Why I love the traditional Mass

     Growing up, my family went to Mass in the Extraordinary Form and in the Novus Ordo just about equally often. I am very appreciative of this "bi-ritual" upbringing, because it has prevented me from thinking that either form of the Mass is the only acceptable one and that those who go to the other are somehow wrong. As time went on, we got into doing music for one of our parishes, and the Latin Mass community in our diocese dwindled due to a shortage of priests, so my family became more exclusively Novus Ordo. In high school, we moved even farther away from access to a regular Latin Mass, so the option as good as disappeared from my life. At the same time, I was growing to love the Latin Mass more and more.
     My appreciation for traditional Catholicism can, in large part, be credited to a good foundation of education in sacred music, provided by my parents and music teachers. Even as a baby, my mother tells me she used to sing me to sleep with the Salve Regina chant, and my father has been putting on good baroque and classical music every Sunday morning for as long as I can remember. That kind of environmental formation gave me a preference for Gregorian chant and ancient polyphony over more modern sacred music. I used to listen to Gregorian chant whenever I was upset because it calmed me down better than anything else. With this and continuous music lessons from first grade until the end of high school, as well as helping with music ministry in countless circumstances, I became more and more disenchanted with modern church music, and wondered why it seemed to have pride of place over the ancient melodies of the Church.
     In spring of my senior year in high school, I spent a week with the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles. These nuns are exclusively Extraordinary Form, so I got to reconnect with my roots during my stay there. I think it was during this visit that I had the realization that every saint I knew who died before the 1960's (which is the vast majority of them) had attended the Traditional Latin Mass, and those who had lived monastic life had prayed the Office in the Extraordinary Form. Knowing that, and praying the Mass and the Office in the same way they had centuries before, made me feel akin to my favorite saints in a new way. This, I realized, was the life of the universal Church up until very recently, and now almost no one is exposed to it.

   Here at TAC, we lean rather traditional with regard to the Liturgy, and my suspicion is that this traditionalism is one of the reasons for our high ratio of students who attend daily Mass. I find that people my age like concrete things. Things that are objectively good or bad, that don't depend on the times or the culture or one's own feelings. People my age need something like that to cling to, when everything else--society, friends, maybe grades--seems to be in constant flux. This is evidenced by the fact that even though all Masses at TAC are traditional, there is a growing number of regular attendants at the Masses our chaplains offer in the Extraordinary Form. In other words, the more reverent, objective, and ancient it is, the more people my age like it.
     I have found this in myself as well. I've always loved all the pomp and grandeur of the traditional Liturgy, and I do love old things. I don't like being asked what I think; I like being told what the Faith is and expected to believe it and act on it. With matters as important as eternal life, I don't think the Church should be consulting me, or catering to me. The Church knows better than I do. I like the Traditional Latin Mass because there's no negotiation involved. The Mass is what it is, take it or leave it. This characteristic emphasizes--along with other aspects of the TLM--that the Mass is truly a sacrifice, one that spans across space and time and never changes. Mass isn't supposed to make you feel comfortable, or even fill you with love; it's supposed to make you praise God, no matter how you feel. Sometimes, having no choice is better. What is faith, after all, if it depends on our current emotions? The virtue of faith is that we have it despite our emotions.
     Not to mention the sublime beauty of the Church's tradition. To ignore Sacred Tradition is to reject our spiritual and cultural heritage. The deposit of Faith is made up of Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, which is what makes the Catholic Church different from Protestant denominations. Let's not downplay the difference. Isn't society all about celebrating differences, anyway? We've got ancient chants and fancy vestments and "smells and bells", in addition to classic Christian hymns and homilies. Let's embrace the extra.
     This is all definitely not to say that the Novus Ordo has no place, or even that the Extraordinary Form is always better. It is just to say that tradition is good, and we shouldn't forget how ancient our religion is amid fretting about being "relatable". Because people my age don't want relatable; we want real.