Said Mass this morning. Only two people besides me present, and one of them was the server! The nice thing about celebrating mass almost everyday while Harold is gone is that I have most of the Mass memorized and can go "off-book." The thing about the East-Facing Celebration is its seeming perfectibility. The ritual is so precise and laid out that you can have the illusion of saying a "perfect" mass. When you face the people (so called "West-Facing Celebration") the whole feeling of the liturgy shifts towards a relational thing. Perfection is no more possible in this relationship than in any other. That is, you simply don't think about perfection but rather about the relationship and its qualities. It's a completely different theology of worship (and one that I support). Yet as a priest there is something very satisfying about being the people's proxy and making this sacrifice day after day on their behalf.
At the heart of all this is the fact that the liturgical spirituality of SMM is basically oriented around dynamics of sacrifice, duty, and obligation. These drive towards identity. That is, identity is created by commitment. Community is formed by shared commitments. This is all well and good, but probably not what I'm going to find at COTM. I'm still not sure about the heart of COTM's spirituality. I've heard about transformation and shared journey. Hmm. A lot to explore, there.
After Mass I came home and slept most of the day. Did some e-mail and move planning in the PM.
-t
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