This is where you stick random tidbits of information about yourself.
Just Jen
Friday, March 08, 2002 On Birthdays and Gift ideas...
March 13. I know this day comes every year. And yet every year I am caught completely off gaurd with absolutely no idea of what to get my father for his birthday. There is the standard tie. It's just so been there, done that (although I don't think I have personally ever bought him a tie, hmmm....) The latest gadget that will never get used. Last year we got him a cruise. It was kind of an all encomapassing happy anniversary/birthday kind of gift. I don't think we can top that. Anything we give this year will be a letdown in comparison. I'm coming home... is that not gift enough? My smiling face on his doorstep? Perhaps he'd be interested in an all expense (read no-expense) trip to lovely and scenic Washington DC. Things to think about before I arrive home in a few hours. Have a happy weekend all.
3:12 PM
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Tuesday, March 05, 2002 On work clothes....
I just noticed today that in my office I am the ONLY one who always wears a skirt to work . Does that make me too girly? I like skirts. They're comfortable. They're cute. They're dressy. They look professional. Most importantly, they're fun. Yet most females in my office wear pants. Nice pants, but still, they're pants, not skirts. Did I miss a memo? Was there something issued from NOW that said, thou shalt wear gender neutral pants to work if thou art a liberated woman. If thou persistest in wearing the abhorred and gender chaining skirt, thou shalt be banned from all future NOW communiques. Perhaps that explains the lack of NOW memos. You'd think they would give you a warning letter. Perhaps it's better this way. I was fairly sure NOW didn't represent me before, now I know they are black balling me. Continuing with my little paranoia, does this mean I am olde fashioned? Am I tied to some sexist notion where I am not worthy of pants? Is there something wrong with me? Do I need a new wardrobe of work appropriate pants. I like pants for days off and casual Fridays. With the exception of happy dress, they are my weekend modus operandi. Perhaps I should start a new non-profit to represent people like me. It could be WWWS. Women Who Wear Skirts. We could have a nifty logo like 3WS and one of the letters could be wearing a skirt. We could use federal grant money to provide comfortable, cling-free skirts to pants bound women so they too can experience the joy of skirt wearing. It will be a liberation movement from the NOW memo and I will proudly bear the standard, skirt wrapped tight, placard in hand.
4:16 PM
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Some thoughts on Mass
Like all young adults, I was born into a post Vatican II World. I converted into a liberal post Vatican II church. I love folk mass. I really want to hear the same Dan Schutte and St. Louis Jesuit's songs over and over again. They make me happy. I sing them to myself all the time. I'm just a Novus Ordo kind of girl. I say this, because I want to write today about the Tridentine Rite. For those of you not in the know, the Tridentine Rite is the Catholic liturgy as it existed before the reforms of Vatican II in the 1960s. For me, as a vernacular Christian, it is both alien and achingly familiar. Almost a dream or a memory of what once was.
I've spent two of the past three weekends in Boston visiting various friends and relatives. They were both very cool trips and I hope to highlight them here in a bit. Both weekends I accompanied my cousin's Kathy and Paul and their family to Holy Trinity in Boston. Yes, there is a slight irony that I belong to the rather liberal Holy Trinity in Georgetown. It makes me chuckle. My cousins are Tridentine Rite Catholics and attend the only Tridentine Rite mass permitted by Cardinal Law in the diocese. This mass does occur by an ecclesiastic indult, is Roman Catholic as most of us understand the term, and should not be confused with the schismatic churches (ie. the Society of St. Pius X and other Lefebvrites) that exist in the Arlington diocese and elsewhere.
I attended both a high mass and a low mass and do not completely understand the difference. My observation is that the high mass followed a slightly different liturgy and was sung. It was hauntingly beautiful. I felt completely out of time and place. Instead of kneeling before an alter in Boston, I almost felt as if I was kneeling before the alter in Revelations. It was pretty amazing. I am not sure if that feeling came form it's newness to me or from the liturgy itself, either way, it was a very different and welcome communion with God. The low mass lacked the other-worldliness of the high mass. It was beautiful in it's own rite, but the things that bugged me a bit in the high mass took more shape in the low mass and served as greater distraction.
The Tridentine Rite mass begins much in the way the Novus Ordo does, you arrive, collect a missellette, anoint yourself with holy water, kneel in adoration and prayer and pray silently in communion with the Christian community surrounding you. Mass opens with a gathering song, at Holy Trinity the airs I heard were drawn from the from the classics, Bach, Beethoven, etc. and the priest enters - possibly from the front, I don't recall a procession. The community joins in praying the hail Mary and other catholic prayers in the vernacular and then the liturgy switches to Latin and I kind of lose a feeling for the flow. The missals they give you are quite handy. The contain both the Latin and the vernacular as well as notes on what is happening and where the priest will be. I should say, I didn't find the directions helpful. I got all turned around during the consecration because the missal said the priest would go to the epistle side of the alter and he never left the tabernacle. I successfully rejoined the missal at communion. Unfortunately, mass was essentially over then. I could take part in the prayers in the missalette, just not in real time. I finished long before the priest did.
The liturgy itself is a bit different. There are only two readings, one an epistle (letter) which is given in Latin and the other, the Gospel reading, given in English. The Gospel passage and the homily are the only parts of the liturgy given in the vernacular. This makes me wonder. Are the letters not important enough for the faithful to actually understand. They do give you the English translation, but I think there is something to be said for hearing the words (in the vernacular) in addition to reading them. I think we comprehend different things with our eyes and our ears. The rotation of readings is also different. With the new lectionary, there is a three year cycle (A, B, C) - with the Tridentine service, the lectionary rotates yearly. I am not sure if you hear as large a percentage of the New Testament as you do with the new lectionary, you certainly hear much less of the Old Testament overall. The liturgy itself however contains much more from both the Old and New Testament inserted into it. Prayers the priest utters as well as the server are drawn directly from the psalms of David or the letters of Paul and the other Apostles. Since these don't change weekly, I'm pretty certain the Novus Ordo service offers a broader reading of the bible, while the highlighted prayers of the Tridentine are probably more familiar to those who attend routinely. I am sure both have their merits, I vastly prefer the new lectionary.
The prayers of consecration are pretty similar to the Novus Ordo as is the flow of the liturgy of the Eucharist. The one big difference, and this is where I have the most problem with the Tridentine Rite, the community does not take part in the prayers in the same way. It boggles my mind why the community does not recite the Nicene Creed, only the priest and server does. This is a statement of faith, an assurance the faithful know the basic tenets of the orthodox doctrine - yet I can not confess it with my lips. Boggles my mind. It just makes me think I am not to be trusted with it. I've heard the argument that the priest and server stand in for us during the sacrifice - I just don't believe it. I think it is good for us to state the creed. Good for us to envelop it. To live it. To have it become part of us. Hmmm... unresolved issues apparently, I digress. The community also does not take part in the other prayers of the consecration, the Great Amen, the Holy Holy Holy which sing in unison with the angels in heaven and the Lamb of God. The kiss of peace is also omitted. I miss taking part in them. I like the way we share in God's grace to others during the kiss of peace. I love picturing myself singing with the Angel Band. I love how the Lamb of God is a confession of the real presence. As I said, I miss them.
Communion is old style. Kneeling at a communion rail, reception on tongue, only one specie. I don't mind kneeling, reception on tongue kind of grosses me out a bit, I can get over it - I just don't like receiving in only one specie. I like partaking of both the body and the blood. I understand in my head that the Real Presence means Christ is present body, soul and divinity - so receiving only the bread doesn't matter - you are getting the whole experience. My head understands this, my heart doesn't. My heart ached for 2 years in Arlington over this issue. It's a bit more silent now. It's learned some obedience from my mind and has received some peace from God, but it's still there, this persistent longing for what it feels is the full experience of communion with God, the full participation in the Last Supper.
Overall the experience of the Tridentine is really wonderful. You have this sense of timelessness of taking part in something eternal that I am not sure I perceive as well in the Novus Ordo. It is wonderful to pray and to practice the liturgy that my Irish Catholic ancestors did. I do feel a connection with them and with the church of the apostles and the church of Rome. But my love, my heart and my worship still reside in the Novus Ordo. I love praying in the vernacular. I love the sense of community at the kiss of peace. I love the (folk) music. I love the liturgy. I love being able to participate for myself and not using an intercessor in all things. I do think the Tridentine Rite (by ecclesiastic indult) should be made available to those who want it. Even if it is only one parish per diocese. I do think these parishes should have permission to meet all of their parishioners sacramental needs. With the revision in the liturgy, I don't think the old liturgy is less valid. The revision existed to meet the needs of the largest number of Catholics. If the liturgy pre-revision still meets the needs of some Catholics, and priests are eager to perform it, I don't think it should be denied to them. I do think the Novus Ordo lost something in the revisions, I don't deny that, but I also think it gained much, much more in wealth, depth and spiritual meaning than it's detractors are willing to grant it. I know for me, it contains all the wealth depth and spiritual meaning I crave.
Well this was a very long post. I would love to chat about it. Peace, my friends.
2:47 PM
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Oooo..... I am so annoyed at Blogger, it logged me out. Uggh. I just wrote this incredibly long post - I still have the text, but I lost all of my links I had added. It amounted to a signicant sum. Considering how much work it was to find some of them. Uggh.. Well the text above is pre-linked. I'll add them sometime in the near future. The further information I had attached to it, might be necessary for following my very jumpy thoughts.
2:46 PM
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An Invitation... I apologize entirely too often for not blogging more frequently. I'll stop that behavior right now. Today I have an invitation for you:
For all of you who like to plan in advance, next Tuesday John and I are planning a happy hour at the Dubliner on Cap Hill. Please come and join us and feel free to invite friends.
