Live Broadcast Masses of the FSSP Showcasing a Digital Age of Liturgical Art

Photos by OC-Travel

Many thanks to the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) for leading the way on an international and unparalleled level with live-stream Masses during the historic COVID-19 crisis.  Their LiveMass service is a true apostolate - see here.  Please be sure to share the link with others.  

God bless the FSSP for this monumental service that has proven an enormous benefit to countless souls on a global scale.  Hats off to the all the tech volunteers and priests who have devoted hours to make this work.  The LIVE Mass channel is in no way a small project (or small expense - the service is a costly enterprise that is funded by generous donations from the public).  

The service has proven a gift from heaven for those countless faithful who have been unable to attend Holy Mass in church due to quarantine measures that have been temporarily put in place to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.  Recorded Masses are available for those unable to watch a live Mass.  The faithful are able to watch either on their home computers or on their smartphones via the iMass app (click here for the iPhone version and here for the Android).  The FSSP parish in Rome also offers live and recorded Masses on its Youtube channel.  

Also many thanks to the FSSP for various outdoor "parking lot" Masses, such as the one pictured here in Arden Hills, a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota.   This Mass has been celebrated for weeks every Sunday, rain or shine, by All Saints parish in the parking lot of Flaherty's Arden Bowl (a local business owned by a wonderful Catholic family, the Flaherty's, who have been operating their family business since the Great Depression).  The family also kindly made their parking lot available for Triduum Masses where Easter Sunday was most memorable, with morning Mass in a snow storm.  When attending the Mass the faithful remain in their cars and tune in on their phones to a Zoom webinar or call in for audio.  Holy Communion, in obedience to current norms, has not been distributed while the faithful are encouraged to make an act of "Spiritual Communion."    

The quarantine has been difficult for many, especially on Sundays and during Easter.  In some ways the experience brings to mind Newman, reminiscing of his time of mandatory quarantine when he arrived at Malta, where visitors were first required to quarantine on Manoel Island for fear of cholera.  There he stayed for two weeks at the historic quarantine station for maritime travelers called the Lazaret, located on the island in the middle of the harbor.  They did have access to Mass - the Franciscan friars ministered to those in quarantine, while the boredom of the Lazaret was acute.  Ironically, Newman had no patience for quarantine regulations and wrote, "The system of quarantine is the most absurd of all conceivable humbugs, but the British are obliged by other powers to keep it up."  

For those feeling frustrated that Masses have yet to resume in full in churches, a positive and encouraging note from Fr. Christopher Pelster FSSP gives some necessary perspective: "There is not much I can say except remind people that this is what you all signed up for when you became a Christian.  Please do not lose your peace over this.  God often expects us to fight and fight hard for victory when this is in some way attainable.  At other times God simply wishes us to endure."  In this case we endure, for the time being, thankful we at least have the option of LiveMass.net.  Fr. Pelster concludes by recommending this insightful prayer from St. Theresa of Avila:

Let nothing disturb you,
Nothing frighten you.
All things are passing.
God never changes.
Patient endurance attains all things.
Whoever possesses God lacks nothing,
God alone is sufficient.

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