The Mass moves in two great halves. First the Mass of the Catechumens — the part built around God’s word. After the priest and servers enter, they begin at the foot of the altar with the Prayers at the Foot (including Psalm 42, “I will go unto the altar of God”) and the Confiteor. Then the priest ascends, reads the Introit, and the Kyrie, the Gloria (on Sundays and feasts), and the Collect follow; then the Epistle, the chants between the readings, and the Gospel, often a sermon, and on Sundays the Creed.

Then the Mass of the Faithful — the sacrifice itself. At the Offertory the priest offers the bread and wine in prayers that name the “spotless host.” The Preface lifts into the Sanctus, and then the church falls silent for the Canon — the ancient Eucharistic prayer, prayed in a low voice, at the heart of which the priest speaks Christ’s own words and the bread and wine become His Body and Blood. The bells ring; the Host and Chalice are lifted; this is the summit.

From there the rite moves toward Communion: the Pater Noster, the Agnus Dei, and the faithful kneeling at the rail to receive on the tongue. The priest takes the ablutions, reads the Postcommunion and the day’s final prayers, gives the blessing, and reads the Last Gospel — the opening of St. John’s Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word” — as a closing benediction.

Two things explain most of the “why can’t I tell what is happening?” First, much of the most important part — the Canon — is prayed silently, on purpose: the silence is reverence, not absence. Second, the priest faces the altar with you, so the action happens ahead of you rather than toward you. Once you know the arc, the silences stop feeling like gaps and start feeling like room to pray.