Mass Confusion

Catholics and Protestants, and the nature of their particular church services, are very different. I know it's no longer politically correct to state that once obvious fact and I also know such a statement will not go over well with that group Michael Voris calls the "church of nice". But, never the less.........

The Catholic Mass can be divided into the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. It is the Liturgy of the Eucharist which most separates us from Protestants and I consider the latter to be the most important part of the Mass.

Protestant services do not celebrate the Eucharist. Their services, for that reason, wouldn't be either Liturgy of the Eucharist or even Liturgy of the Word, but simply put, only words - sometimes profound, though often not.

Even though the Liturgy of the Eucharist is the more important of the two - what could possibly be more important than receiving the body and blood of Jesus Christ?- I would not go as far as to say the Liturgy of the Word is unimportant.

It is difficult finding a Mass in English here. Often I go to Mass strictly for the Eucharist. As I've mentioned before, the readings for any particular day can be found on the USCCB website in both textual and audio formats. Knowing I'll probably not be able to follow along at a Mass in Sibulan, I'll read the texts for the day before going to the church.

When this slow Internet allows be to do so, I'll go to the word on fire website to listen to Father Robert Barron's homily. Unfortunately, the slow connection all too frequently prevents me from doing this.

It took longer than 30 minutes last evening, but I was finally able to download Fr. Barron's 14 minute homily.

This morning, we went to Mass at 8:30 when, we were told, we'd hear the Mass in English. That wasn't completely true. The readings were given in English, but between the accents and the less than adequate PA system, I was glad that I had read today's readings last night.

When the priest was speaking, he was able to overcome the poor PA. But, sadly, his homily wasn't totally in English. He switched back and forth from Visayan to English and back again, making it very difficult getting anything worthwhile out of the homily.

Next week, some time before Sunday Mass, I will go to an Internet cafe and print copies of next Sunday's reading to help JP and me follow along properly. I think my son is being deprived more, spiritually, than I am from this situation regarding the language used in the Mass; I can always take advantage of the web, but unless we do it for him, he'll not have the same exposure to the Church's teachings.

Before arriving here, I believed that I'd be attending Mass every day. So far, my having to take JP to school has prevented me from going to St. Anthony of Padua for the daily Mass. Tomorrow, I'll try to head to Dumaguete, after taking him to school, for the Mass at the Cathedral.

Will it be in English? I'll find out the answer to that tomorrow.