R
runningdude
Guest
After reading through the sometimes heated conversations about the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite, and the Ordinary Form of the Latin Rite, I would like to offer my perspective as a twenty-two year old who grew up only vaguely knowing that the holy sacrifice of mass was once celebrated in Latin according to a most ancient of liturgies.
Now, I’ve been to Mass, celebrated in the Ordinary Form, literally ever since I was born (as cradle Catholic as it comes!), and from what I could tell, our parish was always very reverent. The first priest when I was born would even spend greater than an hour on the celebration, following the GIRM to a T with all the pauses for meditation, etc. From my experience this was how I believed that the Mass was always celebrated.
I’ve read people disparage the practice of holding of the congregation holding hands during the Our Father, and I had a hard time not chuckling, because I was so mad when my parish discontinued this practice, because they were changing the liturgy! I even evoked the Orthodox faith, saying how there liturgy never changed, why is ours! Growing up, I always found this to be the climax of the mass, joining hands to pray together before our Lord in form of the Host. It was how I always thought it was supposed to be.
Our parish, which I’ve been blessed to be located only up the block from my house, always celebrated the holy sacrifice of mass with reverent music, organ based music (even if just an electric organ due to prohibitive costs). It may not have been ancient Gregorian chant, but I wasn’t really aware a more ancient music existed. And when our new music director started a church choir, the hymns, especially the Gloria, were down right magical (in a reverent, not-at-all-witchy kind of way
).
Going to college, which I just graduated, was an interesting experience. We had both Student Masses, and the Permanent Parishioner Masses (seperated by times of celebration, not really by attendance). I found the student masses to be down right beautiful, and the regular masses almost painful! The dyconomi was striking.
Now my only beef really was with the choice of music for the 10 o’clock mass, which was held in the Student Center, as opposed to the Chapel. We played folksy music, and the version of the Our Father we sang had too many “hear our prayers” thrown in. I will NOT presume to claim that there was anything sacrilege about the mass, when my schedule dictated I come to this mass, but I did avoid going in favor of the student masses whenever possible!
The student masses, as I said, were so reverent. The chapel was arranged in one of those modern alter on the side configurations, but it was suitably adorn for the celebration of the sacrament, and I’d even seen pictures of the renovation chapel, and I think the new configuration was a vast improvement.
Quite possibly because only truly faithful students would be bothered to attend Mass while in college, everything was done mostly to the book, except a few changes to the order of things that might have to do with the Jesuits running the the chapel. A student choir, accompanied by real air-piped organ, sang more-traditional style hymns at every mass, and the only problem was the nightmare that was distributing the Holy Eucharist from the semi-circular seating! As a civil engineering student, studying traffic management though, this seemed to be a problem of planning, not a lack of reverence
.
Reading through the forums here, I’ve gained an appreciation for the esteem people hold the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite, especially in light of the terrible abuses I’ve read about, but thankfully, never experienced personally. Having read so much about it, my heart burns to attend one myself in the not to distant future! However, I thought I should share my experience as a young person growing up only knowing the Ordinary Form of the Latin Rite, and having my heart burn just as intensely watching our priest celebrate and consecrate the Eucharistic elements with due reverence!
Thank-you and God Bless!
Now, I’ve been to Mass, celebrated in the Ordinary Form, literally ever since I was born (as cradle Catholic as it comes!), and from what I could tell, our parish was always very reverent. The first priest when I was born would even spend greater than an hour on the celebration, following the GIRM to a T with all the pauses for meditation, etc. From my experience this was how I believed that the Mass was always celebrated.
I’ve read people disparage the practice of holding of the congregation holding hands during the Our Father, and I had a hard time not chuckling, because I was so mad when my parish discontinued this practice, because they were changing the liturgy! I even evoked the Orthodox faith, saying how there liturgy never changed, why is ours! Growing up, I always found this to be the climax of the mass, joining hands to pray together before our Lord in form of the Host. It was how I always thought it was supposed to be.
Our parish, which I’ve been blessed to be located only up the block from my house, always celebrated the holy sacrifice of mass with reverent music, organ based music (even if just an electric organ due to prohibitive costs). It may not have been ancient Gregorian chant, but I wasn’t really aware a more ancient music existed. And when our new music director started a church choir, the hymns, especially the Gloria, were down right magical (in a reverent, not-at-all-witchy kind of way
).Going to college, which I just graduated, was an interesting experience. We had both Student Masses, and the Permanent Parishioner Masses (seperated by times of celebration, not really by attendance). I found the student masses to be down right beautiful, and the regular masses almost painful! The dyconomi was striking.
Now my only beef really was with the choice of music for the 10 o’clock mass, which was held in the Student Center, as opposed to the Chapel. We played folksy music, and the version of the Our Father we sang had too many “hear our prayers” thrown in. I will NOT presume to claim that there was anything sacrilege about the mass, when my schedule dictated I come to this mass, but I did avoid going in favor of the student masses whenever possible!
The student masses, as I said, were so reverent. The chapel was arranged in one of those modern alter on the side configurations, but it was suitably adorn for the celebration of the sacrament, and I’d even seen pictures of the renovation chapel, and I think the new configuration was a vast improvement.
Quite possibly because only truly faithful students would be bothered to attend Mass while in college, everything was done mostly to the book, except a few changes to the order of things that might have to do with the Jesuits running the the chapel. A student choir, accompanied by real air-piped organ, sang more-traditional style hymns at every mass, and the only problem was the nightmare that was distributing the Holy Eucharist from the semi-circular seating! As a civil engineering student, studying traffic management though, this seemed to be a problem of planning, not a lack of reverence
.Reading through the forums here, I’ve gained an appreciation for the esteem people hold the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite, especially in light of the terrible abuses I’ve read about, but thankfully, never experienced personally. Having read so much about it, my heart burns to attend one myself in the not to distant future! However, I thought I should share my experience as a young person growing up only knowing the Ordinary Form of the Latin Rite, and having my heart burn just as intensely watching our priest celebrate and consecrate the Eucharistic elements with due reverence!
Thank-you and God Bless!