'Great Mass, Father!'

Out of the mouths of babes comes this great report over at Fr. Fox's blog: 'Great Mass, Father!'

Reminds me of that quote from over at the Stella Borealis blog: [6-yr-old speaking] "Daddy, why in the English Mass does the priest have his back to Jesus the whole time?" (I use this line now everytime I hear someone say that back in the "nasty old pre-Vatican II days" Fr. turned his back on us)

Kids. Don't sell them short, they're more apt to pick up on blatent contradictions between what we say we believe and how we prove what we really believe by what we do. Give them a chance and they just might surprise you with their objectivity - after all, THEY aren't coming to Mass with all that "nasty pre-Vatican II" baggage that some of you have. They are able to experience it completely innocently, and therefore draw a lot more out of it than the older generations can. It's just like when you're preparing a kid for first Confession - if you act like Confession is not a big deal and isn't scary (and for heaven's sake, don't go off telling stories of your own "horrible" Confession experiences) then guess what? The kids aren't scared of it. They love it. They ask to go back again. "Let the little children come to me and DO NOT HINDER THEM [with your own baggage and presumptions]" says the Lord.

And in other news, blogdom has been abuzz over this humble witness to the power of obedience (because in the end, that's what just about all of this hubbub over liturgy is about) by Bishop Robert Morlino of the diocese of Madison WI:

Pope Benedict just wrote to us bishops a letter not too long ago about the permission for the traditional Latin mass. He said, ‘I know some of you bishops have agonized year after year about whether or not to permit this,’ and I’ve been one of those. I was the only bishop in Wisconsin who did not permit the traditional Latin mass for what I thought were good reasons. And the Pope wrote and said, ‘I want to relieve you of the responsibility of all of that prudential pondering, so I’m making the decision.’ He saw that as a service, and I accepted it as a service. I was the only bishop in Wisconsin not to permit the traditional Latin mass, and now, in obedience, I will be the first bishop in Wisconsin to celebrate the traditional Latin mass.

Get the rest of the scoop over at Fr. Z's blog of course!