TRIDENTINE MASS

I'm supposed to be in bed by now. I'm really sleepy and sluggish, but I do not want to forget the moment, so I'm staying up late to type this up.

I know Harbie has already attended an "Old Roman" mass. I've read it on her blog. And I'll set up a link as soon as I find that post in her blog. :-) But I've never experienced the Old way of celebrating the mass. And after seeing the funeral mass of the late Pope John Paul II, I wanted to experience how it was done before.

I found out that they call it Tridentine. Don't ask me where that word came from. 'Coz I didn't bother looking it up. And I found that they have two churches here in the Bay Area that celebrate the Tridentine mass. I've been wanting to go forever (ok. i'm exaggerating. it was maybe 5 months), but I, initially, couldn't find someone to go with. When I did find one, it took us a while to set it up.

We were supposed to go last month, but because of other pressing concerns, we weren't able to go. By the way, in Our Lady of Peace (church), the Tridentine Mass is celebrated only on the first Saturday of the month. So we had to wait for another month.

And that month finally came today! I just got back from the Tridentine Mass. It started at 7:30 pm. We got there at about 7:10 and we saw bits and pieces of preparation. For one, they took out the altar and put it by the side. They put the chalice and the paten (i'm not sure if that's the correct term) right in front of the tabernacle. They put a book on each side of the tabernacle. And they closed off the entrance to the altar.

Gerard, my friend who I went with, wanted to buy a Tridentine Missal (both in English and Latin) so we can follow the ceremony. But he didn't. And I'm glad he didn't, because we didn't need it after all. The parish provided us with Tridentine Missals (complete with pictures and descriptions of what the priest is doing and why he's doing it - more on this later), a Music Sheet, and a sheet for the readings (both in English and Latin).

I've always known that in the olden times, the priest had his back turned against the people, completely ignoring them except for the "the Lord be with you" part. So, I wasn't surprised about that. What surprised me is ... well, I'll discuss that later.

So, the priest came in with altar servers. There was Gregorian chanting in the background. Then he faced the tabernacle. He bowed down. He incensed the altar. The altar servers incensed him (I'm not using the proper terms ... I'm sorry ... I'm really sleepy). Then people knelt (I had no idea why). Then the people stood up (I had no idea why). Then all of a sudden, the Gregorian chanters were singing Kyrie Eleison.

Though I'm not well-versed in Latin, I had enough Catholic education to know that that's the "Lord, have mercy" part. And so I was like, "WAIT!!! Where's the 'good evening everyone' or the sign of the cross or any introductory remark? What just happened???"

And then there was silence, as the priest did something in front, which I could not see as his back was turned against the people and it didn't help that Gerard and I were sitting way in the back of the Church. Then, all of a sudden, we started singing the Gloria. And I was like, "what happened there? why are we in the Gloria now? Where's the prayer of the priest? Why are there so many words in the missal that I didn't even hear the priest say? What's going on?"

And then the priest sang (in Gregorian chant) "Oremus" which I guess meant, "Let us pray." So, I kinda understood what part of the mass that was. And I think we responded with the Amen. And then we sat down. And then the priest started chanting in Latin again. And I was like, "is he still praying? or is this the first reading?" I thought that the priest would say the first reading with him facing the people. But he still had his back turned against the people. Since he was chanting, I wasn't sure if what he was chanting would be found in the music sheet or the missal. And it took me a while to find it. It wasn't in either of the two. It was in the third sheet, the sheet for the readings. He only had 3 more sentences to say when I finally found it. Gerard, apparently, was as clueless as I was. He was reading the missal trying to look for where we were at in the ceremony. I pointed to him where we were. And apparently, that helped.

Then the priest chanted the Gospel. Then he finally faced the people and read the reading and the gospel in English. The gospel is different from tomorrow's gospel reading. The gospel reading he read for today dealt with Jesus telling His apostles, "a little while you won't see Me. a little while you will see Me." And he dwelt with the three words, "a little while." It was a long homily, but it was a great one. Even though I had no idea what was going on in the mass, at least I got a good homily.

Then, I think we sang the Creed. I don't remember anymore. What was weird was there were parts when we were kneeling then standing then kneeling again during the creed. And since we were reading the Latin I didn't know which parts in the English Creed we were kneeling or standing for.

Then it was the Offertory. There was still Gregorian Chanting in the background. The priest was still silent, but obviously doing something. That's when I realized that the priest doesn't say the words of the mass for the people to hear. He says it only for God. No wonder my mom said she had no idea what they were doing at the Latin mass she used to attend as a kid. It's because you do not see what the priest is doing and you do not hear what he's saying. And unfortunately for my mom, she didn't have the missal that we had in the Church today. At least, after realizing that most parts of the Tridentine mass were said in silence, I was able to follow it a bit by reading the drawings of the priest's posture and explanations for what he's doing.

During the consecration, you don't even hear the words that Jesus spoke. You know, the "this is My body..." You just hear a bell then you see the priest genuflect then you see him holding the bread up high (while you hear the bell sounded 3x). And that goes for the wine, too.

Then, it was time for communion. Oh, there was no peace be with you. And the Our Father was said by the priest only. Anyway, this was traditional communion wherein you have to go to the front of the altar and kneel. You can only receive communion through the tongue. The priest waves the wafer in front of you in the form of a cross, says something in Latin, and then administers the wafer on your tongue. You're not supposed to say Amen. I did because I didn't know any better. Gerard told me only after the mass.

And then the mass ended ... after a long while. It was already 9 pm. It was an hour and a half long mass.

I was surprised at the silence at the mass. It made the celebration very solemn. And it left me clueless as to what was happening at the mass.

I was also surprised at how difficult it is to sing Gregorian chants. Golly! We had a music sheet in front of us, with the notes on them, and we couldn't follow it. It was too darn difficult. I know that the person in front of me was probably annoyed because I was singing off key. It didn't help that I didn't know how to pronounce things in Latin. hehe.

But other than those, it was a precious experience. I want to go again next month. At least I won't be as clueless as I was earlier. Hopefully, it'll be a better celebration for me. One where I can find myself concentrating on the worship rather than trying to figure out what's happening.