Crazy storms and Latin mass

This afternoon was so crazy! A huuuuuuge storm came rolling over the hill right before 4:45pm mass. I was outside talking to my sister on the phone, and noticed these really dark clouds moving pretty quickly towards campus. It started to sprinkle, and in about 10 seconds it had turned into a complete downpour. The wind was especially bad- a huge gust came barreling down the hill between the chapel and the academic buildings, picking up all of the fallen leaves into big whirlwinds. It was intense! God's power is so cool. Luckily I was right next to the chapel and could duck inside really quick.

The sound system in the chapel wasn't working, and the power flickered a few times. It ended up being a low form Latin mass, sung a-capella because there was no microphones or organ or guitar. There weren't a ton of people there, so it was this quiet, peaceful mass said in a beautifully rich language in the middle of a big storm outside. It was so cool, and I couldn't help but thinking that this is what it might have felt like to go to mass in the early Church. The threat of storms and persecutions lurked outside, but nothing could take the peace away from the building or catacomb where the mass was being said.

It really made me realize how alive our Church is- we are saying the same prayers that the 12 Apostles said. Receiving the same Eucharist. Even possibly singing the same hymns. Our Church is not some thing of the past, which we just look at in a historical perspective. It is alive and breathing, right now, and has been for over 2,000 years. I felt some of this same idea when I was researching for a theology paper the other week. I had to interpret a passage in the Old Testament, and was looking through these huge, fat, dusty books that looked like something out of Harry Potter. I felt strangely connected to all of the theologians of the past, who had sat there and gone through the same process as me (except with a lot less resources!). Theology, like the Church, is alive and breathing. Just like Christ is alive and breathing in each one of us.