Celebrations of the TLM are not going to mushroom all over the world - Page 10

BobP123 · #**136** Aug 7, '07, 6:18 pm

Quote:

Oh - by the way - the associate professor of Church music and liturgy at the seminary in my diocese does not have a degree in liturgy. His degree is in music.

Well then, having degrees in physics, math, and finance, do you think there is hope for me too?

Conciliar · #**137** Aug 7, '07, 6:30 pm

Quote:

I was in Portugal a month ago and attended Mass in Portuguese while I was there. I know the Mass, and know it quite well. Yet I was still lost on the prayers and was unable to participate in the way that has become dear to me. It certainly didn't lose its value, but if I did that every week it would quickly cost me much of the awe and personal involvement in the sacrifice that I experience when I understand the language. I know some will use this to argue against the vernacular Mass since for some it will still be a foreign language at times.

Hey John!

No, I think you might be misunderstanding the mindset of the vast majority of those here who favor the TLM. Your experience won't be used to argue against anything.

It seems to me that the overall tone of the people longing for the TLM is one that recognizes the problems with the Ordinary Form, but isn't out here trying to squash it. Yet there are most certainly those on the other side who not only dislike the TLM, they want to deny it to those who favor it.

Needless to say, your experience does make a very strong case for the unifying effect of the TLM, whether one favors it or not.

**rlg94086** · #**138** Aug 7, '07, 6:35 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobP123

Well then, having degrees in physics, math, and finance, do you think there is hope for me too?

"You're doomed" - Eeyore

Brennan Doherty · #**139** Aug 7, '07, 7:35 pm

Regarding the earlier discussion of community in this thread I thought this quote would be appropriate:

"What really matters, surely, is not whether the faithful feel at home at mass, but whether they are drawn out of their ordinary lives into the world of Christ-whether their attitude is the response of ultimate reverence: whether they are imbued with the reality of Christ.

THOSE WHO RHAPSODIZE on the new liturgy make much of the point that over the years the mass had lost its communal character and had become an occasion for individualistic worship. The new vernacular mass, they insist, restores the sense of community by replacing private devotions with community participation. Yet they forget that there are different levels and kinds of communion with other persons. The level and nature of a community experience is determined by the theme of the communion, the name or cause in which men are gathered. The higher the good which the theme represents, and which binds men together, the more sublime and deeper is the communion. The ethos and nature of a community experience in the case of a great national emergency is obviously radically different from the community experience of a cocktail party. And of course the most striking differences in communities will be found between the community whose theme is supernatural and the one whose theme is merely natural. The actualization of men's souls who are truly touched by Christ is the basis of a unique community, a sacred communion, one whose quality is incomparably more sublime than that of any natural community. The authentic we communion of the faithful, which the liturgy of Holy Thursday expresses so well in the words congregavit nos in unum Christi amor, is only possible as a fruit of the I-Thou communion with Christ Himself. Only a direct relation to the God-Man can actualize this sacred union among the faithful."

http://www.latin-mass-society.org/dietrich.htm

Naturally the entire article is excellent.