Exciting New Documentary : Mass of the Ages

OR THE LAST FEW YEARS, a film-maker called Cameron O’Hearn has been working on an amazing project – to make a film to convey the appeal and value of the Latin Mass. To go with this lofty goal, the team also had the ideal to film it to the highest standards to make it a film worthy of its subject. A high ideal indeed!

Now, I haven’t seen the film yet, so I’m going from the previews so far released on their Kickstarter Project and their YouTube Channel.

Yesterday I listened to the following interview on the John-Henry Westen show. This is what decided me to promote the film in whatever way I could. Specifically, the discussion of belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.

I didn’t grow up with the Latin Mass, but I did grow up with kneeling to receive Communion. The Real Presence was important to me, by the grace of God. When a new parish priest decided to end the practice of kneeling to receive Communion, I was up in arms, writing to the Bishop, only slowly facing the fact that no other parish in the Sydney archdiocese still used altar rails in 1990 – if I’m wrong about that, I’d love to know. I even dreamed about it – a vivid nightmare where extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion distributed little cards with Bible quotes – but fortunately I have never seen this is reality.

The main takeaway is that the way you act at Mass has a profound effect on how you believe. Little changes can add up to big effects. The aim is not to dismiss the changes of the 1960s out of hand, but to listen to the stories and look at what we have learned since then.