All who read this are most cordially welcomed this Sunday, September 27th, to Saint Stanislaus Church at 1:30 for the Tridentine Latin Mass to be celebrated by Father Gerard McMahon in honor of his 50th anniversary of ordination.
The Mass will be a Missa Cantata (a High Mass without all the ceremony). This is also the first High Mass of the choir season too. But the most important point is to give thanks to Our Lord for Father McMahon’s 50 years as a faithful and orthodox priest of Christ.
Please pray that Our Lord gives us many holy priests for our local diocese and, to pray for our local diocesan seminarians that Our Lord grant them the grace of perseverance in their vocation to the Holy Priesthood.
St. Stanislaus is at the corner of Hudson Avenue and Norton Street. There is plenty of parking both behind the church and across the street from the church. There is a handicapped elevator, security on the premises and restrooms.
Our Schola Roffensis will chant the ordinary (Missa Orbis Factor) and proper parts of the Mass. The polyphonic choir will sing “Ad Te Levavi Oculos Meos” by Palestrina during the Offertory and “Sicut Cervus” also by Palestrina during the Communion.
The ordinary parts of the Mass are the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei. The proper parts are the Introit, Gradual or Tract, and both the Offertory and Communion antiphons.
Holy Communion is received kneeling at the communion rail. The priest will recite a prayer over you, there is no need to say “Amen”. You should be in the state of grace (no mortal sin on your soul) to receive Holy Communion.
I hope many of you can make it as I told Father that I was posting this on the blog. So this invitation goes out to Sister Emily, Nerina, Rob, Persis, Dr. K, nyyankeegirl, Mike from dorcatholic, genjlcgettys, Honorious IV, ben, Kelly, sed, Ben Anderson, Jonathan, Gene from Rochester Catholic, MaryKay, CPT Tom, Tim Doubt, EandKMom, Tony, Scott/Mary, RochChaCha, Thy Will be Done, Bernie, Lee Strong from View from the Choir, Laura
Trifiro, Gabriella, God Among Us and IrondequoitCatholic and especially to all you “anonymous” posters. I hope that I haven’t forgotten anyone. If I did, believe me, it was not intentional.
Tags: Latin Mass, News and Media
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I know I'll be there.
What a wonderful gift for father to pack The church! Please do come!
Scott/Mary will be there with our whole clan. We can not wait for this Mass in celebration of a truely holy priest. I hope to meet the folks who post and support this blog.
Unfortunately, my family will be unable to attend – BUT I will copy/paste your invitation on my own blog as I have many western NYers who visit +Catholic Ponderings+ regularly. It is indeed refreshing to have the good news of Catholic orthodoxy, a holy priest and vibrant tradition coming from Rochester and it is my privilege to spread it.
I'll be there, Choir. Thanks for the invitation and for the prep work. I hope to have my family come in the future. BTW, do you know if it is possible to accommodate those who must receive low-gluten hosts for communion? Both my husband and my oldest son are gluten-intolerant and they cannot consume the usual host. At most churches, a cup is offered, but I understand that Communion is not distributed under both species at the TLM. At our local church, they place the low-gluten hosts in a small, separate metal container and attach it to the large ciborium for consecration. Any idea?
Oh, and I wonder if we should all introduce ourselves after Mass?
Hi Nerina,
I am all for saying a quick hello after mass. not sure how to do it. Do you have any ideas? Maybe choir will know.
Thank you all for the nice responses to a holy priest. It would be great together after Mass however, there is a party for Father McMahon that starts at 3:30, so we have to leave St. Stan's pretty soon after Mass is finished. But normally, yes, we could all get together in the narthex or outside and talk.
Father needs the name of the place that sell those hosts, Nerina. Soon, maybe next week, we could meet and you and I could talk with Father about how to arrange the HOly Communion with the low-gluten hosts.
For a quick hello, we could chat in the narthex. See the note above, Sister Emily. As long as I leave the church by 3 at the latest, I should be okay.
Kelly — many thanks for spreading the word on your blog. God will reward you for that.
Choir,
I went. It was…hard, but in a very good way. I couldn't stop concentrating for a minute. The music was beautiful and the church itself is a jewel (please, Lord, let us keep one beautiful church in our diocese).
I have questions about the structure of the Mass. Can you recommend a good book that explains the TLM in detail? I know about the New Liturgical Movement website.
What I found most interesting was how the person of the priest, became invisible in the liturgy. For the first time, I fully appreciated the concept of "in persona Christi" as Fr. McMahon stood in place for Christ offering us all as sacrifice.
The silence of the Mass is definitely not what one is used to in a NO Mass. I am so used to seeing people "doing things." I had to constantly remind myself that Mary stood at the foot of the Cross and probably appeared to be "doing nothing." Yet, she was praying with her whole soul for her son and for the whole world.
What an privilege and blessing to be able to attend this Mass. What a blessing to have Fr. McMahon as a priest for 50 years. Thank you again for encouraging all of us to go. BTW, how did today's attendance compare to the usual attendance.
Oh, for those who went today, and might be wondering, I was the one in the pumpkin colored shirt with red hair.
Nerina — First off, thank you for being there and for your comments too.
Some people find the silence almost unbearable. They are used to, as you say in the NO, doing something. But offering your prayers so doing something great. Just think that when the priest offers the oblations to God at the Offertory of the Mass, your personal intentions are also being offered to God at the same time.
We have deeply confused active participation with a physical doing of something, or saying something. Some people refer to the NO Mass as the Nervous Disorder Mass because of all the motion and action. But the interior participation is what we should really seek.
We should go to Mass for Adoration, Contrition, Thanksgiving and Supplication (ACTS). To adore the loving God who made us, to confess to Him our sorrow for the sins against Him, to give Him thanksgiving for the favors He has bestowed on us. And the to ask suppllication of Him for our needs. God wants to hear everything, absolutely everything that we have to tell Him. The good, bad, fair and indifferent things in our life. He draws us closer through divine grace so we can become partakers in His life.
The symbolisms in the TLM are many. When the priest says the prayers at the foot of the altar, he is like the biblical priests who, before they went up to the mountain, proclaimed their unworthiness before offering sacrifice to the Almighty.
The movement of the altar Missal from the Epistle side (right) to the Gospel side (left) prefigures to taking of the Word of God to all the nations of the world.
The kneeling in the Credo at the "et homo factus est" is suppose to remind us that Christ became man and was born in a stable and the wise men knelt before Him, the King of Kings.
These are just a very few examples. There are many, many more.
There was a most excellent booklet put out by the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration from Clyde, Missouri about the HOly Sacrifice of the Mass. It was fabulous. I have a copy somewhere, if I could ever find it.
Let me think about another good book for ya.
There was a list of upcoming High Masses. The next is the last Sunday of October which in the Traditional Rite is the feast of Christ the King. We will be having Benediction after High Mass. In Latin, of course.
See you at the Communion rail.
Your image of Mary at the foot of the Cross is beautiful. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the unbloodied reenactment of Calvary.
You asked about attendance. That was about normal. The 1:30 time slot is not the best. There were about 20/25 fewer people.