Latin mass, anyone?

More often than not, my brother priest, Fr. Stephen will celebrate for us a mass  in the form of what is known as the Tridentine Mass, the Traditional Mass or the Latin Mass.

Their order, Oblates of Alliance of Two Hearts, somewhat can be called as those of Traditionalist Catholics. They are Roman Catholics who believe that there should be a restoration of many or all of the liturgical forms, public and private devotions and presentations of Catholic teachings which prevailed in the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965).

One noticeable feature of the mass is that the priest is not facing the crowd but he is facing the crucifix, as my brother will explain “so that the devotees will focus on the cross and not the priest.”

In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI issued a much-anticipated decision in an attempt to win back disaffected conservatives and to unite the church. Vatican officials said it is also a reflection of Benedict's personal preference for traditional liturgy and incantations in Latin, a language he extols as beautiful and holy. "What earlier generations held as sacred remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful," the pope wrote in the decree.

The story has it that if there is one priest in the family, the whole clan is blessed up to the third generation. In our case, we not only had one but two brothers into priesthood
I remember the story oftenly told by my father when he was alive, of how proud he was of us, his children. He often stressed that he had nothing to give to us but our future. We did not have money but we had the respect of people, especially the fact that two of his sons entered the priesthood, Fr. Philip and Fr. Stephen. I am still not used to calling them Father, i still prefer "Kuya Wel and Bengbeng." At first Mama could not accept the fact that two sons chose to serve the lord but later realized, according to Papa, that they gave up two sons but regained the whole religious order as their new sons and daughters. Tuwang-tuwa sya pag tinatawag sila na Papa and Mama Gorecho. They had five sons and one daughter, two enterered the priesthood, i became a lawyer and the other son went into photography, the business which Papa engaged into while he was alive. Papa too had the same number of siblings: they are four boys in a row and the youngest was also a girl. I was the counterpart of Papa being the second to the eldest.

I think i will have to polish my latin so will not use the "codigo" during mass, or the english translation on the other side of the booklet. What is overwhelming is the gregorian chants, or something like that, repertoire of the seminarian choir. It adds solemnity to the affair.