We live in exciting times.

I haven't posted in a few days, and oh! the goings on in the world of Catholicism! On Friday, the feast of Our Lady of Fatima (of which I am only peripherally aware), Universae Ecclesiae came out. I've been doing a little reading on that, mostly on Fr. Z's blog, and I even listened to a podcast he made in which he read the whole text and explained a few things. Apparently this document is going to do very good things for people who enjoy the Extraordinary Form Mass. I am one of those people. I think it's just beautiful. The Ordinary Form is beautiful too, of course, but there's something about that EF Mass.

I thought it was very interesting that UE said that any group of people, even a group from separate dioceses, could get together and request an EF Mass, but not if they denied the validity or sacredness of the Ordinary Form (I'm paraphrasing). It really drives home the idea that these are two forms of the same rite, two parts of a whole. Universal Church, and all that.

I've also been learning a little more about the corrected translation that will be implemented this Advent. At first I was a little cantankerous about having to learn all new responses and such during Mass when I've only just learned these ones, but I see now that if we're going to have Mass in the vernacular, then it should be as close to the original text as possible, and what we're using now isn't as accurate as it could be. Because what we say and hear is going to affect what and how we believe (I can't take credit for that one; I'm kind of addicted to Fr. Z's blog). Most people can't just pick up the Latin and find out what the original words are: we have to rely on what we know, unless we know someone fluent in Latin (and probably Greek and Hebrew wouldn't hurt either). I don't think my venerable college Latin professor would want me calling him up with queries all the time.

Plus, when I complained last year that I would have to learn what goes on at Mass only to turn around and relearn a bunch of stuff, E. pointed out that I'd have the advantage, because everyone else is going to be stuck in their ways. I'm fresh out of RCIA with a mere one liturgical year under my belt. I got this.