It is important that people have exposure to the older form of Mass celebrated well.
From a reader:
Hi Father,
So my wife and I went to our first TLM this last week at the TLM community here in Pittsburgh just to "see what it was about" (we moved up recently and have wanted to go for a while). She blogged on her experience/thoughts and I thought you might enjoy reading them (she does not know your blog [WHAT?!? o{];¬) ] but I am a faithful reader and know you like this sort of thing). ["this sort of thing…." hmmm…. okay… let’s move on…] We’re both fairly recent converts to Catholicism and don’t know much about liturgy, but I thought it was neat how she picked up on a lot of the points you’ve made about the TLM without looking for them….Maybe we’ve found a home…
Thanks,
Bryan S.Going to Latin Mass (http://www.joggermom.blogspot.com/)
I got to smell some incense on Sunday- we went to our first Latin Mass. I’d have to go several more times to begin to feel like I’m picking it up and to unpack my impressions, but here’s what I noticed was different. I’d also like to know why these things are not done anymore… [YES! That’s the perfect question at this point.]
• The prayers were stunning in their portrayal of God’s holiness and the egregiousness of our sin (an English translation was provided) – definitely not of the ‘Jesus is my best buddy’ variety [Yah… a stark contrast, that, for many people.]
• There was a line for confession during Mass. I think the priest stopped hearing confessions right before the Eucharist
• We received the Eucharist on the tongue while kneeling
• Almost all the women wore chapel veils
• No ‘passing of the peace’
• Choir was men only
• Less music
• Less scripture read[These things can be done in the Novus Ordo also, with the possible exception of the number of readings. Say the Black Do the Red, after all.]
Throughout the Mass, I couldn’t help but think about how God is a mystery and the ways of heaven are mysterious. [If she doesn’t know WDTPRS, she is doing a darn good imitation. Liturgical worship must lead to an encounter with mystery. That’s the whole point.] Maybe that was just me drawing a parallel between not being able to understand what the priest was saying, but it’s still the dominate impression I have of the Latin Mass as I think back on it now. After going to this Mass, I’d like to know more about why the liturgy was changed. [As you study this, you might get a little angry. So many of the things that were done in the name of the reforms required by the Second Vatican Council really had little or nothing to do with the actual reforms required. The Consilium and its…. staff… went far beyong their mandate and the exagerated "spirit of Vatican II"… spirit of discontinuity did untold damage. All so sad.] I can understand why making the switch from Latin to English seemed important, but the other changes? [The Council Fathers explicitly stated that nothing was to be chnaged unless it was truly for the good of the Catholic people. That was ignored, to our tragic loss.] It felt appropriate to kneel for the Eucharist and the prayers were beautiful and true. It seems odd that people decided these things were no longer useful for Catholics. I know very little about liturgy, but I think I can see why people would cringe over some of the changes.
Very perspicacious. Very interesting.
Bon voyage! The more you drill into this whole other dimension of your Catholic heritage the more you will want to know.
As a convert, I had the experience of discovery. I recall the powerful moment of comprehension that when I became a Catholic all of "this sort of thing", … the music, the liturgy, the lives of saints, the art, the architecture, suddenly became mine. It was my inheritance. My patrimony.
And then I saw with crystal clarity that some people had conspired to take it away from me, to insult both me and my "new" Catholic forebears by running it down and working to destroy it.
Remember, dear readers, whether you are personally into "this sort of thing" or not, the TLM, and everything that grew with it and from it through the centuries is yours. This is your patrimony. This is the greater share of the foundation of your Catholic identity even if you have never heard of it.
You cannot be more fully Catholic until you have also come to know this dimension of who you are.
It is out there waiting for you to take possession of it.
Some will try to keep it from you or run it and you down for wanting even to know it. Others are working to put it into your hands, heads and hearts… where it belongs.
After all…. it is yours.
