PINE BLUFF — “I should get up when and drive where for what? For Mass?!? But it’s a Saturday!”
There is a centuries long tradition during Advent called the “Rorate Mass.” These Masses are generally offered during Advent on Saturdays, the customary day to honor the Blessed Virgin.
Mass begins in the darkness before dawn. Remember, Advent is a penitential season after all.
Three figures
Three figures accompany us during our Advent preparation for the coming of the Lord. The Prophet Isaiah is a figure of longing for the Lord, John the Baptist of repentance in the Lord, and our Blessed Mother is a figure intimacy with the Lord.
Isaiah gives us the beautiful image, full of yearning and thirst, of dew descending from heaven, a foreshadowing of the gentle way the Messiah would come to us, how grace graciously helps us: “Rorate caeli desuper” the Church sings in hymns and chants, “Drop down dew from above, you heavens, and let the clouds rain down the Just One; let the earth be opened and bring forth a Savior” (cf Isaiah 45:8).
In times past, people would process into the church with their priest, singing the haunting Rorate caeli hymn, to have an intimate Mass with lanterns and candlelight only.
Mass then would conclude near to the break of day. People went forth to the work of their lives with the dawn’s light in their eyes.
So can we.
Mass offered in Pine Bluff
Advent is a season of joyful penance, penitential joy. You are invited to experience this beautiful Catholic tradition.
WHAT: “Rorate Mass” in the Extraordinary Form with Gregorian Chant.
WHERE: St. Mary Church, Pine Bluff (Cross Plains), 3673 Cty Rd P, 14 minutes west of Hwy. 12.
WHEN: 7 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 20.
WHY: To worship God, to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary, to support your Advent preparation, to strengthen your Catholic identity, and to create memories for you and your children.
Fr. John Zuhlsdorf is president of the Tridentine Mass Society of Madison. For more information, go to www.latinmassmadison.org