Our Lady of Lourdes
  • Home
  • Mass Schedule
  • News
  • Pastor's Blog
    • Year of the Eucharist and St. Joseph
  • Information
    • History
    • Sacraments
    • Meet Us
    • Ministries
    • Church Groups
    • Parish School of Religion
    • RCIA
  • Oyster Festival
  • Bulletins
  • Resources
    • Forms
    • Links
    • Resources for Prayer
      • Divine Mercy Novena
    • Hall Rental
  • Donations
  • Photos
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Mass Schedule
  • News
  • Pastor's Blog
    • Year of the Eucharist and St. Joseph
  • Information
    • History
    • Sacraments
    • Meet Us
    • Ministries
    • Church Groups
    • Parish School of Religion
    • RCIA
  • Oyster Festival
  • Bulletins
  • Resources
    • Forms
    • Links
    • Resources for Prayer
      • Divine Mercy Novena
    • Hall Rental
  • Donations
  • Photos
  • Contact
2621 Colonial Blvd.
Violet, LA 70092

O: (504) 682-7070
F: (504) 605-2064
​E: (504) 356-1737
​oll@arch-no.org

Pastor's Blog

The Latin Mass

1/24/2020

0 Comments

 
            We’ve recently started offering Mass in Latin here at Our Lady of Lourdes for our monthly First Saturday Mass, which is at 8:00 AM. This is the normal, Novus Ordo, or New Rite, Mass from after Vatican II. It uses the same readings and follows the same calendar as the ordinary Mass the we celebrate; in fact, the readings and homily are also in English. If you want to experience Mass in the Extraordinary Form, as it was celebrated before Vatican II (and I think every Catholic should at least once), it’s celebrated every Sunday at St. Patrick’s Church in New Orleans at 9:15 on Sundays, 7:15 AM on weekdays, and 8 AM on Saturdays. The difference is that all of the prayers are in Latin, and you’ll have Latin and English translations of the prayers side by side to help you follow along. In some ways, it’s just like going to Mass in Spanish or Vietnamese, because you’ll still recognize everything, you just might not understand the language. Since people have asked, this Mass doesn’t count for your Sunday obligation. You can fulfill your Sunday obligation at any Mass on Sunday or after 4:00 PM on Saturday. So, why offer this to the parish? 

            I celebrated the Mass in Latin regularly at Visitation of Our Lady and Divine Mercy Catholic Churches, and I found out that some people were under the impression that the Church had done away with Latin in the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. However, Vatican II actually said, “Particular law remaining in force, the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites. 2. But since the use of the mother tongue… frequently may be of great advantage to the people, the limits of its employment may be extended. This will apply in the first place to the readings and directives, and to some of the prayers and chants, according to the regulations on this matter to be laid down in subsequent chapters” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, para. 36). So, they wanted to allow Mass in the languages of the people while still retaining some Latin. Imagine if every Catholic could still pray at least the Our Father in Latin, then you could pray with a Catholic from anywhere in the world, even if you don’t speak one another’s languages.
​
            Second, in the Roman Churches the Mass has been celebrated in Latin since at least the 4th century. It’s true that there have been changes and developments to the Mass over the centuries, but they kept using Latin. This means that most of the saints celebrated or attended Mass in Latin. This is part of the life of the Church, part of our heritage, and part of history. If you feel like you’re stepping back in time, then that’s a good things. The Mass doesn’t belong to you or me, it’s an inheritance of the entire Church, and when we celebrate Mass we should see that this isn’t an ordinary, normal thing, but that we’re entering the Mystery of the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Latin helps us to see that we don’t fully comprehend everything that’s going on, but that we have to really make an effort to enter into it more fully. This is true of every Mass, no matter what language it’s celebrated in, but we tend to see it more easily when we don’t understand every word that’s being said.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Fr. Bryan became pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes on July 3, 2017. Read his bio here.

    Categories

    All
    10 Commandments
    Beatitudes
    Bible
    Blog Article
    Bulletin Article
    Equipped Series
    Fr. Bryan Recommends
    Homilies
    Liturgy
    Philosophy
    Q&A
    Saints
    Symbolism
    The Seven Sacraments

    Archives

    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018

    RSS Feed

Mission Statement

We, members of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, are committed to establish a safe haven for believers in our community. Having Christ as the center of our worship and being impelled by his teachings:
• We continually grow in ministries that address the needs and concerns of our community.
• We strive to be a vibrant “Christ Centered” spiritual family and experience His love and presence in the celebration of the Eucharist.

  • Home
  • Mass Schedule
  • News
  • Pastor's Blog
    • Year of the Eucharist and St. Joseph
  • Information
    • History
    • Sacraments
    • Meet Us
    • Ministries
    • Church Groups
    • Parish School of Religion
    • RCIA
  • Oyster Festival
  • Bulletins
  • Resources
    • Forms
    • Links
    • Resources for Prayer
      • Divine Mercy Novena
    • Hall Rental
  • Donations
  • Photos
  • Contact