Feeling at Home In My New Home Parish

I went to Mass at St. Charles today. It's a little bit further away than St. Francis, but it took me a little less time to drive. It's also the parish I should be in based on my address, as I recently found out.

I wasn't really sure what to expect. The church has a reputation for being very involved in social justice and with our local immigrant community, but I didn't know much about their worship style. I was very pleasantly surprised.

They have a wonderful choir and the propers and antiphons were sung, with most of the ordinary in Latin. They also had plenty of altar severs and used the incense, bells, etc that I associate more the Tridentine Mass. It was great seeing the respect given to the Word of God during the gospel reading, which was read (chanted!) from the middle of the aisle, Anglican-style, the congregation turning to face and follow the Bible.

I also really like the way the church itself is set up. In addition the the crucifix and statues at the front, they have several icons on the walls on both sides behind the altar, very similar to the icon corners I have seen in Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic homes. They also have images of the stations of the cross around the church. From where I was seated, I could see a large painting of St. Monica, which was very reassuring to me because she is one of the saints I feel like I have a special connection with.

The people were also very nice and very welcoming. I tend to be a bit on the shy side but I still had several people introduce themselves to me and a few start conversations. I asked one lady where the nursery was, so I could bring my son with me until he's old enough to sit still and be quiet through the whole Mass, and we started talking a little. When I told her I was going to be starting RCIA soon, she asked more about my background and offered to be my sponsor. It seems like we have some things in common.

I will be starting RCIA tomorrow night. Instead of starting at a certain time each year, they are pretty open and just invite you to drop by. I have done a lot of reading and study on Catholicism and have worked through the Baltimore Catechism, so at least I won't be jumping in totally ignorant.

Praying the Rosary with a 3-Year-Old

I usually let my son stay up late at night with me, so he sleeping in late in the mornings. This leaves me the first few hours of the day to pray, write, and things like that while he is still asleep. 

He woke up early this morning and knocked on the door before I even got up, so I let him join me for my morning prayers, which is praying the Morning Offering, Angelus, and a decade of the Rosary.

I gave him a plastic rosary that had came with other things I ordered a while back, and showed him how to pray and use the beads to count. He didn't quite get that yet, but he did try for close to a decade and it didn't take him very long to join in and repeat "Hail Mary" with me, not the whole prayer yet, but the first couple words are a start.

He did much better than I had expected. It was cute watching him kneel beside me at the bed, without being taught. He doesn't know much of the prayers yet, but he did repeat a little bit. 

After a bit, he got a little restless, and spent his time flipping around and rolling or the bed making aces at me while I tried to concentrate on the other Mysteries. This annoyed me a little at first, but then I found the humor in it and imagined Our Blessed Mother watching her Son Jesus grow up and how she must have laughed and took joy in his antics as a child as well.

I took a moment to just laugh a little and take joy in my son and in the time together, and to think of the benefits that he will gain from prayer, even while he is too young to participate fully. After that, I was able to relax and focus more as I finished praying, and having him there seemed more of a gift than a distraction.

I think I might start praying with him more, since he seems eager to learn, starting with a decade at a time and then adding more as he seems ready.

First Mass at St. Francis

Last night was the first Mass I attended at St. Francis, and the first English Mass I'd been to since I was very young. I went to the Saturday vigil because we had a family event early on Sunday and would be traveling in the morning. I enjoyed it, although I did notice some of the changes and I found myself mentally translating parts of the liturgy back into Latin in my head, because it was more familiar.

I had gone to the Tridentine Mass over an hour away as much as I could, but the cost of gas and time from home was too much and was really bothering my husband, so I am looking for a "home" parish nearby. I was hesitant to do this at first because I have more traditionalist leanings, but I am not totally comfortable in traditionalist circles either because I see some people edging closer and closer to sedevacantism.

Some of my more ardent SSPX friends had me a little nervous about it, because some of them absolutely refuse to attended the Novus Ordo Mass and I had gotten warnings that I shouldn't either. Ultimately though, I decided that if the Church and the Holy Father approve of a Mass, then I should not criticize it (so long as it follows the ordinary form and doesn't make illicit changes) or consider one form "better" than another. After all, if I wanted to second-guess the Pope or do church my way, then I could have remained Protestant.

Still, I was not sure what an ordinary from mass would be like, but I know from my attendance at Adoration and from what I could found out online that the people in this parish are reverent and respect God, the Church, and the Sacraments. That turned out to be true. Although I still have a personal preference for TLM and for the traditional Mass music, instead of the newer hymns, this Mass was still beautiful. It still had that worshipful feel, like the people in the congregation knew that Christ was present there and respected His presence, and  the sacrifice and presence of Christ is what really matters the most -  not the music, language or aesthetics.

The priest's homily was about the value of tradition and the need to follow the teaching and counsels of the Church, even submitting our wills and consciences to Her decrees in areas where we may be divided or have conflicting opinions. I thought that was sort of ironic, considering the misgivings I had at first about departing from Tradition.

Adoration, en Espanol

Friday night was interesting, to say the least.

I had never been to Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament before but I kept coming across things on blogs, books, Pinterest, and everywhere encouraging people to go.

Being that the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist was the thing that finally got me to convert, it seemed important to me to attend and really reflect on that.

Also, if you haven't noticed yet, Jesus is present right there in the church or chapel with you and that is so unbelievable awesome. Why on earth wouldn't you want to spend and hour or more with him?

Maybe this is one of those things where converts get super excited while cradle Catholics are like "yeah, I've known that since I was a child" but seriously, guys, it is amazing to realize that Jesus is there with you and you can just go and sit and pray or worship or just hang out and be in awe.


So, back to the story...

Checking out times and days for RCIA classes at the two churches nearest me, I noticed that one has Adoration for most of the day on the First Friday of each month. I had errands to run in that down on that day already, so I decided to spend an hour there at Adoration.

When showed up and another family was walking in at the same time. They looked at me a little bit puzzled, but I chalked it up to being a newcomer and possibly because I was wearing a headscarf (that could be another post, but I wear a scarf or mantilla whenever I'm in a church or praying; I started doing so years ago, when I was still a Baptist), and the lady closest to my age smiled so I figured all was good.

I was surprised to see how many people were there, but I thought that was great, because the impression I had gotten from others was that there were usually very few adorers present. It was silent when I arrived but, after a few minutes, the priest started leading us in prayer. As he prayed, in Spanish, it dawned on me that most of the people around me were Latino. The devotions and hymns that followed were all in Spanish as well.

It threw me off for a little bit, but I quickly realized the language didn't even matter. I understood some from the Spanish classes I took in school but, even when I didn't understand the words, I could recognize the reverence in them. I could also feel the peace and the presence of Jesus there and I would have stayed regardless of than language, because He transcends languages and words and He was there with us. I ended up staying for over an hour because of the presence there - I can't put it in to words but it was the best and most important thing I could have been doing and I did not want to leave.

I am looking back on the language barrier now and laughing a little bit, but I think I have a little better appreciation now for those who went to church when Mass was only said in Latin while they didn't understand it. The irony is I know most of the Latin prayers and songs, but I wasn't prepared for Spanish, which may be the more common language of the church at least in my part of the South.

It also reminded me of how easy it is to assume that the church is Anglo-centric. I've always taken for granted that the main language of any local church I went to would be English and that most people around me would look like me and come from a similar background, even though that's not true for the world or the church as a whole. It was good for me to be reminded of that and to realize more that I am entering into a truly worldwide church and faith and, again, that is is not about me and my particular culture or preference, but all about Christ and what He has done for the whole world.