Slow Mass?

Cooler and cloudy for much of the day, more like early Spring than Summer. I didn't sleep all that well,  woke up at seven, posted the YouTube link for Morning Prayer on WhatsApp, listened to the news and then got up for breakfast. The morning sped by, writing another reflection, editing my Sunday sermon, a visit to the Coop to shop for groceries, then I cooked lunch, and predictably slept for an hour in the chair before going out for a walk in the park and along the Taff.

When I was out in Pontcanna Fields, a phrase entered my head from nowhere. 'The Mass in slow motion'. It seemed familiar but I had no idea why it should. I googled it on my phone, and found it was the title of a book written by Monsegneur Ronnie Knox in 1948. He was a renowned classical scholar, first ordained as an Anglican priest, then converting to Roman Catholicism, a prolific publisher and broadcaster. 

The book is a commentary on each part in the Tridentine Latin Mass, written for schoolgirls, so they'd be able to pray the liturgy with understanding before Vatican Two. I recall hearing of it when I frequented the University chaplaincy church in Bristol, though I don't think I read it. 

Even so, the idea of celebrating the liturgy very slowly and meditatively struck me as something worth exploring. We're so habituated to our routine services, half hour said or hour and ten minute sung, that it would be good to explore a more meditative approach to liturgical worship. 

After supper I gave over the rest of the evening to recording and editing the Morning Prayer audio and reflection for the next couple of weeks, as I had the texts prepared. With family visitors this weekend I'll have lots of better things to do, but it's good to get well ahead and avoid the pressure of the to-do list.