Palm Sunday a few days ago marked approximately a year of my habit watching and listening to live church services on Youtube, including various types of Catholic masses, especially the Extraordinary Form (i.e. the Traditional Latin Mass), but also including traditionally-friendly Ordinary Form masses in English, and moreover Greek and Armenian Orthodox Services.
Most of these live streams (because I prefer them live) came online because of the shutdown. In the early days a year ago, it was often rough-hewn and the various churches hashed out the process of lives streaming like many others. Some of my early favorites came and went from the roles of those offering streaming, doing it only as long as certain restrictions on attendance were enforced. Others decided to establish semi-permanent online ministries through Youtube. For the Catholics this was actually an enormous step to permit this.
The requirement for Catholics did not previous allow for remote attendance of masses except in certain cases of being homebound. This precedent was essentially extended indefinitely to anyone. In place of reception of the sacred Host of Communion, a prayer must be offered.
The last few months has seen the robust emergence of new streams that make it impossible to listen and watch them all. Among my new favorites is watching the live streams from the Sanctuary of Lourdes, where the Rosary is offered in four different languages each morning.
As for the Armenians, I was worried they might offline, but perhaps thanks to Canada's restrictive regulations (two of my favorite Armenian streams are from churches in the suburbs of Montreal), but they have hung in there. I have lately discovered the joys of the sung liturgy of a Syrian Orthodox church there as well. There are a least six different Greek Orthodox streams available on any Sunday morning.
Every time I go online I discover more streams that I would watch. Alas there seems to a sweet spot being six and and seven in the morning Pacific Time when everything is going at once. Last Sunday I felt overwhelmed by the choices.
Normally I listen using my iPad. I could also watch on my iPhone, or on my Macbook Air or on my Desktop Mac. I realized I could play a different live stream on each one, which I what I did, using all four devices around me on my desk and the shelves. On my iPad I had the Latin Mass from St. John Cantius in Chicago,. I had Armenian Sourp Kevok on my Macbook.
I put St. Mark's Greek Orthodox on my iPhone, and finally put the Syrian Orthodox stream on my iMac. I let them all play at the same time in quadriphonic sacred splendor. In the overlapping chanting I tried focussing one or the other, or letting them all blend together. It didn't matter that it was impossible to "hear" all of them at once. Only God can hear all prayers at the same time.
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