A Lenten Reflection: The Tremendous Value of Holy Mass
Tridentine Community News (March 4, 2012):
In this holy season of Lent, it does us well to reflect upon the immeasurable graces that flow from each Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. We must never take the Mass for granted. This text, originally attributed to St. Leonard of Port Maurice and found on a 1923 holy card with an Imprimatur by Archbishop Henry Moeller of Cincinnati, gives us much to ponder:At the hour of death the Holy Masses you have heard devoutly will be your greatest consolation.
Every Mass will go with you to Judgment and will plead for pardon for you.
By every Mass you can diminish the temporal punishment due to your sins, more or less, according to your fervor.
By devoutly assisting at Holy Mass you render the greatest homage possible to the Sacred Humanity of Our Lord.
Through the Holy Sacrifice, Our Lord Jesus Christ supplies for many of your negligences and omissions. He forgives you all the venial sins which you are determined to avoid. The power of Satan over you is diminished.
By piously hearing Holy Mass you afford the Souls in Purgatory the greatest possible relief.
One Holy Mass, heard during your life, will be of more benefit to you than many heard for you after your death.
Through Holy Mass you are preserved from many dangers and misfortunes which would otherwise have befallen you. You shorten your Purgatory by every Mass.
During Holy Mass you kneel amid a multitude of holy Angels, who are present at the Adorable Sacrifice with reverential awe.
Through Holy Mass you are blessed in your temporal goods and affairs.
When you hear Holy Mass devoutly, offering it to Almighty God in honor of any particular Saint or Angel, thanking God for the favors bestowed on him, etc., you afford that Saint or Angel a new degree of honor, joy, and happiness, and draw his special love and protection on yourself.
Every time you assist at Holy Mass, besides other intentions, you should offer it in honor of the Saint of the day.
St. Issac Jogues & St. Angela OF Latin Masses
Ordinarily this column tries to keep its ears to the railroad tracks, but news of a few particular developments managed to escape us until now. For several months in late 2011, St. Isaac Jogues Parish in St. Clair Shores offered Holy Mass in the Latin in the Ordinary Form on the Second Sunday of the month at 7:30 AM. The idea was to expose parishioners to the Church’s Sacred Language on a trial basis.
When a new administrator was assigned to St. Isaac, it was decided to move the Latin Mass to St. Angela Parish in Roseville. St. Angela’s Mass will debut on the Sunday, March 4 at 7:30 AM and will continue on the First Sunday of each subsequent month.
While not in the Extraordinary Form, it is still newsworthy to note this and similar unpublicized efforts. For example, we recently learned that in 2009, Dearborn’s Divine Child High School Latin Class held a “traditional Latin Mass”, celebrated by Fr. Clint McDonell. It is not clear whether it was in the Ordinary or Extraordinary Form, but what really matters is that Latin in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass continues to make inroads into parish life. Each such exposure can inspire souls to learn more about the great treasures available in the Church’s traditional liturgy.
Special Upcoming Masses
Sun. 03/11 2:00 PM: High Mass at Sacred Heart-Yale (Third Sunday of Lent): Have you ever thought about visiting Yale? A Solemn Missa Cantata will be held at Sacred Heart Church this day – more solemn that their usual Masses.
Sun. 03/18 Noon: High Mass at St. Albertus (Fourth Sunday of Lent – Lætáre Sunday)
Mon. 03/19 6:00 PM: High Mass at St. Joseph (Feast of St. Joseph – no Mass at St. Josaphat that Monday)
Sun. 03/25 12:15 PM: High Mass at Ss. Peter & Paul (west side) (Passion Sunday)
Weekday Tridentine Masses This Coming Week
Mon. 03/05 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Josaphat (Feria of Lent)
Tue. 03/06 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Assumption-Windsor (Feria of Lent)
[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@stjosaphatchurch.org. Previous columns are available at www.stjosaphatchurch.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Josaphat bulletin insert for March 4, 2012. Hat tip to A.B.]
Dear PP,
ReplyDeleteI enjoy reading your blog for the discussions of the Holy Mother Church as well as the updates on anti-Catholicism in the media, American politics, and popular culture. But it is your weekly reflections upon the liturgy that I find helpful most helpful. My problem is this, how am I to reconcile my affection for my current parish, respect for its pastor- a great homilist IMHO- and sense of obligation to my fellow parishioners with my desire to begin attending Mass at St. Josaphat? I know that my family would take to the Tridentine Community like fish to water, but I can't help but thinking that I am required to support my local parish.
Mr. Allen,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thoughtful remarks. I hate to disabuse you of the assumption that I am the author of these weekly Tridentine Community News post, but I am not. If you look at the bottom of the page, I credit the author ("A.B.") who writes these as a regular column and bulletin insert for St. Josaphat and also for Assumption-Windsor.
The question you pose is another matter. It's a refrain I've heard time and again, and of course nobody can answer that for you. You have to simply weigh the things you're already weighing -- like the needs of your family and your fundamental instincts about what is edifying and formatively wise, against whatever responsibilities you feel you have to your current parish, friends there you would lose by leaving. It's a matter of where you want to stake out your spiritual home and make your stand.
In the meantime, one thing you could try that I've seen a number of others do is to take one Sunday out of the month (or two), and make that your Tridentine Sunday. It would give you a taste of both without making an all-or-nothing commitment.