Yet there are often practical difficulties about a satisfactory reform
in this matter. Those who say mass at a convent, for example, are in
nearly every case expected at an early hour, and on arrival are usually
shown into the sacristy as a matter of course; to get up sufficiently
soon to have time to spare needs considerable stimulus. A difficulty of
the opposite kind is created when a priest has to say a late mass,
whether on a weekday or a Sunday. He naturally makes it the occasion of
a long rest, and too often prolongs it to the very last minute, arriving
in the sacristy only just in time to vest. If it is a Sunday, and he is
duplicating, he makes that an excuse for sparing himself, so that he may
not be over fatigued.
Neither of these difficulties are insuperable; but in practice they
commonly hold the field. Without any drastic remedies, however, it is
sometimes possible to suggest at least a partial way out of the
difficulty. A priest who has to walk some distance to the convent, for
example, may well keep up a state of recollection during his journey,
and when he knows the liturgical prayers by heart, he can usually say
them on the way. But after all, the proper remedy is to rise a little
earlier, so as to make his preparation either in the sacristy or even on
a _prie-Dieu_ in the convent chapel, [4] which the nuns will very
willingly provide if asked. And in this case he need not limit himself
to the liturgical "Preparation." Still more easily can he, if only he
adverts to the necessity, come down for a late mass some little time
before he has to vest. And for the ordinary parish masses he can do the
same, if only he is sufficiently serious-minded to do it; and he will be
well rewarded in the additional fervour which he will bring to his mass.
Nor should we omit an allusion to the negative preparation, which
consists in avoiding all kinds of distraction before mass. To refrain
from reading one's letters, even before a very late mass, is a practice
the very definiteness of which makes it easy to perform. In similar way
every kind of arrangement for the work of the day, or any unnecessary
speaking or intercourse with others should be strictly avoided.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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