3° Sunday Ordinary Time

Yes, again, I am behind time, after 3 weeks of silence. Something interesting happened today. A sister and myself decided to go downtown for 10 am Mass. However, when we reached there, we realized that the Mass actually started at 9:30 am. Being in Rome, there is always no difficulty in finding another Church, but the problem is the timing. Yet, we managed to get to another Church which is less than 5 minutes away on the same street. I was so happy to see on the sign that there is a 10 am Mass in Latin. Well, even if I don't understand Latin, at least most of the time the readings and homily are in Italian.

The Church was not filled, yet, quite a number of people. Then here came a young priest to begin the Mass. To my surprised, the altar in front was not prepared but off he went towards the tabernacle, facing it and began the Mass. This was a real experience. The only thing I could really hear is "Dominus Vobis cum" "Ecum spiritu tuo". After all the prayers, began the readings. He stepped towards his right, still facing the tabernacle and began reading (I guess in latin 'coz I really could hardly hear anything). Then, the old man who was serving the Mass moved the 'book' to the left and the priest again moved over and began reading. Guess this was the second reading. As we sang the Alleluia, he took off his little vestment, then moved towards the lecten for the Gospel and homily -- only thing I could understand at least 'coz was in Italian. The rest of the Mass was all in latin with him facing the tabernacle.

Well, I do not want to comment about this or be critical, but personally I felt myself not praying and participating in the celebration. It was indeed an experience for me. I know that recently there is a kind of movement of returning to the latin rites, and I have no objection of attending latin Mass, but I question: how far back do we want to return to?