The Latin Mass

                                          THE LATIN MASS

                                   Sunday morning!!! got out of  bed . Expecting a  sunday of working on the computer and  doing my routine learning on the computer. got up staring at the screen and  looking into the computer. Staring at the computer, i continued my work and was sipping my coffee,....... when the phone rang. I answered, and at  the other end was a  friend, who had called after quite some time. we talked casually, the usual way of conversation and things... He told me about his life, things were not so steady and he was on a break. during the time, he had got back to learning about his religion which he was always interested in . As he was going on with his experiences, he told me that one of the things he had come to know about was a particular mass called the "Latin Mass"and he was going to go for a service today. I had heard about this Mass, but had never experienced it before. Twas a great opportunity!!!!!

              So we met up.on a bike we rode through the streets of Bombay. The city has had a change of time, from being one of the best to live in to become a burning metropolis of misguided ambition. This was one of its light beautiful moments though, as we whiffed through the mild breeze that blew on our faces on the highway. From Andheri to Mahim, the highway was a memory. As we reached the Church of our Lady of  Victories, Mahim - went in the compound and parked me scooter ( as the English say). The Mass was going to begin in a quarter of an hour. so we hurried in the Church.

             There were some things that were different about this Mass , particularly the  ways things are conducted. the Confession is one of the sacred sacraments of the Church , but in current times is not practised as much. Even the Church says you need to confess at least once in a year. But confession is a sacrament which has to be practised to cleanse a person of their sins, keeping their spirit clean. So confession has to be practised much more than once in a year. Before the Mass started, the priest sat for confession and people were approaching him for  confession. There were three rows of people waiting for confession which you dont see during the normal current day mass.In fact,you dont see no confession at all. Also, after the confession, this priest blessed people with a special silver cross after the confession.

           The Choir started to sing and the Mass began in a solemn serious mood, with the priests approaching the altar in their procession. In this Mass, the priest does not face the people, but faces the altar towards the cross. This was the practice during the olden times of the Mass, but has been discontinued. However, some Fathers ( Priests ) still carry on this practice.And it was good to see it !!!. the Mass was preached entirely in Latin, and  it was hard to catch the pace in which it was spoken, so had to get some help from others in keeping pace with the reading. The sermon was in English , so in some kind of way it was a releif. The Communion during the Mass also was different, as in people had to kneel and receive Communion and there is also no encouragement to give the Communion in the hand at mass. People kneel on a church bench and the priest comes to each and every person indiviually and gives them Communion. Something very rare, and unseen where the mass of the forefathers is practised to the core, from the time of the 16th century. This mass is a very challenging mass for the priest, as it has a strict procedure, and the only person that the attention must be given to is Jesus.

   The mass was over, and was a good experience, but there is still much more to be learned from this mass. The practices were beautiful, and were a new sight to the eyes. Its a mass I wanted to hear for a long time, and i finally got the chance. I would say that I would definitely be going  back for the Mass as
I have got a portion of the experience. Much more is left to be found out ...... the heart desires to know.