So, How'd It Go?

Before all else, friends, at the start of a new Ecclesial Year, may all its blessings, joys and gifts be yours -- and, where applicable, with your spirit.

* * *

Well more than usual, of course, this time around it's in with the new....

Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God,
the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ
with righteous deeds at his coming,
so that, gathered at his right hand,
they may be worthy to possess the heavenly kingdom.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Minutes after the first Vigil Masses of this First Sunday had wrapped in the East, one friend quickly sent word on his first experience celebrating with the New Book....

"I survived."

As seemingly everyone else did, too, sounds like things are already looking up.

For the rest, meanwhile, maybe it's not too surprising that the early reax are running the gamut, from servers' complaints over the weight of the new Missal, to congregations that laughed and smiled their way through the expected bumps of the changes, to a priest of some three decades who -- saying that he was "very nervous" going in -- wrote of "feeling like a slave to the book."

"But worse," he added, "at least for the first time, I forgot to pray. When I finished the consecration of the 'chalice' I felt cold."

Then again, as another e.mailer noted, "Within the first 50 years [after] Trent there were five editions of that Missal, so we're somewhat blessed -- or is it just the inertia of the church to move more slowly as she ages."

All around, though, as yet another friend wrote, "This is going to take some getting used to."

And, well, there's at least one thing we can unanimously agree on.

* * *

Now, to capture the experiences and stories of this global rollout as best possible, we're going to do something these pages haven't seen in a very long time.

Long story short, to mark this once-in-a-generation event, the comment box is open, and -- lay or ordained, minister or pewsitter -- hopefully you'll take a few minutes to share with the rest of us how everything went at your place, and what the first use of the new texts was like for you.

To make things as smooth as possible, there are a couple ground rules for this:

• First, to help avoid any attempts at a further Kardashianization of the ecclesial discourse, comments are being moderated that things don't get out of hand.

• Second, if you could, give us a general impression of where you're writing from and your place in the assembly (celebrant, minister, in the pews, etc.) -- anonymous or pen-name impressions are fine, but anything that descends into irresponsibility, whether rehashing the Liturgy Wars, critiquing translation principles, promoting one viewpoint over another or probing how many angels dance on the head of a pin won't see the light of day. Academic discussions or op-ed columns are not germane to this exercise, and you can find forums for those in abundance elsewhere; these comments intended to take a snapshot of this rollout's lived experience among our people, and anything that veers from that won't be tolerated. In other words, much as -- to put it mildly -- worship can often be a topic that arouses high emotions (and, indeed, lashing out), be honest, but keep it clean.
  

• Third, and above all: Please. Just. Keep. It. Simple. -- What happened? How did you and others react? Was there anything that stuck out? How will the road ahead with this text look in your parish/community? The more you stick to those, the better off we all are.

Given these pointers -- read: that some won't choose to follow them -- not every comment will be posted, hence the usual aversion to the box here. But just as this readership is always the shop's greatest strength, gang, no one can tell the story of this weekend like you can -- in your own, unedited words.

Can't wait to hear how things turned out on your end, and while some judgment will have to be exercised in what goes up to ensure a healthy sense of decorum and communio, this moderator pledges to post things in as precise a proportion as possible to the tenor of the comments that are submitted.

Whatever ensued or the reactions among us, in the words of these pages' chief shepherd, may we all experience the grace that this "historic event... also signal a renewed commitment to the Sunday Eucharist: to celebrate it with greater beauty and dignity and to live from it more profoundly and intently."

And with that, Church, The Floor is yours.... As ever, use it well.

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