Sunday my family and I attended the Extraordinary Form (Tridentine, Traditional Latin Mass, whatever your preferred term) for the first time that we can remember. My wife and I were both born before the switch to the Norvus Ordo, but we were too young to remember anything. I have a few thoughts from this past Sunday’s experience.
1. It was a very prayerful. I appreciated so much the silence. It pointed out to us how our typical masses are so filled with noise, that there is never time to get very deep into prayer. It seemed to me that the EF (Extraordinary Form) allows for deep individual participation - though less as a community. In contrast the OF (Ordinary Form) has lots of more community participation, but the prayer cannot be as deep because of the constant noise, changing and shifting.
2. It is harder (because of the silence) for folks with small kids. We have a very well behaved 1 1/2 year old, but even her little noises seemed loud. Every mass is a little bit of a struggle to make sure that she is not disruptive, but this seems more the case for the EF.
3. The EF helped me to enter into the mystery of the Mass. At the OF I can be distracted out of prayer (jolted really) when the rubrics of the mass are not followed. It sometimes angers me - why can’t they follow the missal? Why can’t they listen to Rome? I am a Roman Catholic - not a So Cal “do it our way” pseudo Catholic. I find some of the music a bit drippy sweet too, and distracting from prayer (especially at communion when silence would be very welcome). With the EF, there was none of that. Since I am new to it, it took some effort to keep up with what was happening - but experience will eliminate that.
4. The priest is both more and less emphasized. In the EF, the priests role is clearly distinct from all others. This emphasizes his acting in Persona Christi. I did feel that he was leading us in prayer, and that only he could properly lead us because of his ability to confect the Eucharist. The mass seemed more serious - like he was accomplishing a great feat (which he is). But at the same time, there was not a lot of his personality. The role of priest is elevated, but the individual man was not as important. In the OF, there is tremendous variation in mass quality depending on the specific priest presiding. And his prayers often seem directed to the people as much as to God - and how he says them changes the mass, even if he doesn’t take liberty with the words (which too many do). In other words, there is a lot of the individual man in an OF mass. The EF de-emphasizes the man who is priest, but makes clear the importance of the person of the priest. I would think this would be liberating for a priest to not have to think about his performance. He too would more easily enter into prayer - though I guess we would have to ask a priest.
5. I see why the Church fathers were concerned with reform even before Vatican II. The EF is clearly very prayerful, but one must attends to what is going on. I can see how people could be there, but easily be disconnected from what is going on at the altar. Of course that happens with the OF all the time too - except now the goings on in mass can distract you while making it seem like you are participating. In the end, I hope that the EF has a gigantic pull on the OF, but there should be a slight pull the other way as well.
As for me and mine, we will make attending the EF a regular part of our spiritual life. If this was offered at our parish, it would probably be our regular mass (especially if offered in the morning - the EF we attended was at 7AM - a bit early, but way better than noon). Since it is not offered at our parish, we will most likely go monthly. I pray that the effect of the EF is strong and wide in the Church, and while I think this next part may be asking for a lot, I pray too that the effect is swift.
