Criteria for judging the efficacy of The Mass / a Mass

[Cluny]

Just a few comments:

The purpose of Mass is NOT to provide a convenient opportunity for you to say your private prayers and indulge in your own private meditation. Popes, even before Vatican II, have repeatedly urged that there be audible responses from the congregation.

To say that the EF is the “Mass of the Ages” is to imply that the other approved Liturgies of the Church–many of which are older than the Tridentine Mass–are chopped liver. It’s a saying I find offensive.

Byzantine Churches don’t have “altar rails.” Historically, Western Churches had a rood screen, rather than a chancel rail. Their introduction was, in fact, a change.

The Eucharistic Sacrifice is not a time for devotion to the Theotokos.

If you truly intend to meet Christ in the Mass, you will find Him there. If you don’t (barring invalidity of matter, form, intent, or minister), it’s your own fault.

 

[Layman]

Just a few comments:
The purpose of Mass is NOT to provide a convenient opportunity for you to say your private prayers and indulge in your own private meditation. Popes, even before Vatican II, have repeatedly urged that there be audible responses from the congregation.

Not ever? And responses all the time? In the vernacular?

In the EF, there are stretches where you can have some quiet; reverential quiet, where people can appreciate the Mystery of our rite.

To say that the EF is the “Mass of the Ages” is to imply that the other approved Liturgies of the Church–many of which are older than the Tridentine Mass–are chopped liver. It’s a saying I find offensive.

You are taking what I wrote out of context, or reading something into it which isn’t there. I’m talking about the Roman Catholic O.F. vs. the E.F. which has been called, ‘The Mass of Ages’.

Byzantine Churches don’t have “altar rails.” Historically, Western Churches had a rood screen, rather than a chancel rail. Their introduction was, in fact, a change.

Errr… I’m talking about the Roman Catholic Rite. Not the Byzantine. And now there’s neither rood-screen nor altar rail in most churches anyway.

The Eucharistic Sacrifice is not a time for devotion to the Theotokos.

For those not familiar with the term, the Theotokos is the Greek word for the Virgin Mary. It means literally: “Mother of God”.

If you truly intend to meet Christ in the Mass, you will find Him there. If you don’t (barring invalidity of matter, form, intent, or minister), it’s your own fault.

Even with all the distractions from the participants? Imagine communing with Christ, then “(twang) Bind Us Together, Lord, Bind us together …”

By that reasoning an eco-rock Mass is as good as a solemn E.F., which I do not think is so. Why should the Mass be a sonic and visual obstacle course, when a tried-and-tested alternative could be easily available? Why should I have to wonder what the priest is up to, when I hear him improvising the words, even to my untutored ears?

It seems the attitude is: you can have any kind of Mass you want, except the TLM. Ridiculous.

 

[Cluny]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cluny View Post
Just a few comments:
The purpose of Mass is NOT to provide a convenient opportunity for you to say your private prayers and indulge in your own private meditation. Popes, even before Vatican II, have repeatedly urged that there be audible responses from the congregation.
Not ever? And responses all the time? In the vernacular?

In the EF, there are stretches where you can have some quiet; reverential quiet, where people can appreciate the Mystery of our rite.

Read what Pope St. Pius X actually said on the matter. In brief, he said, “Do not say prayers during the Mass. Pray the Mass.”

Language is not the issue here.

I’ve been cantor at the Divine Liturgy in a passel of languages, myself.

As Fr. Stedham’s MY SUNDAY MISSAL advised (published in the 40’s), say your private prayers before or after mass, not during it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cluny View Post
To say that the EF is the “Mass of the Ages” is to imply that the other approved Liturgies of the Church–many of which are older than the Tridentine Mass–are chopped liver. It’s a saying I find offensive.
You are taking what I wrote out of context, or reading something into it which isn’t there. I’m talking about the Roman Catholic O.F. vs. the E.F. which has been called, ‘The Mass of Ages’.

**I did not take what you say out of context. There’s a certain arrogance and triumphalism that lead devotees of the EF to use this expression.

It’s as offensive and odious as “smells and bells.”

Calling the EF the “Mass of the ages” doesn’t make it that.**

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cluny View Post
Byzantine Churches don’t have “altar rails.” Historically, Western Churches had a rood screen, rather than a chancel rail. Their introduction was, in fact, a change.
Errr… I’m talking about the Roman Catholic Rite. Not the Byzantine. And now there’s neither rood-screen nor altar rail in most churches anyway.

My point is that the introduction of the altar rail in the West was in fact a change.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cluny View Post
The Eucharistic Sacrifice is not a time for devotion to the Theotokos.
For those not familiar with the term, the Theotokos is the Greek word for the Virgin Mary. It means literally: “Mother of God”.

**Not true.

“Theotokos” literally “She who gave birth to God.”

Mother of God in Greek is “Miter [tou] Theou.”**

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cluny View Post
If you truly intend to meet Christ in the Mass, you will find Him there. If you don’t (barring invalidity of matter, form, intent, or minister), it’s your own fault.
Even with all the distractions from the participants? Imagine communing with Christ, then “(twang) Bind Us Together, Lord, Bind us together …”

**Yes, the fault is yours.

I’m not saying that Latin parish music in the USA needs no improvement in both choice and execution. There have beem books on the subject. My favorite is Thomas Day’s WHY CATHOLICS CAN’T SING.

But this is an entirely different subject.**

By that reasoning an eco-rock Mass is as good as a solemn E.F., which I do not think is so. Why should the Mass be a sonic and visual obstacle course, when a tried-and-tested alternative could be easily available? Why should I have to wonder what the priest is up to, when I hear him improvising the words, even to my untutored ears?

**You’ve got it. As I’ve frequently said here, one Mass is just as efficacious as the next Mass. What you think has nothing to do with it.

I’ve never been to an eco-rock mass myself, and I really doubt that you have.

And to compare a Missa Solemnis in the EF to a poorly celebrated and sung OF in an attempt to “prove” that this is what the OF really is is unjust.

There were abuses during the palmy days before the promulgation of the NO. They were just of a different kind.

As for deviations by priests from the texts and rubrics, I will repeat: Say the black, do the red, and problems will take care of themselves.**

It seems the attitude is: you can have any kind of Mass you want, except the TLM. Ridiculous.

**Please tell me what I’ve said against the EF. Be specific.

In fact, I’ve said nothing against it. I was glad with the promulgation of Summorum Pontificum.

What I’m criticizing is the notion that the EF is somehow more “spiritually efficacious” than the OF, an entirely false premise that led to your post that started this thread.

**

 

[I_Believe]

**Please tell me what I’ve said against the EF. Be specific.

In fact, I’ve said nothing against it. I was glad with the promulgation of Summorum Pontificum.

What I’m criticizing is the notion that the EF is somehow more “spiritually efficacious” than the OF, an entirely false premise that led to your post that started this thread.

**

The OF is a skeleton of the EF.

 

[Cluny]

The OF is a skeleton of the EF.

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI disagrees with you, as he celebrates the OF all the time.

The OF might be a very stark and stripped-down rite that by its very austerity encourages some priests to do SOMETHING, ANYTHING, to liven it up.

The same thing happened when a copy of the “authentic” Roman missal was finally sent to Charlemagne. It was so severe that St. Alcuin (to whom it was given to edit) realized it would never work as it was with the French.

But this is another issue.

Again, what’s the solution? Say the black; do the red.

 

[I_Believe]

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI disagrees with you, as he celebrates the OF all the time.

The OF might be a very stark and stripped-down rite that by its very austerity encourages some priests to do SOMETHING, ANYTHING, to liven it up.

Well, he prays he TLM as his private Mass, and yes he prays the NO.

But you agree with me it seems. Stark ? Stripped down ? =Skeleton ?

 

[Layman]

“It seems the attitude is: you can have any kind of Mass you want, except the TLM. Ridiculous.”

By this I meant: It seems the [prevailing] attitude [within large sections of the Hierarchy and some of the laity] is: you can have any kind of Mass you want, except the TLM.

Still, there seems to be a slow revival occuring, now. I suppose I’m just impatient.

A priest and his congregation have a real chance to put something on to glorify God and awaken sinners: Gregorian chant, a church crammed with statues, icons, candles, and beautiful vestments, but the trend up to recently seems to have been to dump all that.

It’s not good show-business, if nothing else. Protestants and Islamists may be happy with nearly-bare churches/mosques/meeting halls, but they’re missing a trick.

 

[Frosty]

Well, he prays he TLM as his private Mass, and yes he prays the NO.

Is this so? And you know it for a fact or are you basing the claim on internet traditionalist rumours? Father Lombardi, the Pope’s spokesman, and the Pope’s brother, Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, say otherwise. Not that it really matters in the big scheme of things but the truth matters in all things, big or small.

 

[Cluny]

By this I meant: It seems the [prevailing] attitude [within large sections of the Hierarchy and some of the laity] is: you can have any kind of Mass you want, except the TLM.

The “prevailing attitude of the hierarchy” about the EF is a long away away from your original question about judging the efficacy of a given Mass–a spiritually dangerous practice to indulge in, I might add.

A priest and his congregation have a real chance to put something on to glorify God and awaken sinners: Gregorian chant, a church crammed with statues, icons, candles, and beautiful vestments, but the trend up to recently seems to have been to dump all that.

As I have said, in my mission work where the church had to be carried in boxes and suitcases, the Liturgy has been celebrated in some strange places, including a dental lab with an Iconostasion.

Beautiful music and surroundings are NOT essential parts of God’s covenant with mankind. Jesus first came to us in a stable full of manure. The first few generations of Christians offered the Eucharistic Sacrifice wheresoever they could, including homes, catacombs, and even prisons.

God is and has always been glorified principally in the hearts of His faithful, and not primarily by external surroundings. (This is not to say that, decency and order and even exterior beauty are not to be desired.)

Layman, everything you have said has simply boiled down to, “I don’t like the OF, therefore it’s not efficacious.”

Fine. Nobody said you had to like it. As I have said, I prefer the Liturgies of St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil, Byzantine St. James, and the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, myself (all other things being equal).

But there’s a big difference between not liking the Pauline Missal and claiming it’s not efficacious.

It’s not good show-business, if nothing else. Protestants and Islamists may be happy with nearly-bare churches/mosques/meeting halls, but they’re missing a trick.

In my time, I’ve done everything there is to do in musical theatre–rehearsal pianist, pit musician, composert, conductor, operatic stage manage–except actually sing a stage role. There’s a big difference between “show business” or “putting something on” on the one hand and celebrating the Eucharistic Sacrifice on the other.

I of all people should get this difference.

If you don’t get it, then trust me: the two ARE quite different.

The primitive Cistercians and Carthusians were rather bare-bones in their surroundings, the better to concentrate on the holy services themselves, and not get caught up in exterior beauty.

Have you seen any photos of the Charterhouse in New Hampshire?

(I admit it’s too austere for me, but I don’t doubt the efficacy of their Masses.)

 

[Cluny]

Well, he prays he TLM as his private Mass, and yes he prays the NO.

Is not the Pope by virtue of his office “omniritual”?

I, for one, would greatly enjoy seeing him publicly celebrate in all of the approved Liturgies of the Church, Eastern and Western, including the OF.

Wouldn’t that be an exciting series to see on EWTN?

But you agree with me it seems. Stark ? Stripped down ? =Skeleton ?

Austere, stark, and stripped down are NOT synonyms for “invalid” or “ineffecacious.”

 

[Cat]

Why do those of you who love the TLM have to attack others all the time like bullies picking on little kids?

Why do you have to insult the Mass that we love and tell us that YOUR Mass is better than our Mass?

You sound like teenaged boys comparing…

Can’t you just accept the fact that all of us are different because of the way we were created, the set of genes inside us, the backgrounds, the family upbringings, the trials and tribulations that we have passed through, our education, etc.?

What gives you a warm, fuzzy feeling inside and makes you “feel” closer to God and “feel” like you have received “more grace” leaves someone else (like me) cold and creeped out. And that’s OK! Can’t you you grasp that concept?

The Catholic Church has never published an “official” declaration that the OF Mass is an “inferior version” of or a “skeleton” of the EF Mass. Thankfully in recent years, the Catholic Church has made it clear that BOTH EF and OF forms of the Mass are to be offered. Holy Mother Church is wise.

Don’t you understand that all these preference in music, language, postures, architecture, etc. are your personal opinions? I don’t mind at all if you have different preferences than me, but I absolutely object when you start telling me that my personal preferences are “inferior” to yours. That’s snobbery, plain and simple. And snobbery is just another form of hatred, which is NOT part of the Fruit of the Spirit, and that makes me wonder just how much good the TLM is doing you.

Just drop it already. Live in peace with all the rest of the Catholics who love the OF and stop criticizing something that Holy Mother Church has declared “good.”

 

[I_Believe]

Is this so? And you know it for a fact or are you basing the claim on internet traditionalist rumours? Father Lombardi, the Pope’s spokesman, and the Pope’s brother, Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, say otherwise. Not that it really matters in the big scheme of things but the truth matters in all things, big or small.

catholicculture.org/news/features/index.cfm?recnum=52403

Informed sources at the Vatican have confirmed reports that the Holy Father regularly celebrates Mass using the 1962 Roman Missal.

Yea, them crazy traddie rumors

http://images.jupiterimages.com/common/detail/11/26/23372611.jpg

Just kidding of course

 

[Layman]

Errr … are you saying the TLM creeps you out?

What I also object to, as well as the constantly-added, participant-focused additions to the N.O./O.F, is the lack of choice.

If you’re a Catholic, and you prefer the N.O., you’re sorted out. If you have transport, you probably have a choice of which church you’ll go to, and at what time, of a Sunday.

If you want the TLM, likely not so. Unless you want to travel 50 to 100 miles. Admittedly, my experience is limited to four or five parishes in two countries. I thought my home country, dear old Ireland, would have a good few holdouts doing the old Mass, when I found out how fine that Mass is. Imagine my disappointment.

Also, when I go to a N.O. Mass at a different time and/or in a different parish and/or with a different priest, I wonder what I’m going to get.

Today, Ascension Thursday, was abrogated to the following Sunday, as expected. Not expected was a man in a suit standing in the pulpit as I came in. What was he doing there?

Turns out he was the cantor. He stayed in the pulpit for most of the Mass. Hymns were fairly saccharin. Otherwise, it was pretty good, except for some wordings I hadn’t heard before. I don’t know how much leeway a priest is allowed in the N.O.

With the TLM you know what you’re going to get. Go in, assist, receive Communion, go home. Job done. In any country in the world. No problem with understanding it if you’ve got a basic missal. Any time, any place, anywhere. Now that’s inclusive.

Shortly, one of my relatives is going to make their first Holy Communion. They’ve asked the children to bring their baptismal candles. There’s some doubt it can be found. More novelty, more upset, more distraction from the core purpose of the Mass.

I object to this weird trend of feminising and infantilising the Mass. Also to the stripping out of the sacramentals. Also to the constant mutation. I’d rather focus on Christ at the Mass, rather than His people and their performances.

I can certainly critique the Mass. Many have already done so, and left their mark on the liturgy. You can see the results every Sunday. The Church is not infallible, as I understand that doctrine. Popes make statements on infallible doctrine occasionally. That’s as far as it goes.

If people who prefer the TLM protest about the N.O., I propose it’s partly because they would like their brothers and sisters to have the chance to ‘drink the fine wine’ that they have drunk, liturgical worries aside. Or at least, to have the chance to make a choice to do so.

 

[Cluny]

What I also object to, as well as the constantly-added, participant-focused additions to the N.O./O.F, is the lack of choice.

What do you mean “lack of choice?” Do you have any idea yourself? There are more options in the OF; it’s the EF that’s practically cast in concrete.

Today, Ascension Thursday, was abrogated to the following Sunday, as expected. Not expected was a man in a suit standing in the pulpit as I came in. What was he doing there?

In the USA (and I guess some other places that use the EF), the Feast of the Ascension may be TRANSFERRED to the next Sunday. (It’s not in the Diocese of Phoenix.)

“Abrogate” means to cancel, revoke, or repeal.

Whether this transferral is a good idea is debatable. I, for one, don’t think it is. But I don’t doubt the authority of the Church to do so.

Otherwise, it was pretty good, except for some wordings I hadn’t heard before. I don’t know how much leeway a priest is allowed in the N.O.

I don’t know if the pulp missalettes in the pews contain all the options. Something tells me they don’t.

Many times I’ve seen the rubric “saying these or similar words” or comparable expressions.

With the TLM you know what you’re going to get. Go in, assist, receive Communion, go home. Job done.

That’s all the members of the local EF mission seem to want. They are meeting in one of the bigger parishe churches of my city. They just want to go to the Latin Mass, receive Communion, leave, and pretend the previous 40+ years never happened. They don’t seem to want to actually be and build a parish.

They’ve asked the children to bring their baptismal candles. There’s some doubt it can be found. More novelty, more upset, more distraction from the core purpose of the Mass.

And showing the connection between the three Sacraments of Initiation is wrong because…??? Please be specific. Quote appropriate canons, if they are available.

I can imagine this being done in the EF as well.

The only one who seems to be upset about this is you. Why?

I object to this weird trend of feminising and infantilising the Mass. Also to the stripping out of the sacramentals.

Please be specific about “feminising and infantilising the Mass.”

And what sacramentals were “stripped out” from it? Can you tell us?

I’d rather focus on Christ at the Mass, rather than His people and their performances.

If you really wanted this, you’d be doing so already.

If people who prefer the TLM protest about the N.O., I propose it’s partly because they would like their brothers and sisters to have the chance to ‘drink the fine wine’ that they have drunk, liturgical worries aside. Or at least, to have the chance to make a choice to do so.

I’m not saying the EF should not be more available. Those priests and bishops who are impeding this are simply defying the Pope.

But the EF is no better than the OF in “efficacy”, to get back to your original question.

It is the same Sacrifice, either way–or any way in any of the authorized Liturgies of the Catholic Church.

Again, all you’re saying boils down to is simply, “I don’t like the OF.”

 

[Frosty]

catholicculture.org/news/features/index.cfm?recnum=52403

Yea, them crazy traddie rumors

http://images.jupiterimages.com/common/detail/11/26/23372611.jpg

Just kidding of course

I saw that story when it first came out and am aware that many use it as “proof”. However, since you went to the trouble of finding that link, you should also be aware that almost immediately after that story hit the internet, Father Lombardi issued a statement denying that particular rumour. ( His statement should be just as easy to find.) Now, personally, I will rely on the statements made by a man who has direct access to the Pope and speaks in his own name rather than un-named “informed sources”. Furthermore, Monsignor Ratzinger, in an interview given to a German magazine a year or so ago, said that when he is visiting his brother, they concelebrated Mass every morning using the OF and they were both very grateful that they had been given this form of the Latin Mass.
If it makes you happy to believe that Pope Benedict celebrates the EF as his daily Mass based on a rumour that was later refuted by people actually close to the Pope, fine. Just don’t make claims that aren’t backed up by facts.

 

[Layman]

What do you mean “lack of choice?” Do you have any idea yourself? There are more options in the OF; it’s the EF that’s practically cast in concrete.

By lack of choice I mean that in most places, I think, you can’t currently attend a Sunday EF.

In the USA (and I guess some other places that use the EF), the Feast of the Ascension may be TRANSFERRED to the next Sunday. (It’s not in the Diocese of Phoenix.)

“Abrogate” means to cancel, revoke, or repeal.

Whether this transferral is a good idea is debatable. I, for one, don’t think it is. But I don’t doubt the authority of the Church to do so.

But Ascension Thursday, on a Sunday? Why, if there are evening Masses on the day itself?

That’s all the members of the local EF mission seem to want. They are meeting in one of the bigger parishe churches of my city. They just want to go to the Latin Mass, receive Communion, leave, and pretend the previous 40+ years never happened. They don’t seem to want to actually be and build a parish.

They are allowed to just go to Mass if they want to, surely? I would think having a Mass you favour would be a good start to building a parish, eventually. You’d have to schedule a meet-up outside the (Latin) Mass. I don’t know that you could work backwards from a Mass you dislike (O.F.) to active parish participation. That would strike a false note.

And showing the connection between the three Sacraments of Initiation is wrong because…??? Please be specific. Quote appropriate canons, if they are available.

*** Hee, hee, I’m pretty sure I didn’t have to bring mine to my Communion. But hey, in the O.F. you can add on … well … just about anything that isn’t forbidden, and sometimes you can try that too, until you get an indult, like EMCs and CITH.***

I can imagine this being done in the EF as well.

I doubt that. Unless it’s allowed in the rubrics.

The only one who seems to be upset about this is you. Why?

You don’t know that I’m the only one upset. I would guess Mass-goers are quite used to novelties, these days. One more won’t cause much of a ripple.

Please be specific about “feminising and infantilising the Mass.”

The sentimental hymns, the use of the common language, women EMCs, women epistle readers, kids drawings on the sacrificial Altar …

And what sacramentals were “stripped out” from it? Can you tell us?

I mean in the churches. A relative got a loan of a book on local church architecture in the rural area where I come from. It showed interiors as well as exteriors. The contrast between old and new churches is striking: "Less is more?"

If you really wanted this, you’d be doing so already.

*** Not sure what you mean by this. I am going to TLMs where I can, but it seems that to be sure of getting to a regular Sunday one, you have to live in a city. Hopefully that will change.***

I’m not saying the EF should not be more available. Those priests and bishops who are impeding this are simply defying the Pope.

But the EF is no better than the OF in “efficacy”, to get back to your original question.

Well, I can truthfully say it’s doing me good, and the novelties in the O.F.s I go to are, at least, distracting: the celebrant, EMCs and others presenting themselves to the congregation. Also, reading my Bible where I found the words “for the many” instead of “for all”; that was disturbing. I hear the Pope’s going to change that, so that’s good.

It is the same Sacrifice, either way–or any way in any of the authorized Liturgies of the Catholic Church.

Again, all you’re saying boils down to is simply, “I don’t like the OF.”

***I don’t like the way it’s commonly said. It would be nice, and interesting, if priests did it as I hear was wanted by Paul VI; in Latin, ad-Orientem and with chant. And I’d guess minus the current novelties.

Will it take people’s parishes being closed due to lack of a congregation, or ‘communion services’ starting because there’s no priest available, or scandals of invalid or impious Masses to maybe make people realise that our religious forefathers were smart in how they said Mass and discouraged local tinkering?

---

 

[Cluny]

Layman, I will say just one more thing:

“I would like” and “doing me good” are not the same things as “more efficacious.”

The Lord has given you great opportunities to practice humility, forbearance, charity, and patience. Learn your lessons, or He will keep making you take them.

 

[Layman]

The Lord has given you great opportunities to practice humility, forbearance, charity, and patience. Learn your lessons, or He will keep making you take them.

Can you see how having to ‘learn these lessons’ in relation to the Mass, instead of it helping foster them, is an historical curiosity, if nothing else?

I think I’ve read more than one poster on this forum advising people to ‘offer it up’ if they’re unhappy with the novelties. Imagine having to do that about the central rite of our religion, while attending it. And wondering what you’re going to get if you go to a new church.

I wonder if people attending the old rite ever had to do that. Were they suffering because they couldn’t read the epistle from the pulpit? Or serve Communion? Or because they couldn’t see the priest’s face all the time? Did they long to take an acoustic guitar into the choir loft and sing a Protestant hymn?

Since I’ve taken up traditional practices and gone to the Latin Mass, things have gotten noticeably better in my life and in my heart. So what lessons I’m being given are taking, to some degree, I’d say.

But that would just be my opinion.

 

[EasterJoy]

Can you see how having to ‘learn these lessons’ in relation to the Mass, instead of it helping foster them, is an historical curiosity, if nothing else?

I think I’ve read more than one poster on this forum advising people to ‘offer it up’ if they’re unhappy with the novelties. Imagine having to do that about the central rite of our religion, while attending it. And wondering what you’re going to get if you go to a new church.

I wonder if people attending the old rite ever had to do that. Were they suffering because they couldn’t read the epistle from the pulpit? Or serve Communion? Or because they couldn’t see the priest’s face all the time? Did they long to take an acoustic guitar into the choir loft and sing a Protestant hymn?

Since I’ve taken up traditional practices and gone to the Latin Mass, things have gotten noticeably better in my life and in my heart. So what lessons I’m being given are taking, to some degree, I’d say.

But that would just be my opinion.

Do you think the OF came out of thin air, that nobody wanted it? You know that there are people for whom a traditional liturgy, with traditional hymns–sung not as they were written, mind you, but at the dirge-like pace I heard far too often growing up–and looking around at people who seemed a million miles away would find the EF a penance. That isn’t a word against the EF.

There is some spiritual mileage to be had from going to what considers a painful but valid liturgy and making the best of it. It forces you to look beyond the externals, to have compassion on those who are oblivious to it and to be edified by those who are transported by it. It is a good practice. Still, if you have the choice between the Mass that edifies and the Mass that tries your abilities, most of the time you will choose the one that edifies you personally. Going to the other once in awhile with the intention of stretching yourself is great, but I hope nobody judges you for going where the pitch is more in keeping with your singing voice.

If you insist on thinking that “more edifying to me” is the same as “more edifying to everybody”, you are on a losing track. The majority will shout you down with, “yeah, well, it isn’t more edifying to me, so there!” If you say, “Hey, this is very different than what makes you comfortable, but there is edification in what is less comfortable”, and if you have made your own effort to live that maxim, then you’ll be on good ground to encourage wider appreciation of that which speaks to you.

A lot of the fear of the TLM is the fear that those who like it want to “take back the Mass.” A more welcoming and catholic attitude will get you farther, I think.

 

[Cat]

We attended a graduation party for a dear friend tonight, and since it was somewhat far away from where we live, we attended a Mass at a Catholic Church in a small town.

It was an OF Mass, in a very old church. The pastor was Hispanic and extremely careful to make sure that everything was done properly and reverently and his homily was well-thought out. The music was quite dreadful–an organ and cantor who really didn’t have a very good sense of timing. Oh, well.

Most people were dressed in shorts and t-shirts, BTW.

About half-way through the Mass, I happened to glance at the middle-aged man in front of us. Late 50s, possibly older. Dumpy, frumpily-dressed, all alone. Quite homely.

But he sang the songs. That’s probably why I glanced at him, because usually, my husband and I are about the only ones singing (ex-Protestants). This older man had a very pleasant voice, although he sure had very exaggerated diphthongs (we live in the Midwest and a lot of us have very pronounced diphthongs).

And then I noticed the JOY on his face, and from then on, I kept an eye on him.

He took delight in everything during the Mass–the prayers, the homily, the music, the consecration. After we came back from receiving Communion, he had an expression of absolute rapture on his face, as though he had just met with the love of his life.

Now mind you, there was NOTHING remotely entertaining about this Mass. This man was not getting his jollies from the brilliant music and the scintillating homily. And the nave was not magnificent at all.

He was just filled with joy because he was at Mass.

This man’s joyous countenance in the Presence of our Lord was contagious. He reminded me of all the reasons I became Catholic to begin with–a Mass in stead of a “worship service,” a Eucharist instead of “symbol”, an encounter with Jesus Christ Himself, Truly Present Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, instead of just bowing my head and trying to imagine Him. I was filled with the Joy of the Lord.

And I actually thought of this thread and so many others like it, where people can’t find anything in the OF Mass to tolerate, let alone enjoy. I hope this man visits YOUR parish, so that you can all learn from him to take delight in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass again, instead of complaining over every human failing.