And before the throne of the living God was a sea of glass as clear as crystal.
And the angels stood around the throne. They threw themselves down and worshipped, singing,
"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of Hosts!"
And they continue to worship night and day before His throne.
Revelations 7:11f
Illustration from Bodleian manuscript 180, folio 020
I am convinced that the predominant feeling, when we gather for Mass again, will be JOY! Overwhelming joy! It is a happy, happy moment. Underneath the happiness, though, will be a feeling of "weirdness". So many things will seem odd, maybe just plain wrong. We might even wonder if the whole thing seems sacrilegious.
It is not.
Two centuries ago, the Benedictine monk Anselm Schott OSB, the inventor of the missalette, used to say, "The most important part of every Mass is the part that GOD does. Every Mass is God's Mass, not ours."
to your altar on high in the sight of your divine majesty,
so that all of us, who through participation at this temporal altar receive the most holy Body and Blood of your Son,
may be filled with heavenly blessing.
Lord God Almighty!
All the saints adore Thee,
casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea!
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,
Which wert and art and evermore shalt be.
Friar Bob
15 May 2020