Sunday, March 31, 2013

Today's Desire

Today I woke up, got out of bed and went in to pray my morning prayers.  After just a few minutes I realized I had an overwhelming desire to go to Easter Mass right now!!  But the Mass I wanted to participate in was not the one I will be attending today at 1 pm local time.  This Mass of my Dreams would be held in a cathedral or other beautiful, old church (or a beautiful new Church!,).  When I arrive early to pray, there will already be others there, in silence, praying.  As Mass begins, the building will fill with all ages and all walks of life.  An organ and trained (or at least practiced) choir will lead us in hymns - old hymns, some in Latin.  The priest will be in stately vestments, altar boys in cassock and surplice, there will be candles in the procession.  Copious quantities of incense will be used - the good, "smells like Heaven" kind of incense.  The black will be prayed, the red will be done.  The Liturgy of the Word read by strong and prepared readers.  Homily well prepared and relevant, delivered with some passion.  Liturgy of the Eucharist to be prayed ad orientem.  Eucharistic Prayer I used, and there are kneelers in the pews!!  The Sanctus and Agnus Dei and Mysterium fidei in Latin, and no hand holding during the Lord's Prayer.  Kiss of Peace could be omitted, but if done, done reverently and quietly.  And there is an altar rail, which is used for its intended purpose.  And silence ... there are many moments of sacred silence throughout the Mass.  Then, once the Mass is finished, many people stay to pray for a few minutes, and those who leave do so in silence out of respect.  People genuflect toward the Tabernacle, which I almost forgot, is right where it is supposed to be:  centered behind the altar.

Quite the dream, isn't it?  Unfortunately we have none of this here in our little Mission Parish.  But a girl can dream, can't she?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Haha...welcome to the club...! My dream is attending an Easter Vigil in the Extraordinary Rite, even though probably my problem with Easter Vigil has more to do with liturgy being messed up with than the rite . But I too would want the church filled with people from all ages and walks of life, instead of sanctimonious smart-ass types...it was in that spirit that I've been dumb enough to approach my Parish priest (after waiting a year and a half for the opportunity...) inquiring about Sumorum Ponitifcum and the EF. Needless to say, he basically ran me out of his office... :)

But hope springs eternal, huh...?

Shelly said...

Well, it could definitely be worse here! Today the pastor did try incense, but 1. They need to get a different charcoal, it doesn't burn hot enough and adds an acidic undertone to the incense, and 2. Our building is really too small for incense - not for me, I could bathe in the stuff, but most people don't like it as much as I do.

There are just days I get tired. I really only want the rites done right. I've come to realize that's asking a lot, and days like today having to put up with so much less than what it could be, really wear on me. I would think it takes the same effort (perhaps less) to follow what is in the book. Why can't "they" just do that one simple thing?