Post Pascha Depression

About a week after Easter, I decided that there must be such a thing as Post Pascha Depression…at least for some of us.

The Triduum was wonderful for me, as it has been the past few years. Everything was celebrated in the extraordinary form with a handful of like-minded individuals, and we all saw that it was good…very good.

When I returned home, I didn’t have time to be sad about returning to the Novus Ordo Mass, because a funeral was scheduled for the Wednesday following Easter.

Now, ordinarily, that would not be cause for happiness in my little world; and indeed, it was especially sad, because it was a friend’s husband who had died. Their son is a priest or our diocese; he is somewhat tradition-minded, though he does not say the EF Mass. Still, he wanted to have the Gregorian chant propers for the Requiem Mass, and so it came to be. The one chosen to organize a schola for that purpose was my spiritual director, and as it turned out, the only one he could find to sing with him was me. That’s because not too many people can travel the great distances in this diocese for a mid-week funeral.

So that meant that my spiritual director came to my parish for the funeral, and he stayed in the area for a few days. And that meant that he said the EF Mass in my little chapel three days in a row! My cup runneth over!

And then…it was back to the status quo: the Novus Ordo in Spanish seeming to be our best option. Sigh. I found myself feeling depressed. Post Pascha Depression, then, is the diagnosis.

Well, I’ll get over it. In fact, the second Sunday after Easter (old calendar numbering) wasn’t bad; we went to the Spanish Mass as usual, but there was no music. That can be a detriment in the EF, but the music is so bad at the Spanish Mass that it is a relief to have nothing. I find it very peaceful.

Last Sunday was a different story; we were back to the guitar-strummers. They are not bad musicians; it’s just bad music. I sat there last Sunday listening to it, and I thought about how sad it was. These people (and the ones at the English Mass) have been playing this drivel for years, and no priest or bishop has ever told them that it is not good music for Mass, that there is something better, and that it is time for them to play the real music of the Church. No priest has ever said that to them! And so they continue on in their darkened minds, thinking they are performing an important and fulfilling ministry.

Now, I know these parish musicians are nice people who mean well, and I believe that many of them are actually fairly devout Catholics – albeit Catholics who lack a sense of Catholic tradition that extends beyond their memory of “how we’ve always done it”. This is not completely their fault, because – I repeat – no priest or bishop has ever instructed them as to the mind of the Church regarding music for the liturgy. This is just ludicrous.

And it is likely to go on this way for years.

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.