Well, I just came back from a Tridentine (Latin) mass. I’m reaaaally really tired - had to get up at 3 am to get to work by 5 am so I could leave early to attend the 2 pm mass - so I probably won’t make much sense. In addition, I’m still integrating a lot of it, too. So here’s first impressions.
I had difficulty keeping up of course, not so much because I couldn’t read the latin, but because it was a low mass, the missal was for the high mass, so some parts were skipped.
The mass itself -
interesting
powerful
humbling
I can honestly say, it’s the first time I’ve ever felt that Christ really was present in the Eucharist. That accounts for a good deal of the humbling part.
But there was also something else….
Normally, I’m a very shielded person. The ritual itself, or maybe it’s the prayers that the priest say, seem designed to lower those shields. It strips you bare, and make you vulnerable. NOT IN A BAD WAY. But in a - gotta-get-down-to-the-nitty-gritty-of-yourself-before-you- can-receive-Christ, kinda way.
What I didn’t like about it -
Since it was a low mass, there was no singing or chanting or music. That I did miss. I mean - this was the first Tridentine mass, ever, in the Co-Cathedral (it was built post-Vatican II) - and the first Latin mass in Tallahassee in many many years. People who would have come to it, would have been looking for the bells, whistles, and Gregorian chants.
When the guy polled the different congregations to see if anyone would be interested in attenting a Tridentine Mass, he got about 50 responses. In his blog, he said he would be happy if 100 attended. If I were to guess, I’d say between 200 - 250 attended, of all different ages.
OK. Nap time. More later maybe.
