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Sunday, October 10, 2010

SAINT JOSEPH CHURCH, MACON, GA, OCTOBER'S EXTRAORDINARY FORM OF THE HIGH MASS

Many thanks to Dr. Buck Melton for photographing our Extraordinary Form of the Mass. You can click once or twice on each photo to enlarge it. Can you pick out two places where the Ordinary Form of the Mass is influencing the Extraordinary Form of the Mass in this magnificent celebration? I believe if this form of the Mass allowed for the vernacular for the parts of the Mass people hear and even the revised OF Lectionary, that most people would prefer this to the current OF Mass. What do you think?
Getting ready for the Entrance Procession

The Procession

Prayers at the Foot of the Altar

Incensing the priest during the singing of the Introit

Dominus Vobiscum!

The Opening Collect

Full, conscious and active participation, hallmarks of any Post Vatican II Mass including the Extraordinary Form!

A pew's eye view

The reading of the Epistle with the OF influencing the EF!

Transfer of the Roman Missal for the Gospel

Incensing the Book of the Gospel

Proclamation of the Gospel OF style!

The Singing of the Gospel, another view!

Credo!

The Schola and daughter

"Te Igitur" The beginning of the Roman Canon from a neat point of view!


Continuing the Roman Canon

Elevation of the most Precious Body of our Risen Lord under the metaphor of Holy Bread

The elevation of the Chalice of the Most Precious Blood of our Risen Savior under the metaphor of Holy Wine

An ethereal "Ecce Agnus Dei!"

I have distributed the Most Precious Body and Blood of our Risen Lord for well over 30 years to people standing. In the past three years of celebrating the EF Mass and distributing Holy Communion to kneeling communicants, I must say that from an external point of view it is much more reverent looking and from an internal point of view leads to more piety, reverence and faith in the Real Presence of our Lord. We need to return to this practice!

After the "Ite Missa Est" and the "Final Blessing" and the "Last Gospel" we finally have the Recessional!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful! I've never experienced the readings done in the way you present them here, but wouldn't object to it. It seems like a good development, and I totally agree that the old Mass would probably catch on like wildfire in some places were it allowed in vernacular with the new lectionary. I'm curious - what are your thoughts about allowing the "1965 Missal," but perhaps with the three-year lectionary and some allowance for lay lectors? I've never experienced the 65-70 missal, but it would seem that it has a lot of flexibility and fulfills the objectives of the council. If you celebrated it in Latin in a "traditional" way it would be hard to really distinguish it from the 1962 Mass, and if you celebrated it in vernacular with hymn singing, you would pretty much give it the most appealing characteristics of the new Mass.

J Wayne

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

I think allowing the 1965 missal would be great. The prayers at the foot of the altar are shortened by not emasculated; there is only a minor shift in the rubrics concerning the Per Ipsum and the placement of the priest's host on the paten, changes that most people wouldn't even detect. Of course the Last Gospel is eliminated. I think that should be optional. In a high Mass it is suppose to be said silently, so why not just eliminate it and keep it for Low Masses. I don't know why there is a phobia of the 1965 missal. In actuality, you could use its order of the Mass and still use all the orations and prefaces of the OF Mass with its lectionary, and revised calendar.

The Moderate Jacobite said...

Whilst not wishing to encourage support of a group in an irregular relationship with Rome, I would mention that when on holiday in Paris a couple of years ago I went to Mass at the S.S.P.X church of S. Nicolas du Chardonnet. The readings were done in that form with a server/additional cleric (not clear which) reading them in French facing the people.

Scott said...

My earliest church memories are of the 1965 Missal (we had the small brown St. Joseph Sunday Missal and Hymnal...brought our own to our new suburban church still being finished at the time).

I would love sometime to see a video or photos of a 1965 Missal parish Mass.

We had a freestanding altar in the temporary church (which is now the education wing), and the sedilia were in front of the altar, facing the people (yes, sitting with backs to the altar and tabernacle). I don't remember any solemn Masses but plenty of sung ones with the celebrant flanked by two servers. I'm foggy on how the prayers at the foot of the altar were done and on what parts the people participated in. Wish we had a video of one of our parish Masses from back then!

Anonymous said...

Yes, indeed it is the custom in France with the FSSPX to read the lesson and Gospel at a Low Mass in the vernacular. I have never seen this done at a Sung or Solemn Mass of the Society.

However, this was done by the Society of St. John when that community was in the Scranton diocese.

Gpmtrad said...

It's heartening to see photos of the True Mass packed to the rafters with the young! Novus Ordonian celebrations are all gray hair -- among the fifteen or twenty people who bother to show up. Yes, truly this is the way forward!

Anonymous said...

Maintaining the rubrics of the 1962 Missal intact I might cautiously say yes, that might be a good development and finally close the awful chapter known as the post conciliar period.

Joe of St. Thérèse said...

I wouldn't object...yet, can we have accurate translations of the new lectionary...the current translations make me sick.