Little Details in the Liturgy

I have commented before on how the Liturgy has lost the joy and spontaneity of the celebration of God’s love that prevailed in the post-Vatican II era. Everything seems to be structured, restricted, mandated, every action choreographed. We seem to be returning to a meticulously rehearsed play where the congregation is once again an audience rather than participants.

A couple of details in recent weeks have occasioned my unease. It started some weeks ago when our pastor suggested that we sing parts of the Mass in Latin, the Kyrie (actually Greek), the Gloria, the Sanctus and the Agnus Dei. I’m not sure why we changed. Since we have many Hispanic Catholics, singing some parts of the mass in Spanish would make sense, but other than the priests and a few octogenarians, no one knows Latin. Of course it might encourage the