From a reader…
QUAERITUR:
Your recent post on ways to enrich the Novus Ordo has brought to mind something I’ve wondered for a while, how many different ways can Mass be said validly in the OF given all of the different options? e.g. just going off of 4 Eucharistic Prayers and yes/no on the sign of peace you’re already at 8 options.
Interesting question. The number of permutations might be hard to calculate.
First, you would need to know all the variables/options. Then you would have to figure which options negatively exclude other, subsequent options. Then you would do the math.
However, in a simple series of options, without lots of exclusions, etc., the number can get big really fast. You mention 8 options. Let’s double that. Let’s say that there are 16 options. There are way more than 16, but let’s say there are 16. So, 16 × 15 × 14 × 13 × … = ?
The total permutations are: 20,922,789,888,000
You decide.
