"Why I love the Traditional Latin Mass"

I’m home!  As you may have noted, I spent the weekend with a group of AWESOME people, doing AWESOME things, like going to daily Mass, listening to wonderful talks, and taking beer and brat cruises.  More on that another time.  It pertains to this post, but is not the subject of it. 

The subject of this post is “Why I love the Traditional Latin Mass.” Oh, you noticed that from the title?  Ok than.  I was working on this post before I left, but never got it finished.  Truth told, I don’t know if I could ever finish such a subject.  So I decided to recruit a little help.  I asked my friends from Sursum Corda to write down, in a short paragraph, why they love the Traditional Latin Mass, a.k.a. the Tridentine Mass, a.k.a. the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, a.k.a. the TLM.  Here are there replies (along with their ages, to forever dispel the myth that the TLM is for old people, nostalgic for their youth.) 

“There are so many things I love about the Traditional Mass that it is difficult to cut it short, but I'll try!  I'll just chose one thing. One of the many things I love about the Tridentine Mass is that it is timeless.  When I am at this Mass, I know that the words that are being said by the priest are the same as those that were once used by all of Christendom.  They were used by St. Thomas Aquinas, St John Vianney, St. Edmund Campion, and Pope St. Pius XII.  As G. K. Chesterton says, "It is of new things that men tire – of fashions and improvements and change.  It is the old things that startle and intoxicate. It is the old things that are young."” --Audrey, 20

“I love the extraordinary form of the Mass because of the reverence it inspires and the way it leads you to a more internal experience of the Holy Mass.  The music, the language, and the rituals point you to the deeper reality of what is really going on during the Mass of Christ’s Sacrifice for our salvation.” -- Joanna, 26

“It is comforting to go to. I feel closer to God.  Definitely I am in love with the reverence and beauty.”  -- Ruthanne, 18

“To know the Latin Mass is to know the history of Western Civilization.  The liturgy is the hope of our time, as it has been for the ages.  The Latin Mass is Home.” -- Petra, 21

“Love the reverence and solemnity that lift up your heart to Him.  Embracing both the sensible and the spiritual sides of our human existence, the Extraordinary Form of the Mass excels at using the more sensible things like art and music to take you to the higher, less physically sensible things of God.” -- Fabian, 25

“One of my favorite things about the Latin Mass is its universality.  It isn’t for one place or another...it is for the whole world.” -- Maddie, 24

I know I cannot say it better than these, but I will add my own.  I love the Extraordinary form because it is extraordinary.  It is beyond the ordinary.  It transcends both time and place.  It is capable of inspiring awe, reverence, and contemplation.  I think one of the things I love the most, that I do not find in the Ordinary form, is the silence.  The silence holds the words sacred, as never using God’s name aloud kept it sacred for the Jews.  The silence allows me to focus on lifting my mind and heart and sacrifices to God, along with Christ’s sacrifice of the Cross. -- Rae, 26

Please, share why you love the Tridentine Mass. You don’t have to add your age, but I think it does help to show that the appeal of the TLM is not confined to any one age group.  God Bless! 

Keeping Sunday...Part One

This is my seventh weekend at my new job, and my fifth Sunday out of that seven working.  Argh.  I knew, of course, when I got the job that I would have to work some Sundays -- every other, to be exact.  However, with training and schedule juggling and what have you, I’m working AGAIN on Sunday, and tipping over that 50/50 mark.  

I’m lucky, though.  I know that my job is necessary - I work at an assisted living facility in the dining room.  People are depending on us for their meals.  Really, it is a corporal work of mercy (even if I am getting paid.  Service with a smile and all that.  I hope.)  Anyhow.  Not everyone who has to work on Sunday has that benefit of knowing that their work is, however humble, necessary.  There are many jobs in this world where it is very necessary people work on Sundays.  I’m guessing that those who are nurses, or police officers, or firefighters, or dairy farmers are aware when they choose those careers that they will have to do some of their ordinary, everyday work on Sundays.  Keeping the Sabbath holy, for them, doesn’t always involve a day off, as much as they would maybe like it to.  I’m thinking mothers and priests fall into that category, too.  But there are other jobs that aren’t necessary.  I’m thinking specifically of those who have to work at stores.  It must be difficult knowing that the only reason you have to work on Sunday is because either someone didn’t plan ahead or couldn’t wait for something.  

Ours is a world of instant gratification.  When was the last time you stopped and thought about that?  With the internet and cell phones, instant is really really really fast.  Want that new song?  No need to wait until you can take the car or catch a bus - just download it.  Have a movie you want to see?  Just download it.  A book to read?  Download it.  New computer game? You get the idea.  The funny thing is, the more we have, the more we want.  When you don’t have to wait for one thing, it gets harder and harder to wait for other things.  What was I talking about?  Oh yes.  Sundays.  

How often do you find yourself shopping on a Sunday?  Now before you say “hardly ever,” don’t forget about that cup of coffee and doughnut from the gas station.  And that quick stop to grab buns at the grocery store on the way home from Mass.  We all do it.  Sometimes more, sometimes less.  Did you know there was a time (before the internet, I think) when gas stations weren’t open on Sundays?  Or stores?  If you ran out of gas, you had to hope a neighbor had some to spare (or you had to bang on the station owner’s door and interrupt his Sunday dinner.)  Now, gas stations are open all the time.  Which is kind of sad, because now, they don’t need to be open, and no one has to run out of gas, thanks to the whole pay-at-the-pump thing.  Which doesn’t apply in NJ because people aren’t allowed to pump their own gas, which is another sad tale.  Stores are open all the time, too, in case anyone completely emptied their cupboards on Saturday night, who hasn’t got a neighbor to borrow a cup of sugar from (yet another sad tale!) Departments stores don’t even have that excuse.  Instant gratification.  

“But,” you ask, “what does it matter?  After all, I don’t really even consider shopping work.  I actually consider it recreation.  Aren’t we supposed to relax on Sunday, after Mass, of course? The stores are all open anyhow.” 

Yup.  The stores are open.  They are open because they are making money.  And, because they are open, someone has to work.  I have never done retail work, but I hear it isn’t really recreation. Although it may fall under the category “purgatory on earth.” Which means, because of our impatience, we are ruining someone else’s Sunday.  Now don’t you feel ashamed?  I hope so.  

Actually, I hope not.  I mean, yes, we need to realize the price what we are doing, but I really don’t like making people feel bad.  It’s kinda one of my weak points.  I do, however, like making people think.  THINK!  Think outside the box!  Did you run out of flour for your fried chicken?  Call your neighbor - they might be glad to help (work of mercy points for them!.)  Or use leftover sour-cream-and-onion cracker crumbs, and invent a new family favorite.  Oooh! Better idea! Make Beer Can Chicken!  Or give everyone a break and throw in a frozen pizza (that you picked up on Saturday.) Next time you think you have to buy something on a Sunday, see if you can put it off until Monday.  Or improvise.  Or do without.  Offer it up :) God gave us six days to work and to shop.  All He asks is for one day in return, where we gather together to adore, praise, ask pardon, and thank Him in the Mass.  Then He asks us to rest, as He rested, and to allow others to do the same.  No, we don’t all get to rest on Sundays, but our work should be the sort of work that we can make holy, if we must do it.  Nurses have to nurse, doctors have to doctor, cooks (and lowly culinary assistants) have to feed the hungary, and farmers have to feed their animals.  We can’t really get around that.  But honestly, there is no reason anyone should have to sell shirts.  Or ties. Or purses.  Or even bread. Eat ice cream for breakfast if you are out of toast ;) And have a happy and holy Sunday! *hops off of soap box*

Next time on Rae’s Rambling Rants... Meatless Fridays!Also, stay tuned for “Keeping Sunday, Part 2 - How to Celebrate!”

Comments welcome - and fully expected.  After all, ranters should expect some arguments.  So should renters, especially if they really like music and are hard of hearing.....

Reflections on Adoration

  If we were able to truly comprehend the Eucharist, we would be unable to do those which we are commissioned, by God, to do. We would desire to never leave His presence, to never stop adoring, as is right and just.  Yet this is a privilege reserved for Heaven.  We know by faith that Christ is present, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.  We know we are in the presence of our Creator.  We know that He is all good, all powerful - He is everything.  We know that He loves us so much that He not only suffered and died for us - He humbled Himself to the point of allowing Himself to appear as a piece of bread.  Not only was He once a defenseless child, He now carries the form of an inanimate and defenseless piece of bread.  He wanted us to be able to receive Him, that He may receive us into His Mystical Body.  We know it all, by faith, but we do not understand it.  We cannot feel it.  Only once in a great while are we allowed that feeling, that brief glimmer of understanding.  

    We see the saints who knew this wonder intimately, and we wonder, “Why can I not have that faith!  Why can’t I see?” But what then would you do?  You, as they did, would spend hours adoring.  What of your responsibilities?  Your children?  Your work?  God gives each of us a task to complete here on earth.  Most of us will never know what that task is until we reach eternity.  For some, the job is to adore Christ and to pray.  A world without our cloistered nuns and monks would be lacking so many graces!  But for most, our job is in the world.  Essentially, we are to create new souls for Christ.  For some, this work is to convert those around us by our example.  Yet much of the work is in the family, and in the home.  I recently read a comment, I don’t remember where, that it used to be that the household produced most of its own needs.  Then, things became more specialized and the work moved outside the home, but it was still to provide for the needs of the home, and of the family.  What now is the purpose of our work?  We work to raise money to buy the things our family needs, yes.  But if you ask why we need more jobs, the answer is not “because it is good for the family” it is “it is good for the economy.”  What in the world is the economy?  And why should we care about it?  Have we perhaps lost perspective a bit?  I think so.  We have lost perspective because we can no longer see why the work that we do is a vocation from God.  It is our marching orders.  And it has a purpose in His quest for souls.  

   We cannot, must not, neglect prayer, especially prayer in the presence of Christ in the Eucharist.  No, we can’t understand its importance.  We can’t feel His presence.  But it is not because we are lacking, and it certainly isn’t because He isn’t there.  He hides Himself because He must.  He has work for us to do.  We go to Him for our marching orders, and for the provisions of grace that we need to complete those tasks.  And He is always waiting for us, always glad to see us, even when He is silent.  He is even more glad to see us when we come only on faith, and not from an emotional desire, because it is then that we prove our faith.  Someday we will see, and we will know, beyond faith, His presence; and we will have eternity to enjoy it.