tomorrow, i will be having a practicum for my penance, anointing, marriage class. our group is tasked to conduct a sample celebration of the continuous rite for penance, anointing, and viaticum. as part of my subjects for my theological studies this semester, i am quite excited with this opportunity to learn about the sacrament and the rite through practical application.
this somehow reminds me of my experience 5 years ago in my sacraments of initiation class. each student had a practicum on the celebration of the holy eucharist, which is one of the catholic christian sacraments of initiation. we were asked to perform the rite of the entire mass, with each student having 100 points at the start of the celebration. for each part or aspect of the celebration where the student makes a mistake, points will be deducted based on the nature of the mistake committed. so the challenge here is to make less mistakes, or better yet, perfect the entire rite.
below is an entry from my defunct blog that described my experience of the practicum 5 years ago. looking back at the experience made me recognize the aspects of the mass that a lot of times people, myself included, miss, misuse, or even abuse. i am looking forward to a new experience of learning tomorrow in our practicum on the continuous rite of penance, anoining, and viaticum.
today, i had my practicum for presiding the holy mass on the course sacraments of initiation headed by no less than the ultimate jesuit liturgist fr. timoteo jose m. ofrasio. originally it was intended last february 8, but due to schedule constraints, i had to reschedule it on a wednesday in exchange for yon's slot. well, choosing to cut my ecclesiology class may not be qualified for the "lesser evil" type of sin, but i went on with the schedule.
the "practicum" mass may be invalid but i think that the experience of going through it is better than not having done it at all. i think that whether i become a priest or not, this will be a very significant part of my memory that i will continue to refresh and remember in the future. well, to add more flavor to this "once in a lifetime" thing, i solicited the help of some AtSCAns, namely boss ria to take the pictures and ros to take the video, and of course, to have some of my friends (bianx, julie, ger, xta, and andre) as audience!
how did the practicum went? i got a -7! at the beginning of the mass, there are 100 points, and for every miscue, you get a minus depending on the degree of the mistake or the importance of the skipped or misdone ritual. technically speaking, i should only have a -3, considering that i did three rubrical miscues: having a closed palm during the crossing of the head, lips and heart during the gospel, doing the "orante" position during the prayers of the faithful, and forgetting to genuflect after the private preparation of the priest before the communion. where did the other -4 points come from? here's the interesting part - i got too nervous to the point that i walked too fast during the procession (-1), walked to fast during the entire rite (-1), made my movements too fast that fr. tim said made the movements looked mechanical and less solemn (-1) and had the opening greeting done too fast that it was not synchronized with the words (-1). i was that nervous!
anyway, at least i know now how it feels to be there in the altar celebrating mass. obviously, the presiding over the wedding of the person you love is another question.
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