Journey Back to Eden.pdf - St Mark Coptic Orthodox Church Chicago

22 SEPTEMBERtude, and silence, approached me and asked if they might attend aMass that I was celebrating. I have been praying the Mass privatelyinasmuch as I am a Roman Catholic and the monks are Orthodox,so I am unable to receive Communion with them. I have been sayingmy Mass in the prayer room of the cell they gave me. Theyoung monks invited me to have Mass in the hesn, or keep, in thefortress area of the monastery in which there are some auxiliary altars.I willingly obliged them. I prepared an altar inside the fortressand, in the late morning, I celebrated a Catholic Mass which theyobserved.Because I know that they are accustomed to a rather long andprotracted Liturgy, I attempted to give the Roman ritual a littlemore elaboration than it ordinarily enjoys. I sang most of the Massparts, all the orations and the Penitential Rite; I sang the Gloriaand the Credo. I decided to add the Sequence of Pentecost and theLitany of Saints near the Petitions, which I sang as well. I sang theEucharistic Canon; I sang a series of devotional hymns, includingthe Salve Regina, after Communion. All told, the Mass lasted anhour and a half or an hour and forty-five minutes.When I finished, the brothers were very grateful, congratulatingme for being able to provide what they considered to be abeautiful Liturgy. But I shall never forget that one of them exclaimedto me how he was just beginning to enter into the spirit ofthe Mass when it was over! “Such a short Mass,” he said, “that youcelebrate in the West.” What an extraordinary idea! The longestpossible Mass I could have said was for him a short Mass. Indeed,how completely different is this mentality from that of the West!There, people are chained to the fetters of the watch around theirwrist and are constantly consulting it, even during the most sacredmoments of the Mass. By constantly checking this “ball and chain”around their wrist, they are deprived of the freedom to enjoy theblessings of worship, and are confined to the slavery of work androutine and schedules.PostscriptSEPTEMBER 30, TUESDAYOutside of Egypt, St. Macarius is perhaps the best known Copticmonastery. As already noted, its abbot, Abuna Matta el Mes-