Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the PentecostMass at St. Anthony of Padua in Fresno. I greatly regret that I don’t have any pictures to post, but some of the ushers were taking pictures which will hopefully be on the Latin Mass Society’s website soon. Also, they might end up in the Fresno Bee, as I understand the usher was going to send some to them.
What really struck me as I was at Mass was how easy it is to understand, at the Tridentine Mass, that the priest is not acting as himself but rather as Christ. The vestments and the ritual take away his individual personality. This is actually a good thing: he returns to being himself, a humble man, for the sermon, and then after mass when we all talk to him and thank him for saying mass for us. However, during the mass and especially the consecration you can see that he is not simply behaving as a man, he is acting as Christ.
