Mer om messen i St. Mary’s, South Carolina
Jeg nevnte tidligere i dag en kirke i USA som holdet på «å flytte alteret», slik at presten er vendt «mot Gud» under den eukaristiske bønn. Her følger en beskrivelse av en messe i denne kirken på festen for Corpus Christi 2006. Messen ligner mye på en flott, norsk høymesse, men er (som jeg sa) litt mer gjennomført – les teksten og se etter forskjeller:
We arrived at 10:20 am, and a number of people were already seated in the richly refurbished 19th century church, an exquisite central city jewel. A veiled chalice was already set up on the altar, topped with matching burse (always a good sign). The pews were stocked with pamphlets detailing the choral and congregational music for the Mass.
No one entered a pew without genuflecting, and neither before or during Mass did anyone (lay or clerical) pass in front of the Tabernacle (directly behind the altar) without genuflecting. By 10:30, when the altar boys began to filter out of the sacristy in their cassocks and surplices to kneel before the altar for their individual prayers of preparation for Mass, the church was beginning to fill rapidly.
… the silence in the church was unbroken by any sound of human voice — other than an occasional baby that was shushed quickly — during the 40 minutes preceding the start of Mass, …