Contemplative, silent Mass

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On the website for a parish that is near where I live, there’s a “contemplative, silent” Mass at the earliest Mass time. What is different about this particular Mass?
 
EIF5A said:
On the website for a parish that is near where I live, there’s a “contemplative, silent” Mass at the earliest Mass time. What is different about this particular Mass?
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Hard to say exactly. It’s not a “standard” term.

It seems like a way of just saying “it’s a reverent, spoken but not sung or chanted Mass.” It can’t mean that it’s a Mass without any words.
 
I’m guessing it might mean that there is no music at this Mass. One of our nearby parishes has a 6:30am Sunday Mass, where there is no music, and any singing, when it occurs, is prompted a capella by the presiding priest. I always figured that 6:30am was too early for the musicians to wake up and be at their best, but whatever the reason, it is a contemplative and relatively silent Mass. Of course, this might not be the case at the parish you are asking about. Go, and find out! 🙂
 
It could be referring to a Low Mass (in the Extraordinary Form). During a Low Mass, the tradition is that the people are silent while the altar boys say the people’s responses. Around the time of Vatican II, the idea of the dialog Mass in which the people say the people’s responses along with the altar boys came about, but from what I’ve read on the internet (it happened before my time), the dialog Mass never really caught on here in America (but was very popular in Europe).
 
I would suggest you contact the parish and ask them your question. In my area, there is an evening contemplative Mass in one parish, and they do use music, but it’s, well music that would be suited to contemplation rather than the happy clappy stuff they do at the other Masses. They also use a lot of candle light rather than overhead lighting during this Mass. Of course, this is just one parish’s view of a contemplative Mass.
 
I can personally attest that the first ten minutes after waking up in the morning is the best time to exercise my really deep bass notes. After those few minutes they go away for the rest of the day.
 
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