From the Chapel — March 16: Introibo ad altare Dei
From the Chapel — March 16: Introibo ad altare Dei
“From the Chapel” is a series of short, daily reflections on life and faith in a time of uncertainty. As people across the world cope with the effects of the coronavirus — including the social isolation necessary to combat its spread — these reflections remind us of the hope that lies at the heart of the Gospel.
For numerous years, I assisted at the Extraordinary Form of the Mass at 6:30 a.m. at St. Mary Oratory in Rockford, Illinois. During that period, there was only one occasion — in the heart of a severe winter storm, with winds gusting at 60 miles per hour outside — when the Mass included solely Father Brian A.T. Bovee and myself.
Today, I commemorated my second individual Mass. On this Monday of the Third Week of Lent, amid our “social distancing” protocols, Monsignor Campion visited our chapel here at OSV to celebrate Mass — not for my benefit, but, as is the purpose of every Mass, for the good of all humanity.
We illuminated the altar while leaving the remainder of the chapel in shadow. I read the initial reading and the psalm, and Monsignor delivered the Gospel into a dim and vacant area. There was no sermon.
The initial reading presented the tale of Naaman the Syrian, who journeys to Israel in search of a miraculous remedy for his leprosy. However, when the prophet Elisha instructs him to perform the simplest act—“Go and wash seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored, and you will be clean”—Naaman walks away in fury. “But his servants approached him and reasoned: … if the prophet had asked you to undertake something remarkable, wouldn’t you have done it?”
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Thus, Naaman follows the instructions given by Elisha, and “His skin was restored like that of a young boy.” (Could there be a relevant message for us today in this ageless teaching?)
Even though I have participated in the Ordinary Form of the Mass numerous times since arriving at OSV almost three years ago, I discovered myself facing challenges today in recalling the server’s replies. My thoughts repeatedly drifted back to the Latin of the Extraordinary Form, but Monsignor kindly reminded me when I stumbled over my words.
Amidst everything, I was reminded of a moment from the conclusion of Walker Percy’s “The Thanatos Syndrome” (a title fitting for our era). Father Smith, a clergyman who has faced and endured a crisis of belief, requests Dr. Tom More, the main character in both “The Thanatos Syndrome” and Percy’s previous work “Love in the Ruins,” to officiate the Mass in his stead. More, a person of faith yet a poor Catholic, attempts to back out, telling Father Smith that he only recalls the responses from the Traditional Latin Mass. Unfazed, Father Smith challenges him, and the two commence the Mass (as is customary for every Latin Mass) with the phrases from Psalm 42: Introibo ad altare Dei. Ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meum. (“I shall enter the altar of my God.” “To the God who brings happiness to my youth.”
“Nothing occurs by chance; everything is by divine guidance,” Father Tony Steinacker, the pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul here in Huntington, often remarks. The psalm for the Mass in the Ordinary Form on Monday of the Third Week of Lent? Psalm 42.
When Naaman came back healed to Elisha, he declared: “Now I recognize that there is no God throughout the entire earth, other than in Israel.”
Scott P. Richert is publisher for OSV.
