TLM - What do you love about it?

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Margaret_Ann

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@stpurl made an observation on another thread (boldface added by me):

"It’s probably a forlorn hope for now, but you know what I would like to see when somebody opens up a topic on the TLM? I’d like to see people telling about their favorite aspects of the same.

No “OF bashing”. And if somebody trolly starts it, the quick removal of the offending post and nobody—I mean NOBODY-commenting. Just like you’d drive past a skunk on the road—wrinkle your noise and drive on; let the thing lie until the road crew disposes of it.

Absolutely no EF bashing. Same thing. Everybody ignores the ignorance, there is a quick ‘removal’, life goes on. No later digs, no rolling eyes. Just ignore it and move on.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful?"

Source: Ad Libbing/Adding Words to The Consecration - #18 by stpurl

What do you love about the TLM/EF?

Personally, I love the TLM.

Specifically, I appreciate that many of the propers of the TLM are close to my Byzantine Divine Liturgy. In some cases (like the 40 Holy Martyrs of Sebaste) even the Alleluia/Gradual verses are the same!

@stpurl, we aim to please! ❤️
 
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I am a weekly TLM attendee and there are so many things I love about it, some are harder to put my finger on than others.

I love the reverence- the general atmosphere that this is something special, something sacred, something of utmost importance. This is from a multitude of things- the silence, the attitude of the people there, a lot of reasons.

I love the beautiful chants at High Mass- it makes me feel like I’m in Heaven. Ditto with the incense.

I love the Latin language- it’s beautiful to listen to and again it contributes to that aura of holiness.

I love the prayers/texts of the liturgy- it’s probably not an adequate explanation but the prayers are just so beautiful.

I love the Eucharistic reverence, particularly receiving Jesus on the tongue kneeling at the altar rail.

I love that there is so much less room for improvisation by the priest.

So many more reasons. Going to the TLM is just a completely different experience for me than attending an OF Mass. Same with the Byzantine Divine Liturgy, I would actually go to that if I could (just personal preference) but I absolutely love the TLM and so long as I have the opportunity I’ll not go back to the Novus Ordo. (Note to the mods- I’m not bashing the OF, just a matter of, again, personal preference.)
 
The first TLM I ever attended was a Low Mass and that was 20+ years ago. I love High Mass but also appreciate the silence of Low Mass.

I’m Ukrainian Greek Catholic so I attend the Divine Liturgy weekly.
 
I have been to English and Spanish language Masses in the USA. They are different with no words in common. If all or part of the Mass was in Latin, then at least part of the mass would be the same regardless of the native language of the congregation. The Latin language is catholic or universal and can be shared among all.
 
Everything.

I was just thinking today, when we finally get out from under this time of wandering in the desert, if I can ensure the safety of my disabled parents for a few hours (they are able to get about somewhat, but I do most of the cooking for them, grocery shopping, help my father with his shower, and so on), about once a month or every six weeks or so, I am going to make the four-hour round trip to my nearest Sunday diocesan TLM.

Sometimes you have to lose something, before you really appreciate it.
 
I was gonna write a post but after yours I don’t need to, my reasons are the same as youra.

The TLM is just so special to me, in NO masses sometimes I have difficulty immersing myself into the wondrous sacrifice and monumental event that is the mass but in the TLM it is almost effortless, praise God!
 
I like
  • its connection to my past and my ancestors
  • the fact that it won’t be changing the words to its prayers every time some Vatican committee gets the urge
  • I’m not expected to sing during it
  • I can pray the rosary during it without anyone giving me the fisheye
  • The Last Gospel
I don’t like the amount of kneeling because physically, I have difficulty kneeling for that long and once almost passed out at a TLM. I don’t want to be “that guy” who has to sit, but unfortunately, sometimes I am.
 
Afaik, English & Spanish Masses are OF. We’re trying to stick to the guidelines @stpurl suggested. Have you ever attended the EF/TLM and if so what did you like about it?
 
I share all the above feelings but there are two things which haven’t had a mention

I love the fact that it isn’t divisive. I live in a country where the population is made up of many different language communities, each of which has Mass in its own language which contributes to ghettoisation. The only Mass where we have all the nations united is the TLM. At ours we have French, Dutch, Spanish, Brits, Japanese, Poles, Hungarians, Luxembourgers, Germans, Nogerians, Chinese.

Secondly, I love the fact that it is a contemplative experience, which brings the focus away from one’s own feelings. Commenting on Gregorian Chant, one of our Chinese faithful made a remark which I would make about the whole TLM: he said “it’s like a wave, to make the soul more comfortable.”
 
Margaret_Ann said:
Afaik, English & Spanish Masses are OF. We’re trying to stick to the guidelines @stpurl suggested. Have you ever attended the EF/TLM and if so what did you like about it?
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I’m old enough to remember pre-Vatican II. When I trained to be an altar boy, I needed to memorize the Latin. So, yes, I’ve been to many Latin Masses but none since long ago.

I liked the ad orientem position of the priest in the Latin Mass where the priest faces the Tabernacle and the Holy Presence of God in the Tabernacle. I have been to ad orientem Masses as recently as this past weekend.
 
I love seeing people in the sanctuary who are all in vestments. Love seeing the altar servers taking their tasks very seriously. Love the sprinkling of the holy water at the beginning. Love the deliberate slow nature of the Mass.
Everything else that others mentioned above. Love the homilies that I hear at FSSP Mass. They are usually educational. I’ve learned a lot about the Old Testament.
 
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Gosh, Margaret Ann—that is beautiful and so is this thread!

I am so grateful for your starting this.
 
My family and I are now regular attendees at the TLM. For me, the biggest change I noticed was in my ability to just pray the mass.

I feel that at the TLM, while the priest is fulfilling his role and offering his prayers on our behalf, I can simply pray. Some weeks, I use my missal and others I’ll take along one of my favorite prayer books.

I just love the fact that my focus is centered on just praying and offering up my intentions for my loved ones and those of the entire Church.

Plus, my biggest joy is seeing how much my wife has taken to the TLM. Prior to this, I had tried to talk to my wife about attending and tried to connect the dots for her and to show her why I preferred the TLM, but naturally it didn’t resonate with her. lol

Then one day I took her to a TLM about 40 min from our home and something just clicked for her. She leaned over to me and whispered “Oh my God, I love it here!” We’ve been attending the TLM ever since.
 
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I love the prayers at the foot of the altar. “Judge me oh God, and distinguish my cause from the nation that is not holy” I can’t think of a more appropriate prayer to say before offering the sacrifice of the Mass.

I also love that it is only men that serve and offer the Mass. There is a masculinity found in the TLM that is vulnerable without being effeminate. As a man that really speaks to me and gives me an example of how I should lead my family.
 
God & you deserve the credit. ☺️ I would never have thought of it myself.
 
Weave said:
“Judge me oh God, and distinguish my cause from the nation that is not holy” I can’t think of a more appropriate prayer to say before offering the sacrifice of the Mass.
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Excellent point. In fact that pause before ascending to the Altar graphically illustrates the same idea of separation of that which is Gods from that which is not; in fact the very meaning of “Holy” is just that - “set apart.”

The idea is also expressed by the altar rail around the Sanctuary, with gates that shut.

The is one very appropriate ritual which is not strictly part of the Mass but which is still usually done for the High Mass - the Asperges - which very well portrays the link between the ancient sacrifice of the Temple, and the Sacrifice of the Mass.
 
Crusader13 said:
my biggest joy is seeing how much my wife has taken to the TLM.
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Until we started going to TLM I couldn’t persuade my wife and grown up daughter to go to church more than one every few weeks. They were practically lapsed Catholics. Now their faith has totally revived and puts mine to shame.
 
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The beautiful prayers, the spirit of reverence and solemn gravitas, the more visible connection with the past, the fact that it illuminates and makes intelligible the nature of the Mass as a sacrifice (I didn’t really understand what Mass really was until I went to the TLM); the music, language, vestments, etc. that aid in the veneration of the sacrifice and sacrament as something special.
 
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Other than the Liturgy itself, I admire how the parishioners work to follow the Mass. Almost every adult in a TLM parish I attended last year had a missal out and was using it. I didn’t see anyone who was going through the motions.
 
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