I’ve had a similar issue.
I have been attending the EOF (Latin Mass) for nearly 8 years now. My girlfriend is devout, but is a recent attendee of the EOF.
She absolutely loves it, but gets embarrassed because she has troubles following along. Basically, we remedy that by me pointing in the text in my missal and her following me, because I know pretty much exactly what’s going on at any given time, thanks to my experience with it.
About the “active participation”:
The claim or assumption that the EOF not has no room for active participation is absolutely, completely false.
In fact, the EOF has MORE room for participation than the OF, in my opinion.
You follow along, praying the prayers YOURSELF, and you’re given the ability to go over the words in your own mind, to think and absorb them, rather than just listen to the priest say the words. They’ve got a much better chance of sinking in when you read them as opposed to when you just listen to them.
In fact, they’re so much more powerful when they’re so sacred they can’t be read aloud.
Moreover, the OEF requires that you actively read and pay attention to what is going on up at the altar so you can follow along.
All this is PERSONAL participation, as opposed to the COMMUNAL participation of the typical OF Mass said in the vernacular and with the priest facing the people. One isn’t necessarily better than the other, but it’s just different. Some Catholics, like me, prefer it.
Good luck! I’m glad you can share this beautiful and sacred tradition with your loved one. I can tell you that the OEF has strengthened my relationship, and it is fantastic to have a relationship based upon love and the Church’s tradition rather than the rank physicality and disrespect of the gift of sexuality present in most relationships today.
