Fellow cave dwellers of this blog and loyal readers (heck and not so loyal readers). You have read many stories about the goings on at this great Mass in the Extraordinary Form in Wilmington that past Sunday. My family was also there, my son was one who got a very special blessing in that he was allowed to serve at this momentous occasion. He indeed was soaked to the bone in sweat and smelled to high heaven in the 1.5 hour trip back home.
We learned during Father's sermon that it is really not appropriate to go around thanking everyone under the sun for participating. Really we should just thank God for having the opportunity to assist at Mass and for every single breath we take.
Taking what I have learned and applying it to my life I want to say to Mr. Unknown, I am not thanking you for rigging the A/C so that we all battled the heat. I am not thanking you for not having the premises open and ready for our use. I am not thanking you for lousing up the sound system so that we heard only bits and pieces of the sermon.
No rather I will say you gave us all the opportunity to be uncomfortable and sweat a little for God, as we are all way to comfortable with the lives we have and need to be reminded that we have it easy. You gave us all the opportunity to remember that sometimes if we don't do something ahead of time to make arrangements we may be locked out of the Kingdom of God. You also gave us pause to know that just maybe today is not the day that we are prepared to hear and understand the Word of God and so He will give us only that which we can hear and understand.
Most importantly I will not thank you because as I have learned it is inappropriate to thank some one for doing what was EXPECTED! By you doing what was EXPECTED we all had opportunities to Thank God and suffer just a little bit in comparison to His ULTIMATE SACRIFICE!
May God Bless You and Keep You! Mr. Unknown!
posted by Simplex Vir at
5:06 PM
5 Comments:
Well, since I didn't attend the liturgy, I will say "up yours, Mr. Unknown!" :-)
Great post Simplex!
In adhering to teachings from Fathers homily(which was incredible), I'd like to say how much I APPRECIATE you and your family coming down and your son availing himself as Altar Boy for the Mass!
The 'Mr. Unknowns' of my Deanery could certainly learn a lot about hospitality from the good folks and their Pastor from Dunn. I guess it roles down from the top though, whether it's good or bad.
Pax Christi
If the priest is a saint, his people will be holy. If the priest is holy, his people will be good.
If the priest is good, his people will be fair. If the priest is fair, his people will be mediocre. If the priest is mediocre, his people will be bad. : -Anon.
Ummmm...as a member of St. Mary Parish who has attended numerous Latin Masses, I need to let you all know that, although it was extremely hot, the sound system was not "rigged" so that we could not hear the sermon. I cantor at St. Mary, so I am quite familiar with the UNIDIRECTIONAL microphones at both the ambo and in the pulipt. If you recall, Father kept turning his head from side to side during his sermon. YOU MUST SPEAK DIRECTLY INTO THOSE MICROPHONES! The microphone will not pick up sounds from the sides! He also moved the microphone away from his mouth. If you also recall, there was no difficulty in hearing Monsignor Brockman's comments at the end of the Mass because...HE SPOKE DIRECTLY INTO THE MICROPHONE!
The blogger needs to go to confession and confess to calumny...spreading rumors that are not true or are not founded in fact.
In addition, the fans were not "hidden from the choir" to make them miserable in the balcony. I PERSONALLY went up and introduced myself to the assembled choir as the St. Mary Choir representative and made sure that both of the fans (the only fans WE have on Sundays) were on and working. The church was not originally built with electricity in mind, so there are limited outlets in the balcony. We only have two fans. Period.
Yes, it was hot...but a little penance was not too high a price to pay to attend such a beautiful Mass. Do not tarnish the experience with juevenile moaning and groaning. In the days before AC, people attended Mass at St. Mary in full suits and long dresses with petticoats and long-sleeved blouses. Count your blessings, not perceived 'injuries' to yourself.
Hey mistypoint. I think if you read the post completely I expressed gratitude for having to suffer ever so little, but I suppose that did not register on your "Cantor-Meter".
Besides traditionalists are used to being marginalized so no skin off our backs. The point of this post was to inform Mr. Unknown, since we know not who was responsible that he actually did us a favor.
I know it is difficult but try reading all of the words, it takes more time, but it is much more effective and keeps you from looking silly.
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