Story of different masses

Indonesian Mass
This is the mass in my mother tongue. The first time that I went into a catholic mass was weird. I was probably around 5 years old or something like that and know nothing about what a mass is. All that I can remember is, my mom or my older siblings will always yell at me every time I looked into the back pew. :) I vaguely remember to think how weird it was to see people standing in line, just to get a piece of host. I was thinking... why would you do that? And every time my older siblings received the host, I asked, "What is it taste like?" and my brother replied, "Plain" and they went on praying. It just doesn't make any sense in the mind of a kid. But other than that, most of the time it was straight boring. :)
As time goes by, the Catholic church attracts me. Seeing the religious people and how joyful they live their life, especially my really old priest who's from Dutch. But mass is still unattractive though. Received first communion. It was more of excitement that I finally get to taste what my older siblings has been eating during that time that they went to church. It is still plain. I still don't know what it is, but it's something. Went on as an altar boy. Still don't understand much, but just go on. I love the sound of the gong during the Eucharistic prayer. That's what I missed when I went to a mass in different languages. The thing that was once bothers me is the thing when the priest said, "The Lord be with us", and we answers, "Now and forever." But it has been changed. So, that's good. :)

English Mass
What I love the most in English mass is that the language doesn't seem like it's too formal. I felt when I went to a mass in Indonesian, it just feels that the mass language is a really formal language. The other thing that I love, especially in home church, St. Paul is that the people in the congregation actually sings and the instrument players are really good. Love the guitar addition in English mass. I guess I learned a lot especially from "The Lamb Supper", a book by Scott Hahn that explains a lot about Eucharist, and that's how I appreciate the mass that we are currently having here.

Spanish Mass
I guess I felt that the Spanish mass has a different flavor in it. It has a lot to do with the music that they play I think. I appreciate the differences and how they differs from the mass in English and Indonesian.

Vietnamese Mass
I think I feel that the mass was more cheerful and the song really really has the flavor of a typical Vietnamese song. I enjoyed the fact that the they have that kind of music in contrast to the English, Spanish and Indonesian song.

Latin Mass
I've been into one recently. It's a Novus Ordo Mass, not the Tridentine Mass, which means that it's literally the translation of what we have in English. I like it. Well most of the time is because I learned Latin for one semester. The translation between one language to another can never be perfect. That's just the matter of fact and can't be really refuted. And the fact that the Latin meaning of one word that was translated into the English word, for example "Eleison" and "Miserere nobis" that has been basicly translated into just one simple English word, "Have mercy on us" just seems a little bit weird.

That's all for a thought.

Less Than 2 weeks before finals!

Dear blog,

Mengapa saya menjadi lebih malas ketika saatnya tiba untuk belajar dengan sungguh sungguh buat final exam yah?

Need to improve on this one.

Btw, loving this song:



The title: At The Cross
Sung by: Darlene Zsech, Hillsong Church Australia

I came across it, from Karen Edmisten Blog, which I came across from one of an apologetic author blog, Mike Auqilina.

Karen is praying for Heather. So, I click the link to Heather blog.

Interesting, isn't it? Anyway, Mike Aquilina itu salah satu author yang gue came across two 1/2 years ago, where I read through like a 200 page book in a week during summer break, since I need to return it to someone before I went home to Indonesia. The book is called, "Mass of the Early Christian". It show the progression of how mass goes from the first centuries until this point in the 21st century. How mass at the first century was something sacred and just for a limited people who has been baptized and no non-baptized people were allowed to be in the room where the Eucharist was celebrated. The first account of the Eucharist in paper is by someone who openly talked about it was an apologetic to the Roman empire that has been accusing the Christian community to be sadistic cannibal that eats and drinks blood. It is true and it is wrong to say that, but won't talk about it into details.

One cool thing about the Eucharist of the early century is that some of the wording that was found in the 4th century was currently still being used in our 21st century of the Eucharist. I think that is pretty sweet!

One other thing was that in the end of his book, he tries to let us kinda be in the footstep of a Christian, in a Jewish community under the Roman empire, that is being persecuted and can be killed and thrown into the mouth of lion, would sneak on a Sunday morning, a weekday for Jewish people, to go to someone's house for the celebration of the Eucharist. Have you ever thought about that? I know I have not until I read this book. That is a something. I took it for granted that Sunday has always been a holiday for everyone. Not in the Jewish faith in the first Century.

Anyway, back to Heather. Tomorrow (May 3rd), she is going to have a brain tumor surgery. Hope we all can pray for her.

That's all for today.

Atun