Because I offer the "old" Mass on some days of the week I occasionally find myself in a rather strange "Twilight Zone" of liturgical time due to the inconsistencies between the two calendars. Today was very strange and rather sad in a way, as in the "old" version this week is the Octave of Pentecost, each Mass complete with Sequence, Gloria and Credo. It does seem odd that such an important feast as Pentecost was historically given an Octave but is now robbed of it. It has the feel of a "worldly Christmas" - all over on the day and no follow-up.
Fr Z relates the well-known story of Pope Paul VI. I didn't quite weep but is does seem a pity we no longer have it.
4 comments:
I do not know about Paul VI crying, but I vividly recall a midday weekday Mass, some years ago, in Morley, Nr. Leeds. The PP Emeritus, with some emotion,opined that that day would have been in honour of a particular saint, in the old lectionary. He then asked who would now even recognise the name of that saint.
The change of the Lectionary was an act of intended vandalism aimed at rendering redundant the 'Old Missals' and inflating the income of printers. Perhaps, Bugnini, et al, were shareholders in the printers. Same applied, of course, to church furnishers.
Fr, is there anything to prevent you celebrating in the OF a votive mass of the Holy Spirit at least as a halfway house?
Father, I couldn't agree more. How sad that, since the 'Liturgical Improvements' following the Council, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity now has only ONE day to honour Him in the whole year.
Here's my annual Facebook post to my priest friends on this:--
Quick reminder to priests on Facebook:
As you know, the Extraordinary Form calendar retains the ancient Octave of Pentecost, whereas the Ordinary Form calendar sees a jarring return to Ordinary Time green. The rubrics of the Ordinary Form, however, envision a celebration of the Octave of Pentecost in the following way:
1. At the very end of the proper for Pentecost Sunday in the new missal, it says this: "Where the Monday or Tuesday after Pentecost are days on which the faithful are obliged or accustomed to attend Mass, the Mass of Pentecost Sunday may be repeated, or a Mass of the Holy Spirit may be said."
2. At the beginning of the "Votive Masses" section of the new missal, it says this: "On weekdays in Ordinary Time, even if an optional memorial occurs, a votive Mass may be chosen by the priest-celebrant for the sake of the devotion of the faithful." The ninth set of votive masses given are three separate Masses of the Holy Spirit.
During Pentecost week this year, the foregoing options are available every day of the octave, since there are no feasts occurring higher than an optional memorial.
There is also a correlating rubric here in the General Instructions for the Liturgy of the Hours: "245. For a public cause or out of devotion, except on solemnities, the Sundays of the seasons of Advent, Lent, and Easter, Ash Wednesday, Holy Week, the octave of Easter, and 2 November, a votive office may be celebrated, in whole or in part: for example, on the occasion of a pilgrimage, a local feast, or the external solemnity of a saint." Unfortunately, you would have to use the Liturgia Horarum to take advantage of this, as votive offices were never translated into the vernacular.
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