My extraordinary life

I almost hate to admit this but when I went to church yesterday it was still Christmas.

All the decorations were still up! And we sang "The First Noel." On Jan. 11! How great is that? We also sang "Puer Natus Est." It is becoming one of my favorite chants.

And "Corde Natus Ex Parentis," at Communion. What a beautiful melody that is. It is a very old Christmas melody going back to before the Middle Ages.



And at the end of Mass when you are allowed to sing in English that is when we did "The First Noel."

The church still shone with crimson and gold. The creche, pictured above, was still up. It felt as if we were getting away with something. I hear that in all the rest of the Catholic Church, the people who do not do the Tridentine Mass, it is back as of today to Ordinary Time. Green vestments, nothing to see here, move along.

Our Mass in Latin is also known as the Mass in the Extraordinary Form. Dignum et justum est! That means "It is right and just." Because we have no Ordinary Time. As one of my friends at church said, "No time is ordinary."

All of it is extraordinary. The Christmas Cycle lasts until Lent. This is where we pay the piper: Lent for us begins three weeks earlier than for our brethren in Ordinary Time. That is not fun, I must admit. It was confusing to me when I first got into going to the Latin Mass and I remember asking Leonard Pennario about it, and he explained things to me. We start Lent with Septuagesima Sunday, which I believe is two and a half weeks ahead of Ash Wednesday.

Well, it is worth it, being able to extend the magic of the season as we do. I feel sorry for all the garden-variety Catholics stuck back in Ordinary Time.

I am going to celebrate my extraordinary life.

Perhaps I will make some Bailey's.