Breaking Bread and Barriers

A day after arriving and trekking jetlagged through the unique city of Hamburg, our sleep schedules seemed to have adjusted. It was now time to enjoy our free Sunday morning. After attending the must-see Hamburg fish market, a group of us decided to find a Catholic cathedral and attend mass. Originally, this “group” consisted of just about four of us, but right before Myers rushed with us to the train station to buy our tickets, the group grew. The full roster of mass-goers included Allyson, Luke, Grace, Ashleigh, Mia, Kelley, Andrew, and myself. The night before, however, the question was “where are we actually going to go to mass?” Prior to the trip, I researched some cathedrals in the cities where we would be staying. I took note of the ones that looked the most beautiful, not even worrying about the language of the mass being that much of a factor. The cathedral that truly appeared to pop out to me was St. Mary’s Cathedral. Others were on board and, with some help from Mia, we were all set and the eight of us were exiting the S Bahn at our destination stop.

We navigated around the central quarter of St. Georg within the Hamburg-Mitte borough of the city, and we quickly found the cathedral we were looking for. To our surprise, the right tower of St. Mary’s identical sister towers was covered with scaffolding and a white sheet and undergoing construction. This was not going to stop us from walking in. As we approached, we could hear the organ playing, mass had already started! That was perfectly fine though, until we opened the doors and heard that the lyrics were in German. Once we found a pew to sit in, the first reading began… it was in German. All German. The eight of us did not understand a word. The Our Father and the Eucharistic prayer, which are said at every Roman Catholic mass, were a bit easier for us to follow along and translate a few words and phrases in our heads. If we thought about it, everyone was there for one main universal reason. Aside from visiting the crypt church, speaking to the priest, and taking in all the beauty of the interior, receiving communion with a German community was very special. A unique aspect of Catholic mass is that each day the same readings, gospel, and prayers for communion are read, no matter what language it is in. We would not mind attending an English mass on our free Sunday in Berlin, but if it is in German again though, the only word we will have to know how to say is “Amen.”