March 28, 2011

Tears of Joy

This morning I went to mass and was privileged to have FIVE masses (1 public, 4 private) occuring simultaneously before my very eyes!  I wanted to take photos with my main camera but it was so beautiful I didn't want to disturb anyone with the shutter noise.  So, I did what any resourceful photographer would do and took photos with my phone.

Oh, and, yes, of course I teared up.  I always do...

Public mass with Canon Stein.  Notice the blue cassock!
On the main altar is Msgr. Wach.  You can see him over to the left.

Just to my right:
Our Lady of Perpetual Help altar with Canon Avis.
A make-shift altar with Canon Talarico.
 
To my left:
The Infant of Prague altar with a priest I don't know.


12 comments:

  1. As I said over at timman's blog, wow! What a beautiful sight to behold. Thanks for the pics!

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  2. Simply beautiful. I wish I could have been there.

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  3. Who is this "timman" you speak of?

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  4. Some guy with a blog, no big whoop. No, wait. That's Patrick Madrid...

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  5. I might just be Patrick Madrid.







    Wait, no. His moustache beats mine all to pulp.

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  6. How beautiful! You are blessed indeed! When I was growing up my grandparents lived in St. Louis--I hope to get back there again some day.

    If I might ask, what is the significance of the blue cassocks?

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  7. I'll venture a response--

    Blue is for Our Lady, and is reminiscent of the blue that St. Francis de Sales is often depicted as wearing. They are the Patroness and one of the secondary patrons of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. The particular shade of blue on the cassocks is also found upon the choir habits of the priests, oblates, candidates, sisters and third order members of the Institute.

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  8. Thank you. They are very beautiful! Of course I know blue is for Our Lady. I guess I didn't realize that St. Francis de Sales is often depicted in blue--I'm going to have to look for that the next time I see an image of him.

    Not related, but a funny cassock story. When my son was very young and we started to go to a new parish staffed by religious priests from a congregation inspired by and devoted to Our Lady, he decided that the reason the priests wore cassocks (we had never seen them before) was BECAUSE of their devotion to Our Lady--and she is always wearing a dress!

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  9. The "unknown" priest is Fr. Herman from Belgium. He's a new affiliate-priest of the Institute.

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  10. Wow! I have never seen such a thing! Amazing, but why, pardon my asking, are there 5 masses at once in the same church?

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  11. Father G, thanks for the info. Are you, perchance, related to Kenny G?

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  12. Anon, I asked a source this question for you:

    Why were there 10 million masses occuring simultaneously at SFdS Oratory last week? What's up with the private mass?

    Signed,
    Didn't know which way to look

    My source answered:

    Dear DKWWTL,

    There were 10 million Masses occurring simultaneously last week because [these priests] always celebrate Mass everyday and since there was only one public Mass, by a White Cassock priest, all the other priests celebrated at the same time. It was a lot of work and effort by the Sacristans but they pulled it off, flawlessly.

    Private Masses are masses that are so low they almost touch the ground. (pause for laughter) Nothing is said out loud, even if there is a server. If a server is not provided, the cruets are already on the Altar and the Priest would do all the things during the Mass that the server would normally do, like move the Missal. The Canon would move the Missal. HA

    Signed,
    barc rehtom

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