Tomorrow, we celebrate Labor Day, the last holiday of summer. This is a good opportunity to ask God to bless the work of our hands and give thanks to Him for the gift of work through which we make our living, provide for our families, and share our gifts with our community for the good of all. We also pray for those who cannot find work and may be discouraged that God will help them through our willingness to reach out and comfort and encourage them.
Labor Day, like all of our holidays, should be much more than a day off of work or school, but a day for us to focus on a certain aspect of our relationship with God. On Labor Day, we can focus on all the many ways that God has blessed us by giving us all different gifts and talents so that we can share them with one another and so give Glory to God and build up His kingdom here on earth. I hope that your day is a time for recreation and for getting together with family and friends. Of course, a good way to begin the day is with God by participating in the Mass at 9 AM, tomorrow morning, in the church.
I wrote the following a few weeks ago in my parish letter and I feel it bears repeating so that it is clear that doing a few parts of the Mass in Latin does not make it a Latin Mass. Here at Sacred Heart, we celebrate the Mass in English according to the Novus Ordo published by St. Paul VI in 1969. The Novus Ordo Mass replaced the Tridentine Mass which is now referred to as the “Latin Mass” or the “Traditional Mass.”
As I explain below, Vatican II teaches us that the Latin language and Gregorian Chant are to occupy a pride of place in our worship of God at Mass. It is very important that we remember that our worship is about what we do for God and not about our own individual taste and preference. We are supposed to follow what the Church sets down in Vatican II and more recently the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (2003). All the teachings of the Church encourage the use and preservation of some of the Latin and Gregorian Chants of the Mass as it is a 1500-year tradition in the Roman Catholic Church. Some people will like it, and others may not. Again, let us remember that the Mass is about worshipping God and not about individual tastes or preferences.
Many years ago, we started to sing a portion of the Mass in Latin namely the Sanctus and the Agnus Die. We try to alternate these occasions for several weeks at a time throughout the year. We do this in order to have knowledge of the Latin traditions within the Roman Catholic Church. As I stated at that time this is something encouraged by the Church in the teachings of the Vatican II. Gregorian chant is to have pride of place in our liturgy and the worship of God.
Other parts of the Mass that we are encouraged to use and to have the knowledge to do so are the Gloria, The Creed or Credo, and the Our Father. This knowledge also helps whenever we may be celebrating Mass with people of different languages when we travel or on a pilgrimage. This knowledge of and ability to sing Gregorian Chant is a 1500-year-old tradition in the Church.
So, we are planning to introduce some of these into the Mass here at Sacred Heart beginning with The Our Father followed by the Gloria in the near future. Some of this is coming from the example of Pope Leo XIV who led the people in singing the Regina Coeli when he was first elected Pope. In fact, there is a website where one can learn to “Sing with the Pope.” You can learn more about this by going to Lets sing with the pope.com, you can also access this on youtube. Soon we will send out an email with this information and it will also be available on the parish website.
I believe that this will enhance our worship of God at Mass and at the same time keep us in tune with the worldwide Church as well as our history and tradition. This is all in accord with the teachings of Vatican II that seemed to have been lost in the implementation of the teachings of the council. I truly hope and pray that we can put forth the effort to pray in a way that is more mindful of our brothers and sisters around the world.