Monday, April 23, 2012

Celebrating the Latin Mass is easy!

Actually, it would be more accurate to state that celebrating the Latin Mass is not difficult, "easy" is, perhaps, not the right word to use.

To those who have never witnessed a Latin Mass I urge them to watch the video clip below; to those who maintain that the Novus Ordo is the Mass for them - again, watch the video clip.

As an altar server I have been privileged to witness at close quarters, the intimacy between the celebrant priest and the Body and Blood of Christ.
The complex and detailed moves of the priest's hands, the blessings and reverent actions that weave themselves throughout the fabric of what is truly an Extraordinary Form of Mass. The whispered prayers, the sense that God is truly present.

These are missing in the new Mass, the Ordinary Form of Mass. As Father Baker of Downham Market used to say: "They have put the liturgy into a boiler suit".
 I can find no finer way of expressing the change from the Mass in the sacred Latin form to the bland and indifferent vernacular.

I was brought up to serve the Dominican Rite of the Latin Mass - now, alas gone from my memory. But for those who have converted to the faith within the past 40 years or so there is no need for alarm. If I remember correctly, there are no major differences between the rites, a few tweaks at the prayers at the foot of the altar is all that those in the pew might notice. Both are holy and both are good and I would dearly like to attend a Dominican Mass once more.



Two elements are wrong in this Mass. Can you spot them? Answers in the comments box please.

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