Ora Pro Nobis!
Have you ever heard the expression "Well, the mass is better in English, we can understand it now!"?? To me, that is one of the most foolish arguments against the Latin Mass. No one is trying to hide anything from you, if you really wanted to know "what the priest was saying" then open a missal and find out.
People make the claim that because the Mass is in Latin, it is to hard to follow and so people won't even try, or be bothered with it. They would rather sit through the lousy ICEL (International Committee for English in the Liturgy) translations than hear the Mass as it was originally written (codified at the Council of Trent). -- I myself am no Language expert...not by far. In fact, in the Spanish classes I took in High School I was lucky if I kept a C+ Average. It only took me three trips to the Latin Mass to be able to follow it. I read over my Missal before going, then at Mass, followed along as best I could using my hand missal. No, I didn't undersatnd word for word everything that was being said....YOU DON'T HAVE TO!! The movements of the Mass...the way it is presented speaks for itself. Eventually, I learned the responses, and their meaning...if not always verbatum, at least the general idea. After three months I could respond, sing the Gloria, and the Credo without even using a Missal.
How many of you know what "Hola" means?? How about "Adios"?? Try "Que Pasa!!??" These are Spanish for Hello...Good Bye..and What's Happening. They are used so much in todays society as "slang" people know what they mean. Most children who are a fan of the Sesame Street show can count from one to ten in Spanish from memory. None of this classifies us as Spanish scholars, we never took a class, but because we hear them all the time we know their general meaning. The Latin used at Mass is the same thing. We are not hearing a diffrent "conversation" everytime we go to Mass. It is the same prayers and responses each week. After a while even the most Language impaired person knows what "Dominus Vobiscum" and "Et cum Spiritu Tuo" mean.
Latin adds such beauty to the Mass. It makes that much more special. It takes us outside of the Earthly world, and places us in the Spiritual world. It is a place so special and so Holy that it has its own language in which we can all pray and understand together. I don't know about you, but to me it is very refreshing to hear the prayers offered in a Language used only for the sacred, rather than in the language we hear people yelling at others with, or that people use to curse and say hateful things.
A friend of mine once said that the Mass is a lot like going to the Opera. Many Operas are written in diffrent languages. Beautiful scores and melodies written in diffrent languages...for example Italian and French. They are some of the most moving pieces of work that human ears have ever heard. When they are performed all over the world, they are done so in the Language they were originally composed in..and people come to hear them, and are moved by them....even though they might not understand what the words mean. The Operas would sound very foolish if they were all translated into the language of where they were being performed. It would destroy the beauty and the flow of the work. The same holds true with the Mass. It just doesn't sound right...it isn't as beautiful, it doesn't flow as well, it doesn't move you as much in the Vernacular as it does in Latin.
People have argued" Well, we can make everyone happy if we take the Tridentine Mass, and just put it in English...but keep everything else the same." NO THANKS!! I'll keep the Latin if you don't mind.
-Michael Lavey
Follow up: This month the Third Grade (First Communion Class) I teach at a Novus Ordo parish sang a song at our Open House for their parents. They worked on it all year, and REALLY loved the song, and had it all memorized. They wanted to rehearse the song over playing games. The name of the song was "O Sanctissima". They LOVED the Latin. The most beautiful sounds to hear was the kids singing as they walked down the halls to go home: "Ora....Ora...pro nobis!!"
