Do you prefer High Mass or Low Mass?

[Zuni]

My Church usually is more of a "High Mass" Catholic Church, at least on Sunday, where much of the prayers are sung,(the Sanctus, Agnes Dei, etc. we usually do not have a choir persay, just one excellent singer at a time leading the rest of us and piano and organ accompaniment.)

I like it when after the Confiteor, the Kyrie and the Gloria are done musically, with the Kyrie chanted in the original Greek and the Gloria sung at least partially in Latin (Gloria in Excelsis Deo is the most moving chorus I can think of! It sends shivers down my spine).

One part that I think should always be spoken is the Lord's Prayer. Some churches actually do it in song but I think that takes away from the whole congregation reciting it together.

That is just my preference. I guess at heart I like the more traditional High Mass.

[tjwmason]

1. High Mass

I think it was Saint Augustine who said that if one sings one prays twice.

Music and the arts generally are (to my mind) gifts from God which can help to bring us to him, the Mass (and other services) has been adorned with music since the very beginnings of Christianity and that was built upon the preceding Jewish tradition.

If one uses the simple gregorian melodies then there is no tension between congregational participation and singing - the plainchant for the Lord's Prayer is a very beautiful and gentle tune.

[Celeborn Skywalker]

2. High Mass.

I love the pageantry and mysticism it seems to impart. I'm considering joining the Orthodox Church for precisely these reasons.

[Zuni]

3. which branch?

My mother is Russian Orthodox. Russian Liturgies are really, really powerful.

[Celeborn Skywalker]

4. Whichever branch

Albuquerque has. I'll be moving there in a few weeks so I'll see if they have the Russian or Greek variety. Do they differ significantly?

[Zuni]

5. not theologically at all

and both are Byzantine Rite Churches. They both use the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom as their primary Sunday Liturgy. And they are in full Communion with each other, meaning that if you are recieved into the Russian branch, you can go to the Greek Church and recieve Communion, no questions asked. The Orthodox Communion isn't as tightly centralized as the Roman Catholic Church, meaning that the Bishop who heads the Russian branch of the Church has no authority over Orthodox Churches in Greece or in Syria or in Bulgaria, unless they are Russian Orthodox Churches. In The Catholic Church there is one Bishop who has authority over all the other Bishops, the Pope who is the Bishop of Rome. Much more centralized and uniform.

The Iconography might be different and the language might be different, but essentially both are part of the same Church. Icons, a type of religious artwork common in both Orthodox and in Eastern Rite Catholic Churches, are taken very, very seriously. You might want to read up on Byzantine Iconography. I find Icons, particularly Russian style ones, to be the most illuminating and beautiful type of religious artwork.

You might wish to note that the Divine Liturgy is more like the old Latin Mass in the Catholic Church rather than the more modern Mass of Paul VI that is the norm today. The celebrating Priest faces away from the congregation, the Consecration of the Gifts goes on behind an Iconostasis, a screen covered with Icons. There are usually choirs. You stand for virtually the entirety of the service, if it is a traditional Orthodox parish. In a traditional Orthodox Church, there aren't pews. There is some seating for the elderly and infirm, but the majority of people are expected to stand.

I haven't been to my mother's Church in a while, but many Orthodox congregations in America use Churches that were once Mainline Protestant churches that fell into disuse. For example, my mother's Church is Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in Baltimore, MD. The building it is in was once a Methodist Church

But either way you decide, I hope The Lord blesses you every step of the way.

[Celeborn Skywalker]

7. Thanks for the explanation!

I was watching some youtube videos and was struck by, as you say, the absolute beauty of the Russian liturgy. I'll be able to attend a service next week, so we'll see what happens.

[KatyMan]

6. I like High Mass

chanting and what not from the priest, but I don't like a lot of singing. Our parish has one mass where everything is sung with a full band, and to me it seems more like going to a musical than going to church.

[hedgehog]

8. What kind of band?

This






or this?

[pnwmom]

10. You could also say that going to a High Mass with an organ and a choir

is more like going to an opera than going to church.

[pnwmom]

9. I am NOT a "traditional" Mass person, if by "traditional" you mean

Latin prayer(s), choir or soloist instead of the congregation singing, Priest facing front, more kneeling, etc. Those who would argue that that is the "tradition" are forgetting about hundreds of years of Christianity that preceded all those "traditions."

I am FOR all the "modern changes" (actually, the reversion to what we know about the practices of the earliest Christians) that encouraged the participation of lay people (rather than the lay people as audience).

I am a Vatican II person all the way -- or maybe Vatican III.

;)

"High Mass" and "Low Mass" aren't typical Catholic terms, IMHO. Mass is supposed to be Mass.