Monday, October 24, 2011

The End of Monday Morning Rants...

You may remember a time, not that long ago, when every Monday, almost without fail was a "I-can't-believe-what-happened-at-Mass-yesterday" rant.  I felt like I was spending most of Mass trying not to be upset that someone had taken it upon themselves to change the words to the Our Father, or was ad libbing their way through the Liturgy of the Eucharist.  And of course, there was the baby glaring incident that made me exceptionally eager to leave our last parish and find a new, baby friendly, home.

When we arrived in Florida it took us a few weeks to find a good fit.  The first week Paul went to two Masses and was fairly sure he'd crossed two parishes off the list of potential homes.  "Cam.  You really wouldn't have liked it." He said of the second when he called me that night and I skeptically asked if it could really be that bad: "They were actually singing a hymn by the name of 'We are Church.'"

The third parish we attended we liked quite a bit, but then we made the fairly long drive out to the main campus chapel and fell in love.  The quiet reverence of the Mass was amazing.  But there was a drawback.  Our 1999 van has over 100,000 miles on it and guzzles gas like there's no tomorrow.  Driving over twenty miles each way would add up quickly, particularly since the car appeared to be on its last legs as it was.  As we drove, power steering fuel trailed behind us, despite various efforts with liquids that claimed they would fix the problem (a few hundred dollars later the leak has at least been fixed), and so we knew that we needed to find someplace closer to home.

Then we began to hear of a Latin Mass at one of the first parishes Paul had attended (not the "We are Church" one).  And we heard that it was beautiful and reverent.  So we gave it a try, and managed to get the girls up and dressed and out the door by 7:45 in the morning.

As you may have noticed, there hasn't been a Monday morning (or Sunday evening) rant since we made the switch.  As I'd long suspected, it is possible for a Mass to be conducted without a single blatant liturgical abuse taking place.  With the Eucharist as the very obvious central focus, it would be glaringly odd for anyone to try to place themselves in the spotlight.  So the focus stays where it belongs, on God, who loved us enough to give us this great gift.

Thankfully this means that Mass is no longer a near occasion of sin... in which I do my best no to wince  over and over again and don't feel even vaguely tempted to write a letter to the Bishop.  And I'm so grateful for this.

Prayers for all of you who are stuck in places where twists and changes in the liturgy means that Mass does feel like a frustrating near occasion of sin.  And prayers that in the future those instances are few and far between as we transition to the new translation.  I've been reading Mass Revision by Jimmy Akin and I'm really excited to see what the coming months hold!

Now for a little sleep before I fall asleep at the keyboard.  I find out tomorrow afternoon if I'm going to be having surgery...

2 comments:

  1. That is one thing I really enjoyed about the liturgy at TAC, the focus was really on the Eucharist. I didn't have to worry about people coming up and trying to socialize or get me to participate in the mass.

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  2. What a blessing it must be to go somewhere where there are no liturgical abuses.

    No EMHC doing blessings, no theologically questionable or outright heretical songs, reverent focus on GOD and HIS great gift to us rather than a huggy back-patting we're so good fest.

    I bet your choir is NOT up in the sanctuary, front and center, behind the altar and up on risers so they are higher than both the tabernacle and the altar cross?

    I keep looking but this isn't exactly an area full of orthodox Catholics. Most of the really wonderfully orthodox Catholics I've known here have all passed away now. sigh.

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