Yes, Tridentine Mass in Reno, Nevada!

My entry in this blog dated 10 September discussed a Latin Mass in Reno which according to the accounts I received from a friend, it didn’t look like the traditional Latin or Tridentine Mass.

I was right.

To correct everything, my friend “Henry” e-mailed me again.

When permission to post parts of his e-mail was granted, I sat down and did a bit of editing for the sake of clarity. His letter was a mixture of English and Spanish.

Here is the final cut:

“Indeed, it was a dressed rehearsal in action as you mentioned in your blog. It was not a Latin Mass. Today, yes, indeed, the traditional Latin Mass or Tridentine Mass was offered in our Cathedral in Reno, Nevada. The invited officiating priest was vested with Roman vestments and the altar was transformed into a 17th century reality.

The number of the faithful in attendance was more than the average. My conservative guess is it looked like a late Sunday Mass. Some were too young to have attended a Latin Mass in their lives before and I am positive that what we had today is their first Latin Mass. For the older ones who have attended regularly the nostalgic Mass before Vatican II, it was obvious that they forgot when to sit, when to stand and when to kneel but how can we blame them when probably the last Latin Mass they participated in was in the early 60s?

It was a solemn High Mass and I noticed the reverent cathedral atmosphere. Personally, from the very start till the end, I was not able to control my tears --- I was touched by the unexplained. The Spirit was upon me. After roughly a half of century, I can’t believe that I was participating again in the same Mass our ancestors partook through the centuries and in which I was privileged to serve as an altar boy. Gregorian chants made the atmosphere even more solemn.

During the Mass, I was filled with awe and spiritually nourished. It was a spiritually fulfilling experience. The temperature inside the cathedral was normal but I was hot and cooling myself with an improvised fan. Isn’t it that the symbol of the Holy Sprit is fire? The Spirit overshadowed me!

I knelt to receive the body of Christ by the tongue. When I was back in the pew, I quivered and breathed very fast with eyes welling with tears. At that time, I offered my personal prayers and petitions praising God “Lord, I can feel your presence. In You I trust and in You lies my fate. How great Thou art, my Savior and my Life!”

Henry observed some women wearing the traditional veil although some in both sexes were not “properly” dressed. “I believe that a dress code must be observed when we go to Mass especially in Latin Mass,” he suggests.

It looks that every first Friday of the month, there is a Latin Mass in their St. Thomas Aquinas Cathedral while Fr. Francisco Nahoe, OFM Conv. is the rector.

Finally, Henry believes that the Mass in Latin is better since when it is in English, the words spoken through the public sound system in the cathedral are incoherent. “Something is terribly wrong with the sound system and it looks that the Franciscans manning the cathedral are not interested to upgrade it.” (My friend has a good working knowledge in Latin.)

I mentioned somewhere that there is no difference between the Tridentine Mass and the Mass currently in use in the parishes. Should there be, I believe that the former is more solemn because the priest follows strictly the ancient parts of the Mass, the prayers and gestures as compared to some priests who offer the post Vatican II Mass as if they are in front of a movie camera with lights on and they act like Tom Cruise to please an audience. Said in a stronger term, they cause distraction. Some are also comfortable to ad lib the prayers instead of strictly following the Sacramentary.

How I wish that there is a regular Latin Mass in Nueva Segovia, my Archdiocese here in the Philippines. In case there is, I am ready to dust off my old Latin Missals in my private library. -30-

Nota Bene:  It seems that there is now a regular Sunday Latin Mass at the St. Thomas Cathedral in Reno at 2:00 PM.  Please get in touch at 775.329.2571. -COR INVICTUS 5/15/11.

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See the first part of this entry at:
http://sapientiaaedificat.blogspot.com/2010/09/latin-mass-in-reno-nevada.html