On the first Saturday of the month, our traditional Mass is sung. One of the important features of the traditional liturgy is that you just do whatever is on the calendar, regardless of any personal preference. So I sang several readings and collects before getting to the epistle. Since I will be singing Mass at St Cecilia's in Ryde in a couple of weeks and they usually use the more ancient tone for the collects, it was a good opportunity for me to get used to this tone which I do not normally use.One of my young servers was MC for the first time. He has served for a while at the Missa Cantata but did not know the responses. After our lesson the other week, he went home and learnt them so now I have three parish servers under 16 who are competent to MC for the Missa Cantata.
H/T Mulier Fortis for the photo.
9 comments:
Fr., please warn your MCs' parents: young gents who MC during Mass are often found to be stupendously handsome by silly females in the congregation, whose eyes should be more fixed in the "closed and collectedly contemplated the gloriousness of the awesome and sacred mysteries" state.
Especially during a High Mass when some of the clergy aren't completely au fait with what they're doing, and the MC is needed to help them out.
Aforementioned silly females should be better off in a nunnery - this fact is widely acknowledged. But forewarned is forearmed, as they say!
;)
Congrats on getting 3 servers who know how to MC.That's an awful lot of standing and finger snapping!
As far as "do what's there." Well, yeah. But sometimes you do have options. For instance, yesterday was a feria, but the priest opted to do a votive for St. Anne (whom the parish is named after.) Then today was a 4th cl. feast for some minor saints...so he opted to do the Sunday Mass for 1st sunday after pentecost (*otherwise* that epistle/gospel wouldn't have been heard all year) then he did the commems. for the saints.
The day you folks did the rogation with the procession a while back, we skipped the procession/rogation - as it wasn't customary in our part of the US...you had a bit of an option on that day -- I noted it a while back when I looked at MF's blog for that day.
Oh, btw, fun story told to me by an "old timer." The sainted Fr. S. was telling me things didn't always run "picture book" back in the day. When he was a young priest in the 50s he was sent out to one of the parishes out in the boonies of San Bernardino County he said "the pastor was a Mexican immigrant who was a law unto him self." For Good friday, he didn't have an MC at all, and was going off the rails very quickly, so in addition to my deacon duty, I also pulled "MC" on on him, and started doing those signals as well. Well, he didn't like it, but he did it. He got even with me though. Easter Sunday at the high mass he announced to the congregation that "Fr. S. will do the sermon today." So he had all of 2 seconds notice.
He can tell some stories!
Dear Fr Tim
Did you notice that there is a shorter option for Ember Saturday (which, I acknowledge, we did here), or did you just want to do the full-fat version?
Fr Tim,
You are an inspiration, showing what can be done in an ordinary parish with a bit of will and a lot of faith and love!
Pastor - since we had sung Mass, it was the full works. The people who come to that Mass generally enjoy it when there is something out of the ordinary like five readings or a twenty minute tract :-)
Father, I'm sure you've expressed this elsewhere, but do you use the 1962 Breviary daily? Thanks!
Well don't tell anyone but the breviary that I use daily dates from some time before 1962.
Well don't tell anyone but the breviary that I use daily dates from some time before 1962.
Such disobedience! I shall have to report you a la Fr. Z-style to the PCED ;-)
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