Saturday, April 23, 2011

Tantum Ergo

Attended the Maundy Thursday Mass at my parish.  Very moving, notwithstanding the usual awful music.  Having set my ears like flint to accept the musical buffets, I was vindicated, (and had to fight back tears) during communion when the choir cleansed the aural atmosphere with a lovely "Ave Verum Corpus." Was I the only one tortured by this hint of the magnificence that could be a feature of every Mass, in place of the contemporary dreck which assaults us instead?
During the procession of the pre-sanctified hosts around the church, we were made to sing six verses (plus repetitions) of an ersatz "Tantum Ergo" in English.  Once the procession reached the place of reposition, we were rewarded with the singing of St. Thomas Aquinas's one and only Latin original.  More tears. 
There is no rite of dismissal on Holy Thursday, as the Church continues  its watch through the night.  People did not fly in haste, as usual, which was nice.  However, they tended to hang around chatting loudly, which was not  so nice.  One wondered if they had understood "Ave Verum Corpus," "Tantum Ergo," or, indeed, the Mass itself.  Otherwise, why would they behave so irreverently in the presence of Our Redeemer?

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