And Jesus said to them: Yea, have you never read: Out of the mouth of infants and of sucklings thou hast perfected praise? (Matthew 21:6)
I got this from a reader via e-mail (edited):
Fr – I thought you would think this was great! My sister-in-law watches my one year old twin boys while I’m at work and she sent this to me with the subject line: Future Priest. Maybe I should get them to a “live” Mass!?
“Anthony loves watching mass in Latin. I was channel surfing and stopped on the Catholic channel and went to change Ethan’s diaper. Anthony stared at the mass and was talking to it. When I came back I turned the channel Anthony cried so I turned back he stopped crying. I tried to turn again and he then SCREAMED. So I turned back and he is watching it still it is the funniest thing I have ever seen, You have got to try this at home.”
Truly…. ex ore infantium et lactantium perfecisti laudem!
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Even now my five-year-old son is fastening on his white towel and singing “Dominus vobiscum – et cum spiritu tuo” because he wants to “say Mass”. In fact, he just asked me if I have any black towels because “at funerals I wear black.”
Update: The above five-year-old just heard my “confession.” I had to explain what to do. The penance came out “Say three Hail Marys while you use your laptop.” Obviously he requires more instruction . . .
ex ore infantium et lactantium perfecisti laudem!
Indeed. Which reminds me that the tiny children shown here:
http://www.knoxlatinmass.net/music/children/choir.jpg
sang the opening part of the Agnus Dei of Mozart’s Coronation Mass at the Knoxville solemn TLM previously discussed here:
https://wdtprs.com/2008/04/knoxville-tlm-success-and-eye-candy/
In their clear pure innocent voices this part — ordinarily a soprano solo — was moving as well as beautiful. So not only is Latin not too difficult for little children, neither is Mozart. (They were so radiant you could tell they loved it.)
I’m really proud of my sister, who has three children (please pray for her, she is expecting twins). She taught her oldest boy, who is five, the Pater Noster, and he recognises it when they attend the monthly extra.form Mass once a month.
“Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings You have perfected praise.” Better put ETWN on the favorites button on the cable!
I regularly watch a friend’s son. He is twelve and autistic. I have a music phone and one day we listened to a few different songs together while bored. I was so surprised to find that he loves the Pange Lingua and recognized it from the Holy Thursday liturgy. Now he asks once in a while if I can put “the Holy Thursday music” on.
Incidentally, he is high functioning. Would someone with autism stlll be allowed holy orders?
“Ex ore infantum.” That is about how our family wound up at the indult parish when I was growing up: when I was about nine (I’m the oldest, and have several younger siblings) our family was displaced from our local parish when a new pastor came in and introduced some things our family wasn’t comfortable with. We parish-skipped for about a year. Each week, the parents would ask us kids which parish we wanted to attend on Sunday, and pretty soon it became unanimous: we wanted to go to the indult parish (which had English Novus Ordo ad orientem with the high altar and altar rail on the Sundays when there wasn’t a Tridentine Mass). Kids are drawn by reverence–and mystery!