T
TheLastSecondMan
Guest
Thank you. Glory to Jesus Christ. The highlights are at the end if this is TLDR. This is a story of beauty. I would like to mention one factor of the internet that has strengthened and matured my faith.
In 2017, I saw for the first time the Christmas Liturgy from the Moscow Patriarchate. Even though I did not know what was happening, the beauty intrigued me to look further. I began to look at clips on YouTube. I then took steps to see this further. I followed a Byzantine (Ruthenian) Catholic parish on YT, after mass I would watch liturgy. I did not know everything that was happening and the accents/singing were hard to understand at times. But I endured. Fast forward to Holy Week 2019, I attended my first Presanctified Liturgy that was guaranteed in the bulletin to be English only. The stunning chants, the beautiful icons, bells and incense (at a weekday service!!) and lovely rituals at St Josaphat`s Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral in Edmonton took me by surprise. I came home and told my parents “I saw something heavenly”. This would repeat at my first Sunday Divine Liturgy, Vespers, and Emmanuel Moleben experiences.
I henceforth pledged in Great Lent 2020 to attend the Presanctified Liturgy every Wednesday. However, Covid-19 happened. Churches shut. But as the doors shut, the screens opened up. I looked up the cathedral’s streams. They gave me a fulfilling Lent and fulfilled my dream of attending Resurrection Matins and Divine Liturgy in English!
Very soon, the Orient opened as well. A Maronite parish with a wise priest and solemn liturgy opened their doors (quite literally, his parish was the only one besides an SSPX chapel to remain open to the public) wide to us with invigorating homilies and solemn chants, a Syro-Malabar cathedral showed me how the youth are the future and the Syro-Malankara showed how we should show beauty in our faith.
Our separated brethren also showed me this beauty. I particularly love the Church of the East and the Syriac Orthodox. A more Semitic perspective is very refreshing considering how the church was born in Israel. The Copts, Greek Orthodox, and Armenians were also nice too.
The church needs beauty to sustain herself. English is also the language of the church of the future. By having this beauty expressed in both the native language of millions and the 2nd/3rd etc. language of a billion, we can help the Roman Church also discover and recover her inner beauty. Many can convert if we show this beauty.
Thank you CAF for helping my journey. I would also like to thank bulletins, orders of service, and subtitles. I recommend to watch the livestreams of our Eastern Catholic friends. Once you watch online this solemnity, you will want to go in person. Then you will keep coming back. Let this time of pandemic be your opportunity to discover something new.
What were your favourite experiences with a livestreamed or recorded liturgy?
In 2017, I saw for the first time the Christmas Liturgy from the Moscow Patriarchate. Even though I did not know what was happening, the beauty intrigued me to look further. I began to look at clips on YouTube. I then took steps to see this further. I followed a Byzantine (Ruthenian) Catholic parish on YT, after mass I would watch liturgy. I did not know everything that was happening and the accents/singing were hard to understand at times. But I endured. Fast forward to Holy Week 2019, I attended my first Presanctified Liturgy that was guaranteed in the bulletin to be English only. The stunning chants, the beautiful icons, bells and incense (at a weekday service!!) and lovely rituals at St Josaphat`s Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral in Edmonton took me by surprise. I came home and told my parents “I saw something heavenly”. This would repeat at my first Sunday Divine Liturgy, Vespers, and Emmanuel Moleben experiences.
I henceforth pledged in Great Lent 2020 to attend the Presanctified Liturgy every Wednesday. However, Covid-19 happened. Churches shut. But as the doors shut, the screens opened up. I looked up the cathedral’s streams. They gave me a fulfilling Lent and fulfilled my dream of attending Resurrection Matins and Divine Liturgy in English!
Very soon, the Orient opened as well. A Maronite parish with a wise priest and solemn liturgy opened their doors (quite literally, his parish was the only one besides an SSPX chapel to remain open to the public) wide to us with invigorating homilies and solemn chants, a Syro-Malabar cathedral showed me how the youth are the future and the Syro-Malankara showed how we should show beauty in our faith.
Our separated brethren also showed me this beauty. I particularly love the Church of the East and the Syriac Orthodox. A more Semitic perspective is very refreshing considering how the church was born in Israel. The Copts, Greek Orthodox, and Armenians were also nice too.
The church needs beauty to sustain herself. English is also the language of the church of the future. By having this beauty expressed in both the native language of millions and the 2nd/3rd etc. language of a billion, we can help the Roman Church also discover and recover her inner beauty. Many can convert if we show this beauty.
Thank you CAF for helping my journey. I would also like to thank bulletins, orders of service, and subtitles. I recommend to watch the livestreams of our Eastern Catholic friends. Once you watch online this solemnity, you will want to go in person. Then you will keep coming back. Let this time of pandemic be your opportunity to discover something new.
What were your favourite experiences with a livestreamed or recorded liturgy?