Jesuit to offer the Mass of Ages (Extraordinary Form)

From the Monk's Habit blog, a very interesting news from the Philippines:

My friends and I attended the traditional latin high mass yesterday at the Parish of the Lord of Divine Mercy at Sikatuna, Quezon City. The officiating priest was Fr. Michell Joe Zerrudo. In his homily, Fr. Zerrudo announced that this Friday, 31 July 2009, the Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, he invited a Jesuit to celebrate a Traditional Latin low mass at 8 a.m. The Jesuit’s name is Fr. Timoteo (Tim) Ofrasio, S.J.

Fr. Zerrudo said that Fr. Tim was a professor in theology and an expert in liturgy after Vatican II. Fr. Tim is also composer. Fr. Zerrudo sang a few lines (I forgot the lines) and he said that was the song Fr. Tim composed. (The other songs I found from OPM were “Paghahandog sa sarili” and “Panalangin sa Pagiging Bukas Palad”). Fr. Zerrudo said that the interest of Fr. Tim on the Traditional Mass is itself a story of grace.

I do not know Fr. Tim personally, nor I have ever seen his face. But I shall definitely be there at Sikatuna this Friday to see a rare and beautiful sight: a Jesuit celebrating the traditional latin mass on the Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola. This is the mass St. Ignatius and his companions knew and defended with their lives from the attacks of the Protestant reformers who denied the sacrificial nature of the mass and the reality of the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, as taught by the Council of Trent (hence the name Tridentine Mass). This is the mass that Magellan heard when he set foot at Limasawa, at the start of the colonization of the archipelago and the conversion of our forefathers to the Catholic Faith. This is the mass the Jesuits celebrated 150 years ago when they set foot again in the Philippines after their suppression and founded Ateneo Municipal de Manila, which later became the Ateneo de Manila University. This is the mass Jose Rizal heard in his youth in Ateneo and in his cell in Dapitan and in Fort Santiago. So what could be more apt way to celebrate the Ateneo de Manila University’s sesquicentennial than for a Jesuit to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass in the Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola?

Hoping more of our priests and bishops will do the same! :)