H
HonoraDominum
Guest
My FSSP daily mass priest has been gone for a few days, and I’ve been doing some OF “parish hopping” to make sure to make mass every day. I’m not terribly against the OF mass - as a matter of fact, I went to an absolutely gorgeous mass at a Cistercian abbey on Friday - but I am a bit of a “traddie” in the fact that I always receive on the tongue, and I only receive the body of Christ from a priest. Period. It’s been that way since I converted five years ago.
I went to mass this evening at our diocean Cathedral. The mass was in Spanish, but truth be told, it’s very similar to going to a Latin mass, in the fact that I don’t understand a word that’s being said.
Christ is there, and that is the important part. But when they got the point of consecration in the mass, the altar boy went and got the ciborium out of the tabernacle, and the officient said a short prayer, and then started distributing the hosts. At the point when I realized there was no sacrifice, I guessed that this was a simple communion service, and that the person conducting the service was a deacon and not a priest. It’s been a while since I went to an OF parish on a regular basis, and didn’t realize it was a deacon by the vestments.
I made a pretty quick call to simply pray a spiritual communion and not receive a pre-blessed host. While there were some very pious people there, and most received on the tongue (and two kneeling!), I still felt awkward receiving. I knew it was canonically licit, but I also was still suffering disappointment that I didn’t get to assist at a true mass where I could fix an intention to God at the offering. For me, the act of the mass is not only the receiving of the body, blood, soul and divinity of my Savior, but a true sacrifice as well as prayers of adoration, contrition, thanksgiving and petition. Without the sacrifice and offering at the altar, the experience rang extremely hollow for me.
Also, on a side note, it broke my heart that I went to a diocean Cathedral that claims to have the second largest Sunday mass attendance after St. Patrick’s in New York, and yet they don’t have enough priests to do a daily Mass twice a day, or that they couldn’t get a sub in for one mass if there was a problem with the regular priest. I prayed to Mary for vocations, and for saintly priests who were loyal to the magisterium and who take their roles as guardians of souls with dire seriousness.
So if you’re a regular EF’er, what would you have done? Was I getting all Pharisee on everyone, with my action being tantamount to a prayer of “Thank you, Lord, that I am not like other Catholics”? Or did I miss out on an opportunity to receive a sacrament because I didn’t want to receive from someone who has not (both physically and spiritually) purified themselves before presenting me with the Body of Christ? Am I in need of a lesson in humility, or am I thinking too much about the situation?
I went to mass this evening at our diocean Cathedral. The mass was in Spanish, but truth be told, it’s very similar to going to a Latin mass, in the fact that I don’t understand a word that’s being said.
Christ is there, and that is the important part. But when they got the point of consecration in the mass, the altar boy went and got the ciborium out of the tabernacle, and the officient said a short prayer, and then started distributing the hosts. At the point when I realized there was no sacrifice, I guessed that this was a simple communion service, and that the person conducting the service was a deacon and not a priest. It’s been a while since I went to an OF parish on a regular basis, and didn’t realize it was a deacon by the vestments.I made a pretty quick call to simply pray a spiritual communion and not receive a pre-blessed host. While there were some very pious people there, and most received on the tongue (and two kneeling!), I still felt awkward receiving. I knew it was canonically licit, but I also was still suffering disappointment that I didn’t get to assist at a true mass where I could fix an intention to God at the offering. For me, the act of the mass is not only the receiving of the body, blood, soul and divinity of my Savior, but a true sacrifice as well as prayers of adoration, contrition, thanksgiving and petition. Without the sacrifice and offering at the altar, the experience rang extremely hollow for me.
Also, on a side note, it broke my heart that I went to a diocean Cathedral that claims to have the second largest Sunday mass attendance after St. Patrick’s in New York, and yet they don’t have enough priests to do a daily Mass twice a day, or that they couldn’t get a sub in for one mass if there was a problem with the regular priest. I prayed to Mary for vocations, and for saintly priests who were loyal to the magisterium and who take their roles as guardians of souls with dire seriousness.
So if you’re a regular EF’er, what would you have done? Was I getting all Pharisee on everyone, with my action being tantamount to a prayer of “Thank you, Lord, that I am not like other Catholics”? Or did I miss out on an opportunity to receive a sacrament because I didn’t want to receive from someone who has not (both physically and spiritually) purified themselves before presenting me with the Body of Christ? Am I in need of a lesson in humility, or am I thinking too much about the situation?