First time at Latin Mass--what to do?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Luvadoxi
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
L

Luvadoxi

Guest
I’m thinking of going to my first TLM this Sunday (first for all practical purposes; I attended one as a Protestant child and have only the vaguest of memories). I do own a 1962 Roman Missal but I have no idea what pages to turn to to follow along.

Can anyone help? The church I’ll be going to is St. Francis de Sales in Mableton, Georgia. It’s about 2 hours from where I live–if anyone knows of other TLMs in northeast Georgia, please let me know! I’m just really nervous about this.

God bless 🙂
 
My advice would be to just go and enjoy it without a missal, rather than spend the whole time face down in a book, fussing with ribbon markers, only to miss what you went to see and experience. At least for your first visit. As time goes by you can calmly learn how to use the missal at your leisure. It doesn’t take long to get the hang of it. Nothing to be nervous about, really. Just go and enjoy it.
 
Many churches offering the EF provide booklet missals for the Ordinary which are very helpful and very easy to use. Just open it up and follow. Some places also provide handouts containing the propers for the day. 🙂
 
Find the actual Mass in the missal, maybe look over the parts ahead of time so you know what is going on. Put a ribbon to where the propers are going to be, so you can see the beautiful themes the Church explores at that particular Mass. They are so edifying… looking at the propers really adds a lot.

But don’t let the missal get in the way of praying in complement to the priest. You don’t have to say what he says, or be right with him in the text the whole time. His prayers are sufficient for the Mass. You have to look to your own participation in a way that will unite yourself to what is going on. You’ll learn the responses as you go… there’s nothing wrong with missing a response. The Mass doesn’t depend on you always knowing what to say.

Mainly, unite yourself in prayer to Jesus Christ with the priest. And be not afraid! When there is beauty, take it in, and when there is silence, pray and contemplate our blessed Lord.
 
This Sunday (10/10/10) is the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost. So look for the readings for that day. There you will find the different prayers and the Epistle (1st reading) and the Gospel. In my St. Joseph Daily Missal, it’s on page 535. The ordinary of the Mass, which is the actual Mass itself, is probably in the middle of your Missal. Again, in my missal it starts on page 642. You can follow along with that to see where the priest is. You will see in the ordinary of the Mass that it will tell you such things as “Introit”, “Collect” etc. That is when you turn to the readings of the day, which will be the 20th day after Pentecost. So you want to keep one ribbon in the day’s readings, and one ribbon in the ordinary.

The TLM is much more involved than the Novus Ordo. There are the prayers of penance said at the foot of the altar at the beginning, including the confiteor. That same confiteor is said once again by the servers right before the reception of communion. You will notice that the priest and the servers will beat their breasts each time at “mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa”. In the creed, the priests and communicants will kneel at the words: “And was made Flesh by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary: AND WAS MADE MAN (Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto/ex Maria Virginie: /ET HOMO FACTUS EST.” The “last gospel” is read at the end of Mass, which is basically the first chapter of John’s Gospel. Again, you will kneel at the words: “AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH”. After the last gospel, assuming it is a low Mass, you will say the Hail Mary 3 times, Hail Holy Queen, the priest will pray, and you will end with the St. Michael prayer.

It is a marvelous Mass. You will most likely find yourself a bit lost. It took me a couple of months before I really began to understand what was going on. I’ve now been attending the TLM for over 3 years, and I have only come to love it more and more.

This link will give you Latin Masses across the US. I don’t know how up to date it is, but if you find one near you, give the Church a call.

web2.airmail.net/carlsch/MaterDei/churches.htm

ONE MORE IMPORTANT POINT: You must receive communion kneeling and on the tongue and DO NOT say “Amen.”
 
went one time 2 years ago with my wife and 1 year old. It was like being deaf at a movie you knew by heart. We lasted 15 minutes and left.
 
My advice would be, “Don’t worry if you can’t follow everything that’s happening,” as that’s probably a normal experience for somebody attending a TLM for the first time. As Pregustator said, just go and enjoy it, and you’ll gradually pick things up as time goes by.
 
Try and attend a High Mass instead of a Low Mass the first time. I made the mistake several weeks ago of going to my first TLM that was low and wished I had waited the extra hour and a half for the High Mass. I was able to follow along in the missal, but the priest was a mumbler and I couldn’t hear very much. This was an FFSP parish. Some things that I found confusing were the fact that the readings did not match those in the cycle and that for the homily the priest first gave five minutes of parish announcements and then talked for fifteen minutes on the different types of indulgences. During the majority of the mass, the congregation was saying private devotionals or rosaries. I am 57 and was the youngest of the “old” people there. I will try and make it to a High Mass during Advent so I may partake in the chanting, etc. I hope your first experience is better than mine.:cool:
 
I always start by sitting near the back so I can see everyone else and what they do so you know when to sit, stand or kneel.
 
Luvadoxi said:
I’m thinking of going to my first TLM this Sunday (first for all practical purposes; I attended one as a Protestant child and have only the vaguest of memories). I do own a 1962 Roman Missal but I have no idea what pages to turn to to follow along.

Can anyone help? The church I’ll be going to is St. Francis de Sales in Mableton, Georgia. It’s about 2 hours from where I live–if anyone knows of other TLMs in northeast Georgia, please let me know! I’m just really nervous about this.

God bless 🙂
Click to expand...
Before I attended my first TLM, I bought a 1962 Missal and read through the Ordinary of the Mass ahead of time. I found this helpful. Fortunately, it is our intention and disposition that matter most, not our ability to follow along perfectly.

Just as you can never visit the entire Smithsonian in one day, you can never absorb all the content and meaning of the Mass on just one occasion – or even in your whole lifetime. So don’t worry if you have trouble following along, or if the TLM is outside your comfort zone – most of the best things in life are!
 
kozlosap said:
Some things that I found confusing were the fact that the readings did not match those in the cycle and that for the homily the priest first gave five minutes of parish announcements and then talked for fifteen minutes on the different types of indulgences.
Click to expand...
Indeed. One of my complaints is that generally it is not announced beforehand whether the Mass is ferial, of a saint or martyr, votive, or anything else. If it’s announced at the sermon, that is too late for those like me who do bring missals and have had to try to guess at which Mass is being said.
 
You can follow along with what the altar servers are doing: standing, kneeling, ect… I wouldn’t fuss with a missal too much until you are more familiar with the parts of the Mass.
 
Thanks so much for all the good advice and personal experiences. And for the Sancta Missa website–that looks good. I take it that in the Latin Mass there are not many responses from the congregation, and those few are in Latin (I guess, obviously it would be Latin!)…I guess I can find that out looking through the Missal.

I agree…it may be hard to figure out what the readings are, what with various feast day options, etc. But thank you to the poster who told me it’s the XX week after Pentecost; maybe they will stick to those readings.

Anyway, I plan to not worry too much about where we’re at and just try to soak in the atmosphere. I hope no one gets on my case for not wearing a mantilla.
I really don’t want to wear one. But I want to try a TLM; I’m just so weary of wondering what liturgical abuses will hit me at the ordinary form…and there’s virtually always something, and it distracts me and is testing my charity.
 
Luvadoxi said:
Thanks so much for all the good advice and personal experiences. And for the Sancta Missa website–that looks good. I take it that in the Latin Mass there are not many responses from the congregation, and those few are in Latin (I guess, obviously it would be Latin!)…I guess I can find that out looking through the Missal.

I agree…it may be hard to figure out what the readings are, what with various feast day options, etc. But thank you to the poster who told me it’s the XX week after Pentecost; maybe they will stick to those readings.
Click to expand...
Have you ever prayed the Liturgy of the Hours? If you can navigate a breviary, the 1962 Missal will be a piece of cake!

But if not, it’s still not too bad. The Ordinary of the Mass is your basic framework, and it contains all the responses. (If there’s an altar server, he will do the responses.) It also tells you when to go to the propers. The propers should all be together in one section (the Proper of Seasons). The Preface is in another section – on Sunday, it should be the Preface of the Trinity (which, by the way, is rich in subjects for meditation).

One of my favorite things about the TLM is that the Canon is said in silence. It reminds me of the expectant hush falling over Calvary as the Savior breathes His last.
 
Victorious said:
One of my favorite things about the TLM is that the Canon is said in silence. It reminds me of the expectant hush falling over Calvary as the Savior breathes His last.
Click to expand...
How do we know this to be fact?
 
Pregustator said:
My advice would be to just go and enjoy it
Click to expand...
I’m confused. One of the big anti-OF arguments here is that it is a “performance,” meant for the enjoyment of the congregation instead of a serious celebration of the Eucharistic liturgy. Yet, here you suggest that one “just go and enjoy it.” May I ask, what exactly is one meant to “enjoy” at the celebration of Mass?
 
I had the fortune (good or bad;)) to be introduced to the EF from the very beginning of my conversion. It was the first Mass and first church service of any type that I attended as a believer. Of course I was lost, but not really any more so than when I went to an OF Mass for the first time. I just stood and sat and kneeled with everyone else and tried to absorb as much as possible. This is what I would suggest. If you try to understand it you will probably fail, I mean it’s in Latin. 🤷
As I learned more the thing I came to appreciate about the EF over the OF was the greater opportunity I felt to really give myself over to the sacrifice of the Eucharist. The reverence is apparent without having to know a single word. I would say to look for that for now. If you can learn to love the EF with your heart you will find no problem coming to understand it with your head as time goes on.
 
Victorious–I found the page for the Preface, but where is it in the Ordinary of the Mass—you know, where they indicate the variable parts, or give an indication when it’s time to turn to another page…I can’t seem to find it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top