매튜의 한국어 연습 블로그

I debated posting this because I certainly would never want to push any religious agenda on anyone. However, I think that anyone in a similar situation that I was in might benefit from this so here goes.

In August of 2009 I started attending Catholic services with my wife in Korea. As a cradle Catholic, she regularly attended service and knew an impressively fair amount of Catholic terms in English but could not effectively explain their meaning to me. I got frustrated because I never attended Mass before and that in and of itself was a big change let alone the language barrier which was in full gear, believe me. I couldn't even keep up with the standing, sitting or kneeling let alone the long chants, songs and impossibly fancied message somewhere in the middle.

Not only that, but it seemed that no matter which 성당 we attended, there was something different at each one. Although there are fundamental things that are found in all Catholic churches across the world, I really struggled to follow along until I noticed a younger couple holding something titled "메일미사"; a type of monthly printout of all readings. After finding out that they could be obtained for about a dollar at the office of any Catholic church, I was relieved to have at least something to read along with. I followed along as best as I could but realized that the Order of Mass jumps around from the beginning of the book that is fairly static to the specific day of the month reading which of course differs daily. To make matters even more complicated, some cathedrals sung certain parts while others chanted. The only real consistent thing I found is that all pews were uncomfortable, confessions were heard before Mass and I was clearly a fish out of water.

Nevertheless, being madly in love with my wife as married couples are, I trooped along until a few things started becoming familiar. When we moved to America this year, I vowed to create my own printout with the order of our local church, which just so happens to have a vibrant Korean service and congregation. After countless rough drafts, revisions with pencil and paper, I think I have a functional draft. There are likely spelling or translation mistakes to be found but it is pretty much what one can expect to experience from a Korean Catholic Mass.

The order that I have made is specific to our little parish but can be easily modified to fit any 성덩. The page numbers, however, are aligned to the somewhat bilingual 한영매일미사 which is printed by the North American Conference of Priests for Korean Ministry. Their website is under construction at this time so email might be a better way to contact them for those interested. An asterisk or blank space signifies that the contents differ from day to day or that they are not found in the 메일미사. Two quarter notes signify a song. What is posted below is a sloppy copy and paste job from the original which can be downloaded and edited to meet your needs.

Hope this helps!