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The Daily Telegraph has published here the results of a poll carried out in the UK to determine the public understanding of Easter.
The results are nothing less than shameful.
When, in the late 1950s, I attended Mass in a small local Church, the Tridentine rite was all that was available. What struck me was the courtly ceremony of what was happening at the Altar, and the diverse private devotions of the conregation (rosaries, private prayer etc.) The Priest's face was expressionless. He was doing something very serious which needed no underlining by his facial expression or chummy interjections.
I read a lot of C.T.S. booklets at the time and they all seemed agreed that the Mass was an act. Transubstantiation took place, regardless of the convictions, intentions, distractions, or plain unbelief of those present.
One simply heard Mass. The Act was the essential, and the Latin (which was translated into English on the right-hand page of the Missal was no distraction. One was there, at the re-presentaion of the Sacrifice at Calvary. What could be more awe-inspiring?
The language used in the Mass, so long as it worthy of the Occasion (and Latin is very worthy), is unimportant. What matters is what is happening, and not how we feel about it.
