How should we watch live-streamed Masses? With a cup of coffee? --from a priest

  • Thread starter Thread starter mdgspencer
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
CaliCatholic247 said:
I would “assist” fully dressed; toothbrushing, haircombing facewashing done.
No beverages. It’s self indulgent.
Shoes and socks on. Sitting upright in a chair or on a sofa.
It’s the Lord. You know, the LORD? Who we have asked to deliver us from the plague?
We need to fear the Lord, honor Him with our best effort. He deserves my best.
Click to expand...
I did not win the battle of shoes, but we otherwise did this for Sunday TV Mass. I’m not sure I’d do the same for watching a weekday Mass. I think we all have different ways of coping with the loss of Sunday Mass.
 
Mass on tv is not the same as attending mass. It never has been. I pray along but do not care what I wear. I am not going to mass. Only the three people there, the bishop the priest and the deacon went to that mass. The rest of us watched tv.
 
CaliCatholic247 said:
40.png
CaliCatholic247:
I would “assist” fully dressed; toothbrushing, haircombing facewashing done.
No beverages. It’s self indulgent.
Shoes and socks on. Sitting upright in a chair or on a sofa.
It’s the Lord. You know, the LORD? Who we have asked to deliver us from the plague?
We need to fear the Lord, honor Him with our best effort. He deserves my best.
Click to expand...
I did not win the battle of shoes, but we otherwise did this for Sunday TV Mass. I’m not sure I’d do the same for watching a weekday Mass. I think we all have different ways of coping with the loss of Sunday Mass.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
For what it’s worth, I did likewise (I do not wear shoes in the house) when preparing for the livestreamed Traditional Latin Mass, but the video and audio kept freezing up, and it was unwatchable. Turns out, I had left my VPN from the UK on from the night before (translated: I tricked my computer into thinking it was in Britain), and did not realize that it stays active even when you close the program. That was slowing down the stream, and I did not find this out until the Mass was over.
Click to expand...
 
I felt pretty dumb when I realized that live stream didn’t necessarily mean it was live. Here I was thinking it was going on nearly in real time down the street but really they just kept playing the same Mass from Saturday evening. 🙁
 
DisorientingSneeze said:
I felt pretty dumb when I realized that live stream didn’t necessarily mean it was live. Here I was thinking it was going on nearly in real time down the street but really they just kept playing the same Mass from Saturday evening.
Click to expand...
I always thought “livestream” meant precisely that, streaming in real time, whereas recordings are just “streaming video” without the “live” qualifier.

I suppose that on some deep theological level, it is “better” to join in the Mass spiritually at the actual time it takes place — there is no question of obligation — but as a practical matter, better a recorded Mass than no Mass at all.

Mass is where time meets eternity anyway.
 
Caveat: If we intend to make an act of Spiritual Communion, we should be properly disposed.

That’s all.
 
Live streamed liturgies are the closest thing we have right now to actual attendance.
It’s not the same as being there; but it certainly is a wonderful way of using technology for the New Evangelization that Pope Saint John Paul II spoke of.
Click to expand...
Since we are longing for actual attendance; do the best you can to approximate it. Be reverent, avoid eating / drinking during the liturgy, and sing along / say the responses if you like. Absorb the Word of God in the Readings, Gospel and Homily. We can be fed in this way, even without being physically there.

Most of all, be thankful that we have these tools, which can help shrink the feelings of isolation and separation we are currently enduring.

Like a deer who longs for running water, so we long for the LORD,
Deacon Christopher
 
Growing up in the parsonage, the the Bishop’s residence was next door. My dad and the bishop would sit on either back patio and enjoy a couple of cigars and a beer every Monday evening.
 
A Catholic Bishop? That’s super cool!
 
Last edited:
They’d compare notes and just enjoy being neighbors and in the same profession.
 
I take part as if I was there, saying the prayers, standing and kneeling at the relevant parts.
 
HomeschoolDad said:
I always thought “livestream” meant precisely that, streaming in real time, whereas recordings are just “streaming video” without the “live” qualifier.
Click to expand...
Yes, that’s what live streaming means… our cathedral is “live streaming” Mass four times on Sunday so that the faithful have different options to tune in “live” rather than relying on a recording at any time during the day (though that is also an option).
 
Diaconia said:
Live streamed liturgies are the closest thing we have right now to actual attendance.
It’s not the same as being there; but it certainly is a wonderful way of using technology for the New Evangelization that Pope Saint John Paul II spoke of.
Click to expand...
This is so true. I know that, in certain circles, there is kind of a sneering contempt at mass electronic media and online alternatives, as though it would be more desirable to have to wait for a daily newspaper, for letters from loved ones in the mail, and to allow rumors to spread by word of mouth in one’s neighborhood or village. I hate to have to be the one to bear bad news, but it’s not 1896 anymore. We are not Amish.

They’re few and far between, but there are people out there like that. I hope they all stay well.
Click to expand...
 
It’s what is in your heart that is more important- like Jesus is always telling us (well the Pharisees). As long as you don’t forget why you are doing something and have a pure heart this is just like all those rituals the pharisees did. No point in dressing up and standing sitting etc. if your heart isn’t pure and filled with love and devotion for what is happening on the screen. But if you act in a slovenly way sitting in pjs and eating and drinking it may predispose you to behave in an irreverent manner, though it cannot be judged so by appearance alone. We can’t see what’s in anyone’s heart so cant say how we should watch mass, only suggest how we should feel and act which is with the same love and devotion as we would if we were there for time and space aren’t anything to God who is spirit. That’s my opinion anyway.
 
DisorientingSneeze said:
40.png
CaliCatholic247:
I would “assist” fully dressed; toothbrushing, haircombing facewashing done.
No beverages. It’s self indulgent.
Shoes and socks on. Sitting upright in a chair or on a sofa.
It’s the Lord. You know, the LORD? Who we have asked to deliver us from the plague?
We need to fear the Lord, honor Him with our best effort. He deserves my best.
Click to expand...
I did not win the battle of shoes, but we otherwise did this for Sunday TV Mass. I’m not sure I’d do the same for watching a weekday Mass. I think we all have different ways of coping with the loss of Sunday Mass.
Click to expand...
I know that we are dispensed from the obligation and I know I was not physically present so it’s not the same as being at Mass. But for me personally it was either watch it in real time and participate as though I were in that church, at that time, or don’t bother tuning in.

Which is why tonight I’ll be joining the military parish where a friend of mine is Chaplain and participating in a Vigil that is 3 time zones away. And even though it will be 11 p.m. I won’t be in my pyjamas.

But that’s just what I have to do for me. Because Mass is about the only place, other than work, where I interact with people. I have no family nearby and my best friend moved away 4 years ago. So in these days of social isolation, this introvert has no social life to miss, only Mass.
 
porthos11 said:
Coffee is perfectly fine because I am not at Mass.
Click to expand...
Totally agree. I have been watching our diocesan live stream. I love our bishop and that he has been providing this for us. I watch it intently—but I do have a cup of coffee with me. Thankful as I am for the live stream Mass, I can’t pretend that I am actually there in person.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top