Attended my 1st "EF"mass today

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skinny_pumpkin

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The parish I chose offers both the NO and the EF. Since the NO was scheduled 1st,I was expecting a light turnout for the EF mass that was much later. I was 15 min late. What a mistake. The place was packed!.. I came in at the reading of the Epistle (which was read in english, as well as the Gospel, which I appreciated). It was all very pious and exceeded my expectations. I saw no place in the architecture for an alter that allowed the priest to face the congregation.
It was beautiful, to say the least. I was glad to have been there. I have some questions. There was a "hymn"sung at the end in english, from what I could gather, it was praise to the Theotokos, Mary.
Also, after the priest left, many people left, but many stayed,some kneeling. Were they praying the rosary, or were the praying prayers that traditionally follow communion?

SP
 
skinny_pumpkin said:
The parish I chose offers both the NO and the EF. Since the NO was scheduled 1st,I was expecting a light turnout for the EF mass that was much later. I was 15 min late. What a mistake. The place was packed!.. I came in at the reading of the Epistle (which was read in english, as well as the Gospel, which I appreciated). It was all very pious and exceeded my expectations. I saw no place in the architecture for an alter that allowed the priest to face the congregation.
It was beautiful, to say the least. I was glad to have been there. I have some questions. There was a "hymn"sung at the end in english, from what I could gather, it was praise to the Theotokos, Mary.
Also, after the priest left, many people left, but many stayed,some kneeling. Were they praying the rosary, or were the praying prayers that traditionally follow communion?

SP
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There aren’t any special private prayers prescribed for after Mass. It’s not unusual to find people after an EF staying a little longer to pray, especially if there is no excessive talking and socializing, though I have attended some OF where they pray the rosary. Glad you had a successful experience at your first EF Mass. Many more to follow, we hope. 👍
 
Well, an organ was playing at the end and when I left, I would guess that at least 50% stayed to pray, or something…and while the priest was greeting people outside of the Church.
 
skinny_pumpkin said:
The parish I chose offers both the NO and the EF. Since the NO was scheduled 1st,I was expecting a light turnout for the EF mass that was much later. I was 15 min late. What a mistake. The place was packed!.. I came in at the reading of the Epistle (which was read in english, as well as the Gospel, which I appreciated). It was all very pious and exceeded my expectations. I saw no place in the architecture for an alter that allowed the priest to face the congregation.
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Glad you had such a wonderful experience. 👍
It was beautiful, to say the least. I was glad to have been there. I have some questions. There was a "hymn"sung at the end in english, from what I could gather, it was praise to the Theotokos, Mary.
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Could very well be. There are many wonderful Marian Hymns and since May is traditionally a Month in which we honor Our Lady the hymn seems appropriate.
Also, after the priest left, many people left, but many stayed,some kneeling. Were they praying the rosary, or were the praying prayers that traditionally follow communion?
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SP
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Both probably. As previously stated there are no really “Prescribed” post mass prayers, though my Latin Missal from 1943 and my wifes newer prayerbook both contain prayers to be said after communion. A beautiful one that I use is this:
Anima Christi
Soul of Christ, be my sanctification;
Body of Christ, be my Salvation;
Blood of Christ, Fill all my veins;
Water from Christ’s side, wash out my stains;
Passion of Christ, my comfort be,
O good Jesus listen to me.
In Thy wounds I fain would hide,
Ne’er to be parted from Thy side.
Guard me when the foe assails me;
Guide me when my feet shall fail me;
Bid me come to Thee above,
With Thy Saints to sing Thy love, forever and ever
Amen

Here is another:
Prayer before a Crucifix
Look down upon me good and gentle Jesus while before Thy face I humbly kneel,
And with burning soul pray and beseech Thee to fix deep in my heart
Live sentiments of faith hope and charity, true contrition for my sins,
And a firm purpose of amendment.
Meanwhile, I contemplate with great love and tender mercy,
Thy five most precious wounds,
pondering over them within me, and calling to mind the words which David made Thee say concerning Thyself, my Jesus: “They have pierced my hands and feet; they have numbered all My bones.

I also love this one: (I’ve seen other versions of this but like this one best)
Prayer of St Thomas Aquinas
I render thanks to Thee,O Lord holy Father, everlating God,
That you hast vouchsafed, not for any merits of mine,
but of Thy great mercy only, to feed me, a sinner, Thine unworthy servant,
with the precious Body and Blood or Thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ;
and I pray that this Holy Communion may not be for my judgement and condemnation,
but for my pardon and salvation.
Let it be unto me an armor of faith and a shield of good purpose,
a riddence of all vices and a rooting out of allevil desires;
and increas of love and patience, of humility and obedience, and of all virtures;
a frim defence agaisnt the wiles of all my enemies, visible and invisible;
a perfect quieting of all my impulses fleshly and spiritual;
a cleaving unto Thee, the one true God;
and a blessed consummation of my end when thoud dost call.
And I pray that Thou wouldst vouchsafe to bring me a sinner to that feast,
where Thou with Thy Son and Thy Holy Spirit, art to Thy holy ones true light,
fullness of blessedness, everlasting Joy, and perfect happiness.
Through the same Christ our Lord Amen.

I also say the prayer of St Francis.

These prayers give me time to reflect on the great privilege, granted me by God’s grace, to receive the Eucharist; to prepare myself to carry this peace and sanctity with me out into the world; and lastly - to give the parking lot time to clear out 😉

There are also prayers that should be said (in my opinion) before mass. For this I try to get to church at least 15 minutes before mass starts.
This is true whether we are talking about the OF or the EF.

Peace
James
 
The more I learn about and understand the EF, the more I desire it. I was received into the Church on the Easter Vigil. I have always found the more traditional and solemn rites of the Church to be the most spiritually refreshing, as it were.

While I would be open to parts being in the local vernacular or a straight, honest translation of the Latin, I still feel the EF is the most profound form of Catholic worship.

I strongly recommend reading this:

catholicprimer.org/home/worship/calvary_and_the_mass/1

That primer, which someone in this forum provided for me, opened my eyes about the significance and meaning of the Mass, and gave me a newfound love and appreciation for it.

God bless,
Tim
 
I’m glad you liked it!

I’ve been to exactly one EF Mass. There are two EF Masses offered in my city, both by a former SSPX priest. While I enjoyed it, I still attend my parish that offers the OF.

Why?

Well, here are the good things about the EF Mass;

I’ve been to Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Divine Liturgies. I’ve seen videos of Qorbano, pictures of Syriac Divine Liturgies (Indian, too), and all of them have this sense of heavenly worship about them. Something just seems in tune with what the apostles taught. All the ancient schismatics (and the modern ones, lol) worship this way. The EF seems to me to be consistent with these liturgies, just in a very Latin way. The priest uses incense, offers the sacrifice towards God, not towards the people. It just feels like, well, the divine worship that the apostles gave us, and Christians everywhere celebrate it.

Most celebrations of the Ordinary Form don’t have this. No incense. A table, not an altar. The priest faces the people, not the East. The feeling I get from the other liturgies is gone.

Now, I’ve been to OF Masses at my parish that are totally consistent. A priest and a deacon and subdeacon (deacon vested as a subdeacon). Incense. Male altar servers. Ad orientem. Gregorian chant in both English and Latin. It’s great. Feels like a real liturgy. It feels like divine worship.

Not all the Masses at my parish are like this, but it is.

Now why my parish instead of the EF Mass at the other parish? The laity at my parish are incredibly reverent and I feel a true desire for them to be there. I don’t object to the LifeTeen Mass without incense and with a drumset because, well, the teens are happy to be there and they know what’s going. I think that they would actually find the EF Mass more fun if it were partially in English, and more interesting, but whatever.

At the EF parish, well, a lot of the youngsters seemed bored and unexcited to be there. The priest was great, and I loved his homily, but all the prayers were recited really quickly and I had trouble following along in my 1962 Roman Missal. Some of the adults, while reverent, just seemed odd. Something felt off, even though the liturgy was more consistent with what I feel to be apostolic tradition.

Of course, most OF parishes that I’ve been to do not come close to preserving the essence of the liturgy like my parish, so that’s why I stay there.

I’m glad you liked it, and the specifics of the EF Mass at your parish are probably different than the one I attended.
 
WetCatechumen said:
I’m glad you liked it!

I’ve been to Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Divine Liturgies. I’ve seen videos of Qorbano, pictures of Syriac Divine Liturgies (Indian, too), and all of them have this sense of heavenly worship about them. Something just seems in tune with what the apostles taught. All the ancient schismatics (and the modern ones, lol) worship this way. The EF seems to me to be consistent with these liturgies, just in a very Latin way.
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I agree, coming from an EO background, the “form” was there, just Latin. I have spent times in EO liturgies that were 100% in greek. After a while you pick up queues and phrases that mark certain prayers.

In the EF, most of the prayers by the priest are inaudible, and the chanted response, well, are responses or short exhortations from what I could gather. Very similar to byzantine form in that regard. I think it would be fairly easy to get the gist and flow of things. More so than in greek. At least Latin uses “real” letters. 😉
 
skinny_pumpkin said:
I agree, coming from an EO background, the “form” was there, just Latin. I have spent times in EO liturgies that were 100% in greek. After a while you pick up queues and phrases that mark certain prayers.

In the EF, most of the prayers by the priest are inaudible, and the chanted response, well, are responses or short exhortations from what I could gather. Very similar to byzantine form in that regard. I think it would be fairly easy to get the gist and flow of things. More so than in greek. At least Latin uses “real” letters. 😉
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I totally agree. At the EO DL’s I’ve been to, usually there was a mix of English, Greek, and Slavonic. It was great. I think that that’s how the Latin Rite should do it. Not 100% vernacular, but not 100% Latin either.

I also noticed that about the DL and the EF, that most of the priest’s prayers are inaudible. While I like being able to hear what the priest says, it highlights the point that this is a sacrifice for God, and he is the one hearing the prayers. The prayers aren’t directed at the congregation.

The DL in all Greek and the EF in all Latin would seem very much alike to me, I think, although I’d be able to follow more of the Latin.
 
WetCatechumen said:
I also noticed that about the DL and the EF, that most of the priest’s prayers are inaudible. While I like being able to hear what the priest says, it highlights the point that this is a sacrifice for God, and he is the one hearing the prayers. The prayers aren’t directed at the congregation.
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Yeah, Even though many associate the EF or Divine Liturgy with a lot of pomp or formality, they do not strike me that way. They strike me as the essence of humility. Having the priest pray and “represent” the congregation with those silent prayers is,imo,a reflection of this humbleness that pervades this type of worship.
 
skinny_pumpkin said:
The parish I chose offers both the NO and the EF. Since the NO was scheduled 1st,I was expecting a light turnout for the EF mass that was much later. I was 15 min late. What a mistake. The place was packed!.. I came in at the reading of the Epistle (which was read in english, as well as the Gospel, which I appreciated). It was all very pious and exceeded my expectations. I saw no place in the architecture for an alter that allowed the priest to face the congregation.
It was beautiful, to say the least. I was glad to have been there. I have some questions. There was a "hymn"sung at the end in english, from what I could gather, it was praise to the Theotokos, Mary.
Also, after the priest left, many people left, but many stayed,some kneeling. Were they praying the rosary, or were the praying prayers that traditionally follow communion?

SP
Click to expand...
okay, iam going to ask it. what is an EF Mass? never heard that term:o
 
MerryCatholic said:
okay, iam going to ask it. what is an EF Mass? never heard that term:o
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EF is short for “Extrordinary Form”. It is also refered to as the TLM (Traditional Latin Mass, or Tridentine Mass.
It is the mass as celebrated before Vatican II.

The EF comes from the Papal letters describing the "New mass, or “Pauline” mass as the “Ordinary Form” (OF) and the TLM as the “Extrordinary form” (EF).
Both forms are legitimate and beautiful when properly done.

Peace
James
 
skinny_pumpkin said:
Yeah, Even though many associate the EF or Divine Liturgy with a lot of pomp or formality, they do not strike me that way. They strike me as the essence of humility. Having the priest pray and “represent” the congregation with those silent prayers is,imo,a reflection of this humbleness that pervades this type of worship.
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Honestly, I sense a lot more human arrogance at OF Masses which are done ad populum and with little reverence.
 
JRKH said:
EF is short for “Extrordinary Form”. It is also refered to as the TLM (Traditional Latin Mass, or Tridentine Mass.
It is the mass as celebrated before Vatican II.

The EF comes from the Papal letters describing the "New mass, or “Pauline” mass as the “Ordinary Form” (OF) and the TLM as the “Extrordinary form” (EF).
Both forms are legitimate and beautiful when properly done.

Peace
James
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oh:D thanks:o
 
I agree with Monica. I just really love the EF Mass. At some point during the month of May most EF parishes have one Sunday for the Crowning of Mary. There seems to be no “set” rubrics for this ceremony as I’ve seen it done many ways, but its all very reverent.

Many EF Mass parish members will stay in prayer after Mass to offer thanks to God for His gifts to us. Only after a low Mass will you find or hear, what are called the “Leonine” prayers.
These were given to us by Pope Leo XIII back before the beginning of the 1900’s. They were tossed out at VII or maybe even a little earlier but most EF low Masses still say them. They are NOT said at the High Mass or Solemn High Mass.

Regarding an Altar that the priest could face the people; it will not happen at an EF Mass. Even if the particular church has a free standing Altar, it will be “dressed” and treated as though you could not walk around it.
 
Right, the altar at my EF Mass was obviously transformed from an OF altar, because when the priest opens the Tabernacle, he has to walk around the altar. But besides this you don’t notice 🙂

To the OP, so glad you liked it! To me, the EF is like a safe haven from the rest of the world. If that makes any sense 🙂
 
ljubim said:
Right, the altar at my EF Mass was obviously transformed from an OF altar, because when the priest opens the Tabernacle, he has to walk around the altar. But besides this you don’t notice 🙂
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We are fortunate here to have the EF done in a beautiful old church that still has the high altar plus an alter for the OF. The EF is celebrated at the high altar which is still riased up the three steps above the OF Altar. the only " interference for us is visibility of the priest during the prayers at the foot of the altar, but then my face is buried in my missal, praying along, then anyway.

Peace
James
 
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