I've just got caught up, by accident, in a little skirmish over Church Music. It's rather ironic as I'm rather well known for not liking music at Mass. Call me old fashioned but 'I just want an old fashioned Mass with an old fashioned priest and an old fashioned Sanctus Bell.' (pace Miss Kitt et. al.). If you have been following the postings on various liturgies offered around Rome this week you can certainly be impressed by the clerical presence and the size and beauty of the orchestras and choirs but all these wonderful pics and youtube melting moments curiously seem to shy away from revealing exactly how many of the faithful were present for such 'embarassments of riches' in the mid afternoon.
It's about time the question be asked. Are we spending too much time on the peripherals of the form of the Mass we love? Surely there are more important things to be dealt with- like a traditional concern for Church teaching, or a traditional concern for the poor, or a traditional concern for decent education? Is the traditional 'machine', dare I say the growing Usus Antiquior Industry, been hijacked to supply a living to yet another generation of ecclesiastical artisans who wouldn't darken the door of a weekday low Mass at 7 am?
I want an old fashioned Mass, Latin is for me
ReplyDeleteEven though I do not understand it perfectly
I want an old fashioned Mass
With an old fashioned priest
In an old fashioned fiddle-back.
I'd stay kneeling on my knees
To the click of rosaries
While the priest is muttering in latin.
And my eyes I would regale
With a splendid humeral veil
And sub-deacon holding up the paten.
I want the priest to ablute
With water and with wine
Triple 'non sum dignus' and the use of thee and thine
I want an old fashioned Mass
With an old fashioned priest
With an old fashioned maniple.
For the modern rite is lax
And promiscuous at the 'pax'
O-of li-tur-gy it's not a notion
For the newer rite is here
And it certainly is drear
And is not inspiring of devotion.
I want the prayers before Mass
And the Last Gospel, too
Kisses and birettas, genuflections not a few
I want an old fashioned Mass
With an old fashioned priest
With an old fashioned sanctus bell.
And many thanks to Sacristans Mate!
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