Into Great....Noise
There's been some of blog-talk about the Greatness of Silence in the Mass or in a monastic setting (like Into Great Silence). I agree that silence is an underrated component component of the Mass, for instance. Especially since going to Mass Saturday night at the home of my friends I have been thinking more about the Great Noise in the Chinese Mass. Somehow being packed into someone's living room for Mass rather than a slightly larger church really made me consider the noise.
Before and after Communion are normally times when in the US we observe a period of silence (or at least quiet with the organist playing). Not quite so in the Chinese Mass I attend in Nantou. Immediately after "Lord I am not worthy to receive you....," the congregation begins to chant a prayer, sort of in unison. At really large Masses (for instance the Bao'an Parish ground-blessing), I've heard several smaller groups chanting, beginning and ending in a manner that even makes it sound like they are singing a round. After Communion is the same thing. Not everyone does this. I have seen and sat next to people who do it under their breath, sometimes even in their hometown language instead of in Putonghua. However those that do chant are usually not quiet, so in the space of my friends' house it was even more overwhelming than in the church. And it isn't a silence-filler, like we sometimes experience in the American churches, but rather another oppotunity to pray. Loudly and un-self-consiously.
Before and after Communion are normally times when in the US we observe a period of silence (or at least quiet with the organist playing). Not quite so in the Chinese Mass I attend in Nantou. Immediately after "Lord I am not worthy to receive you....," the congregation begins to chant a prayer, sort of in unison. At really large Masses (for instance the Bao'an Parish ground-blessing), I've heard several smaller groups chanting, beginning and ending in a manner that even makes it sound like they are singing a round. After Communion is the same thing. Not everyone does this. I have seen and sat next to people who do it under their breath, sometimes even in their hometown language instead of in Putonghua. However those that do chant are usually not quiet, so in the space of my friends' house it was even more overwhelming than in the church. And it isn't a silence-filler, like we sometimes experience in the American churches, but rather another oppotunity to pray. Loudly and un-self-consiously.
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