The silent parts of the TLM - anyone get thrown off track by this?

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lizaanne

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I’ve been to the TLM about four times now at two different parishes. There are parts of the Mass that the priest says silently. I always seem to get thrown off track when following the missal because I can’t hear him.

How do others keep track of where you are in the Mass? 🤷 Is it just time and repetition?

I do love the TLM, though I think I still prefer our wonderfully reverent and beautiful NO at our parish better. But the TLM is certainly growing on me 😃

~Liza
 
I do sometimes. It’s the variable parts of the Mass that are the cause for me. I am able to hear my priest speak in Latin but since my knowledge of Latin is extremely limited, I do not know when he is near the end which is my cue to flip the page.
 
Keep going. You’ll find it will soon become second nature 👍
 
I hope so - now I feel like I’m all a jumble of little pieces of paper and the missal. :o

~Liza
 
I don’t know what the other missals look like, but my “little missal” I got in 1959 and my '“big” missal in 1963 were St. Joseph editions - they had illustrations of what the priest was doing/saying during tthe silent part of the mass. Of course, the altar boys could always hear what the priest was saying.
 
Many people miss the whole prayer aspect of the Traditional Mass. It really doesn’t matter if you are following at exactly the same speed as the Priest or if you are reading and PRAYING in Latin or the vernacular. It really doesn’t matter. The plain secret is now and always was to…

Pray the Mass,

Don’t read the Mass or say it, pray it. That is the ticket. If the Priest finishes ahead of you or behind you, so what? It hasn’t hurt anything. It really hasn’t. No harm has been done at all.

The Pauline Rite requires that everyone speak and move in unison, almost in lockstep. In the Traditional, the laity were much freer to PRAY.

I think many have lost sight of that fact.

Please, PRAY THE MASS.

It makes all the difference in the world. It really does.
 
I’m hoping to get to a TLM this Sunday. I’m really looking forward to it, but my mother (85) has been bad mouthing the whole idea.

Sigh.
 
palmas85 said:
Please, PRAY THE MASS.

It makes all the difference in the world. It really does.
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I really do actually, though you may not have gotten that from the opening post. While the priest is celebrating the Mass in Latin, I am usually “following” along with him, praying the parts in English from the other side of the missal. The problem I have is that I tend to get messed up when he is on the silent parts and so then I feel like I’ve missed parts.

I get what you mean about not having to be in lockstep, and that’s not really the concern I have. I do feel strongly though that the important parts that I need to be in time with (pardon my lack of knowing the proper names) the Credo (if said by the people), the Sanctus, the “I am not worthy to receive You” - etc. I want to be there so I can recite them when I’m supposed to. But when I get thrown off by the silent parts then I can’t be where I want to be when I want to be there! Make sense? 🙂

Anyway - I’ll just give it time and see if that helps. It does get easier every time I go. I guess I’m just being impatient. As usual. :o

~Liza
 
palmas85 said:
Many people miss the whole prayer aspect of the Traditional Mass. It really doesn’t matter if you are following at exactly the same speed as the Priest or if you are reading and PRAYING in Latin or the vernacular. It really doesn’t matter. The plain secret is now and always was to…

Pray the Mass,

Don’t read the Mass or say it, pray it. That is the ticket. If the Priest finishes ahead of you or behind you, so what? It hasn’t hurt anything. It really hasn’t. No harm has been done at all.

The Pauline Rite requires that everyone speak and move in unison, almost in lockstep. In the Traditional, the laity were much freer to PRAY.

I think many have lost sight of that fact.

Please, PRAY THE MASS.

It makes all the difference in the world. It really does.
Click to expand...
I pray the Mass as I was taught to do lo those many years ago. Latin or English it doesn’t matter…Four different Eucharistic prayers don’t matter either. I see my mother’s finger moving along the page of those old St. Joseph Missals…Hoc est enim Corpus meum. Naw, we had no idea what that meant, we were too busy saying our rosaries.
 
Yes, my parish just started tradional latin mass in November. I volunteered to help serve so I’ve been attending all of them that I can to try to get the feel for it and to understand what’s going on.

At this point I’m still pretty confused about where we are and when we are. But I’m trying to learn and appreciate it, I really am. But it really makes me thank God for the NO mass. I have no doubt in my mind that if the TLM was all that there was, I would never have entered the Church.
 
This was never an issue for me. Ive read it and understand it. BUT, the priest is whispering, talking directly to God. He doesnt need our help reading the prayers and so on, we can unite ourselves with those same prayers or choose to do our own. Pretty sure he is the only one that can consecrate though 😉 he doesnt need my help with it. I often close my eyes and view the passion as laid out through the rosary in my head. The silence makes this much easier. At the consecration and ringing of the bells I remind my self a short prayers, We adore thee oh Christ and Bless thee, becuase by thine holy cross thou hast redeemed the world. Just some thouughts.
 
lizaanne said:
I really do actually, though you may not have gotten that from the opening post. While the priest is celebrating the Mass in Latin, I am usually “following” along with him, praying the parts in English from the other side of the missal. The problem I have is that I tend to get messed up when he is on the silent parts and so then I feel like I’ve missed parts.

I get what you mean about not having to be in lockstep, and that’s not really the concern I have. I do feel strongly though that the important parts that I need to be in time with (pardon my lack of knowing the proper names) the Credo (if said by the people), the Sanctus, the “I am not worthy to receive You” - etc. I want to be there so I can recite them when I’m supposed to. But when I get thrown off by the silent parts then I can’t be where I want to be when I want to be there! Make sense? 🙂

Anyway - I’ll just give it time and see if that helps. It does get easier every time I go. I guess I’m just being impatient. As usual. :o

~Liza
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If I understand you, you “lose track” of the celebrant during the silent parts, correct?

I attended the TLM since age 7 and had this problem at first. It gets easier over time, particularly as one gets more used to the Ordinary or unchanging part of the Mass.
 
Fred_4 said:
Yes, my parish just started tradional latin mass in November. I volunteered to help serve so I’ve been attending all of them that I can to try to get the feel for it and to understand what’s going on.

At this point I’m still pretty confused about where we are and when we are. But I’m trying to learn and appreciate it, I really am. But it really makes me thank God for the NO mass. I have no doubt in my mind that if the TLM was all that there was, I would never have entered the Church.
Click to expand...
What’s your parish, Fred 4?
 
old_school said:
This was never an issue for me. Ive read it and understand it. BUT, the priest is whispering, talking directly to God. He doesnt need our help reading the prayers and so on, we can unite ourselves with those same prayers or choose to do our own. Pretty sure he is the only one that can consecrate though 😉 he doesnt need my help with it. I often close my eyes and view the passion as laid out through the rosary in my head. The silence makes this much easier. At the consecration and ringing of the bells I remind my self a short prayers, We adore thee oh Christ and Bless thee, becuase by thine holy cross thou hast redeemed the world. Just some thouughts.
Click to expand...
I’m sorry, but this is not my concern. I’ve never ever thought that the priest “needed my help”. I don’t need to even hear him, the fact that he is silent is not the issue, it’s that because he is silent I tend to get lost. I don’t feel a need to control the Mass - I only want to be where I need to be when I need to be there. That’s all. 😦

~Liza
 
Gee, at 56 I’m still alive. My first recollection of the Mass was when I was three or four years old when I went with my mother. The bells at the Consecration sounded so much like the bells on the ice cream tricycle that I blurted out “Ice cream man, mama, ice cream man”!

Attended Catholic primer (kindegarten). We went to Mass with the rest of the school. I would submit to you that 5 and 6 year old kids have no understanding (other than they are in the presence of the Most High) today (in English) than we did then in Latin. First grade is the same.

Seven years old is the “age of reason” according to HMC. Second grade and one made one’s First Holy Communion. No, we had no idea about what was going on…Sorry, my profound sense of that which is “sacred” was imbued upon me way back when before I made my First Communion.

It is really frustrating to me that the myth that “we didn’t know what was going on” is perpetuated. We (meaning us older types) knew perfectly well that we were in the presence of that which is “sacred” before we made our First Communions. After our preparations for our First Communions we entered into full parish life even though the Mass was in Latin.
 
brotherhrolf said:
It is really frustrating to me that the myth that “we didn’t know what was going on” is perpetuated.
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I never claimed that I “don’t know what’s going on” - I know very well what’s going on.

Why is it that I don’t seem to be making myself clear here. 🤷

I know what I’m there for
I know what’s happening
I pray the Mass
I don’t need to control it or “help” the priest
I don’t need to hear the priest during the silent parts

All I was asking is if others seem to get lost when the priest is silent. That’s all. I guess I’m sorry I asked now because I don’t seem to be making myself clear.

Guess I’ll just keep going and keep getting lost until I figure it out for myself. :o

Thanks to those who did offer some practical comments.

~Liza
 
lizaan;) ne;3050735:
I never claimed that I “don’t know what’s going on” - I know very well what’s going on.

Why is it that I don’t seem to be making myself clear here. 🤷

I know what I’m there for
I know what’s happening
I pray the Mass
I don’t need to control it or “help” the priest
I don’t need to hear the priest during the silent parts

All I was asking is if others seem to get lost when the priest is silent. That’s all. I guess I’m sorry I asked now because I don’t seem to be making myself clear.

Guess I’ll just keep going and keep getting lost until I figure it out for myself. :o

Thanks to those who did offer some practical comments.

~Liza
Click to expand...
At first it seems hard because people aren’t sure how much to ‘flip ahead’ in their missals when the priest goes silent, or they’re not sure whether he’s still in the Ordinary or somewhere in the propers.

People learn this through experience. It gets easier as they become more familiar with the Ordinary and Propers.

Don’t be hard on yourself; remember that it took this Liturgy over a thousand years to develop; you’re not expected to learn everything overnight.😉
 
jj2011 said:
At first it seems hard because people aren’t sure how much to ‘flip ahead’ in their missals when the priest goes silent, or they’re not sure whether he’s still in the Ordinary or somewhere in the propers.

People learn this through experience. It gets easier as they become more familiar with the Ordinary and Propers.

Don’t be hard on yourself; remember that it took this Liturgy over a thousand years to develop; you’re not expected to learn everything overnight.😉
Click to expand...
Thank you - I truly appreciate your response. 🙂

~Liza
 
lizaanne said:
I never claimed that I “don’t know what’s going on” - I know very well what’s going on.

Why is it that I don’t seem to be making myself clear here. 🤷

I know what I’m there for
I know what’s happening
I pray the Mass
I don’t need to control it or “help” the priest
I don’t need to hear the priest during the silent parts

All I was asking is if others seem to get lost when the priest is silent. That’s all. I guess I’m sorry I asked now because I don’t seem to be making myself clear.

Guess I’ll just keep going and keep getting lost until I figure it out for myself. :o

Thanks to those who did offer some practical comments.

~Liza
Click to expand...
I have to admit that I am blind when it comes to this since I was an altar boy before the NO. On the Sundays on which I was not serving, I had my Missal as did my mother. Keeping up was never a problem…The gestures of the priest were indicative of where you were.
 
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