Fr. Dominic Holtz, OP, fra USA forteller på sin blog om erfaringene med å feire en offentlig TLM (missa cantata) for første gang – og han beskriver opplevelsen svært positivt.
Først skriver han at forberedelsesbønnene før presten går opp til alteret var virkningsfulle:
From the outset, I was impressed existentially by what I already grasped notionally, namely how spiritually useful the whole «fore-Mass» was, and most especially, the prayers at the foot of the altar. There was, once the servers and I began, a real spiritual calm, as well as a clear sense of the seriousness of what I was about to do when I finally approached the altar. To be sure, the vesting prayers and my own other recollections before Mass, which I would do anyway, were important, but this splendid antiphony between me and the servers, the mutual (not merely communal) confession of sins, the at once sobering and yet hopeful words of the Aufer a nobis and Oramus te, all the while not needing to worry whether I was «holding up» the celebration of the Mass, gave me a sense of purpose and intention from the start unlike I have had often before at Mass. …
Deretter skriver han at første del av messen, en sunget messe, egentlig er en sammenhengende sang- og lovprisningsdel:
At the same time (this was a Missa cantata) I found real solace in the quiet recitation waiting on the choir to complete its Kyrie and Gloria. It was a kind of waiting that at one and the same time afforded my a space for private, recollected prayer and kept me attentive of my role as servant to the rite. As crucial as my role was, it was not «my» time to direct the action, but my time to wait.
I should mention here that the distinction of the whole Mass of the Catechumens as more vocal, more choral, more audible, if you well, also became experientially apparent, however I already knew it conceptually. What I, and the whole congregation, experienced from the beginning of the Introit through the conclusion of the Gospel was an extended and continuous act of praise and proclamation. …
Ved nattverdens kanonbønn, derimot, innledes en dramatisk forandring, en svært talende stillhet:
I was most profoundly affected by the silent celebration of the Canon. There was an intensity, a presence, an abundance of content in that silence unlike any I have experienced before. Perhaps it was due in part to the contrast of the nearly continuous and sublime music I had heard up to and including the Sanctus. All the same, when the final Hosanna in excelsis came to an end and all that could be heard was the silence of my prayer … It is an experience quite difficult to put into words, and all the more so were I to try to evoke what it meant to say the words of consecration without trying to communicate them meaningfully and vocally to a disparate gathering of the faithful, but to say them under the veil of silence so that they might be what they are in plain and profound simplicity … I can only note here that it was transformative, or better, I hope it will be.
As I said above, I was also struck by the relative increase of silence in the Mass of the Faithful, the several, indeed frequent «interruptions» when nothing is heard. Even so, these were not mere pauses, nor simply my «finishing up» prayers that were too long for the music to cover. They were filled, meaningful silences, and they directed me at least, and I hope the faithful, to Communion in a way the ordinary form does not. …
Father Z. kommenterer også dette.