order of the Mass and the end, you'll find a simpler one in Finnish (as in the photo above).
However, Cantemus is not your only option. The order of Mass is also available at the beginning of the blue plastic-covered song books, and in that version you have handy little figures that show if you should be standing, sitting or kneeling during that part of the Mass.
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After three long-distance trips during the summer, I am finally 100% here (in my heart!). Now that the winter is coming, I am also back. This time I want to write about the best Finnish course. The Lord has blessed me to live in Finland for almost three years. I have made lots of friends here and met interesting people in my daily life. Nevertheless, like any other foreigner in Finland, I am no exception and I also struggle to learn Finnish. (Oh, I thought it was enough to learn svenska - Swedish!) Having already taken Finnish Level One, this year I started with the jatkokurssi - continuation course. But, strangely enough, I do not feel the course is as challenging: many of the words I knew already and I also didn't find it that difficult to conjugate cases. What happened?! It's as if I had taken some extra courses already!
I do not know how many of you heard about the Nordic Youth Meeting that took place in the city of Vadstena in Sweden (the town where our dear St Bridget founded her order's first convent) in September. This meeting was related with the World Youth Day, and it aimed to gather the youth from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland.
Is there any way to hide a mountain under a cloth or an elephant into a fridge? Of course, there are cases, if the cloth or the fridge is big enough or the mountain or the elephant is small enough. But these situations would not have happened without conditions.
In my observation, in our modern days, we are trying to hide a mountain every day. Which mountain am I talking about? The Love of God. Happy Pentecost! I took part in the vigil at Stella Maris on Saturday, on the Eve of Pentecost Sunday, and the first reading drew my attention:
It has been said that human communication is not very efficient, that listeners only get few per cent of the original message transmitted by the talker. But languages are also tools to proclaim and unite people.
I am quoting from the lyrics of a song that we usually sing in Stella Maris during the youth weekends. I was inspired by today’s Gospel (Matt. 5:43-48): “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you”.
Pope Francis invited us to pray for persecuted Christians recently, but I should really say that I also feel persecuted in my daily life in Finland (or Spain/Europe/everywhere!). We are not persecuted physically, but always, psychologically and spiritually. Did you understand what I mean? I am so disheartened that there are women who are pondering abortion as a right and an opportunity; I am so disappointed that people are creating genders; I am so frustrated I defend the Truth, but people avoid accepting it. A desert? Not the first association that comes to mind when you hear the word Finland? However, for me my recent return to my home country felt like a move into one - the Biblical desert; a place where we are alone, stripped of the comforts and tempted by evils. Bit no need to get anxious, a happy ending follows! as always with the God of Israel who is love through and through and eagerly waits to give us that glass of life giving dehydration!
My stay was a wonderful, life-changing experience. Worship of the living God naturally wells from the daily routine of prayer, work, leisure and shared meals lived out in obedience, poverty and chastity. Well, that is a whole another story. Now I concentrate on the shock that return to “the world” brought about in my life.
Before coming to Finland I just knew that Catholics were a minority. To my surprise, this minority of Catholics in Finland was composed of many cultures and backgrounds, which was a beautiful reflection of the universality of the Catholic Church. During the summer of 2016 a youth festival took place in a Catholic center called Stella Maris. The idea of the festival came from a religious community guided by Father Gianni Sgreva CP, as the result of their continuous prayer for the youth of Finland. The event was extremely especial, and it involved a significant amount of young people from different backgrounds and cultures. Youngsters from different parts of Finland were together in an environment that helped them to share their faith with new friends of similar age, talk about their experiences as Catholics in Finland, clear some of their doubts about the Church, and the most important reestablish their relationship with God or strengthen it. I am extremely thankful to God and all the people involved in this festival, since I never saw a Catholic event in Finland that would gather young people from all over the country. Moreover, this event was specially designed for youngsters, making the spiritual life easy for them. |
5&2This is a blog about being young and Catholic in Finland.
BloggersYiran ChenYiran, or Maria Micaela. Born in China but baptised in Spain (2015), student in Turku. Participant of the Youth Weekends at Stella Maris. Cooking, running and photography are my hobbies.
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