Sunday, August 1, 2010

August Missa Cantata

While in older calendars to-day would have been the feast of the Chains of St Peter, with commemoration of the Holy Machabees, this being the 10th Sunday after Pentecost we kept the weekly solemnity of the Lord's Day instead, respectfully rejoicing in His Resurrection, which is the principle of our justification.

I particularly like this Sunday's Collect, with its echo in the Gospel of the Pharisee and the Publican.  At Mass, Fr Quinn compared this parable, its teaching that God is so delighted to forgive the penitent heart, that the Lord is so desirous to hear the prayer for mercy, to the Centurion's humble prayer that we all repeat before Holy Communion, and to Mary's humility in her Magnificat, giving all the glory to God Who raises up the lowly.  Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo da gloriam.

Our Missa cantata began punctually at 11:30, Fr having heard confessions beforehand (and as he did afterward also).  Mass took an hour and twenty minutes; we sang the Propers of course, plus the Ordinary – Mass VIII (de Angelis) and Credo I, the people joining in – and the beautiful age-old Ave maris stella (one of St Dominic's favourite hymns) at Offertory; at Communion, the Communion anthem    Acceptabis sacrificium justitiæ was sung through thrice, interspersed with the first verse of Psalm 50, its origin, and the doxology.  The simple Salve closed the celebration.  I counted just under sixty present, including the servers and choir, at this our monthly Traditional Latin Mass in Hobart.

My good friends Ben and Jane put me up for the night – but there was some unwanted excitement: Ben, having had an operation recently, experienced some post-operative bleeding and had to return to hospital for observation.  Please pray for him and for Jane at this worrisome time.

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