Facing the Lord

Yesterday, the second Mass I attended had five people. Oh, the regularly-scheduled morning Mass for All Souls was packed to the rafters, but this was later.

The rubrics in the Missal for All Souls specifically allow priests to celebrate up to three Masses that day – indeed the Missal has three separate sets of antiphons and prayers for the day.

Father Maurer wished to do this yesterday, and so several folks came back to the church about 2:30 for the third Mass.

Father offered it at the high altar, ad orientem.

We were, all of us, facing the Crucifix at the altar. There was a strong sense of the small group of us united in prayer, facing the Lord together.

I’d never seen the Ordinary Form offered this way before, and it just seemed right.

Since there were only four of us there with Father, we sat in choir, on the chairs in the sanctuary normally used by the altar servers. I served as lector.

It was one of the most intimate Masses I’ve been to, and it reminded me of the vespers that Francine and I celebrated with the monks in Rabanal on the Camino.

Again, it was strange how it hit me that sitting in choir also just seems right.