Oremus

Out of curiosity, I got up very early this morning and attended a Latin mass held at a local church by the Norbertines. I have to say, I was fascinated. Despite growing up regularly attending mass--and even having attended masses in Irish and Spanish, I did not "catch" as much as I thought I would! See, it wasn't just in Latin---the Tridentine service is a different service all together from what I'm used to. Fortunately, booklets were passed out before mass from Una Voce, which helped quite a bit, but I really had to pay attention, not just to the Latin, but also to the silence--and the bells. The priest faced the altar for most of the mass, and communion was distributed to us while we were kneeling. I was quite surprised that not only the prayers, but all the readings were all in Latin (Deo Gratis for the translations!--yes, speaking Latin already!) Frankly, it was the best homily I've heard in a long time (not counting you, Fr. F!) about sins of speech and how we hurt and deceive one another so easily with our words. And I have to say, it was lovely and sacred in a way "regular" masses are not.

I did not wear a head covering, though most of the women did. I brought a scarf with me, just in case, but everyone was wearing those lovely mantillas, so I didn't pull mine out. At any rate, I have to admit that I'm not sure how I feel about head coverings for women. (But the mantillas are so beautiful--I might be talked into it!)

I'm very intrigued. I'm fascinated to learn where we as Catholics have come from. It was easy to see where misunderstandings could occur in a service where so much is said in a different language, or not said aloud at all! (Again, thanks be to God for the booklet that so thoroughly explained everything!) I would like to take James sometime, and make this a part of our understanding of our faith. I'm curious to know what he will think!