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.