No, I’m not talking about the trad blog, although a lot has been said regarding them this past week. I had thought of chiming in but I really don’t want to be part of the circular firing squad for once.
Rather, I refer to the votive Mass of the Blessed Virgin for Advent. This morning at 5:45 AM (thanks to the forceful assistance of my Angel) I left the house and headed out to this most edifying Mass. I had never attended a Rorate Mass. at 6AM, in the dark of a late winter night, I walked into an already full church – several hundred men, women, and children all dressed in Sunday best – and took my seat in the back of church. And then the door opened and the procession entered, heads and bodies bowing in reverence as first the crucifix and then Father passed by up the aisle. The only light in the building came from a few dozen candles on the altar itself.
“If our timing is right,” Father said in his sermon, “the sun will be coming up as I elevate the Sacred Host.”
Chilling, stunning, and accurate. Although overcast skies dampened the glory of the sun’s rays, the glory of the Son of God illuminated by flames flickering from the work of bees, did indeed shine, miraculously veiled under the appearance of bread.
There was a time not long ago when the whole Catholic world basked in that light and in these traditions.
Please God, the dew from heaven will drop down on us again.
Come O Lord! Come and do not delay!
Harvey Millican's Blog: Musings of a Trad Dad 