by Tara Isabella Burton in today’s NYTimes.

Many young people are returning to old-world religious ceremonies and traditions, as they call it bells & smells. Such is the Christmas Eve midnight mass at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine which has recently become an annual pilgrimage for my millennial son & me. Incense, candles, carols, organ, harp, saxophone, choir. Gorgeous and moving. We love it.

Our son was raised nada, yet enjoyed holiday celebrations of his father’s Jewish family and my Catholic one. But. I’d go to a Latin mass just for the beauty of it if there were one around. An uplifting phenomenon now more than ever.

In these cloistered days, Burton says online church services, rites, group candle-lightings attract those seeking solace and community.

Note: Tara Isabella Burton wrote Social Creature, a modern thriller which is reviewed here.