Saturday 22 November 2014

Why I Prefer The Traditional Form of Mass

Today I am going to outline what it is that I prefer about the Traditional Form of Mass. I do not attempt to speak from a scholarly point of view in this post since I am not a liturgist; nor do I intend to deal with the altar-facing orientation, the use of Latin, Gregorian Chant or reception of Holy Communion on the tongue, since the New Form of Mass remains officially celebrated altar-facing, in Latin, with Gregorian Chant having pride of place in terms of music and the norm for reception being on the tongue. Indeed, complaints about ad-orientem, Latin, Chant and reception of Holy Communion on the tongue are contrary to the decrees of Vatican II and the Missal of the New Form of the liturgy. Here goes for a few brief thoughts then...

The Prayers at the foot of the altar are, for me, an important overture to the celebration of Mass. They allow the celebrant to acknowledge his sinfulness before he steps into the Holy of Holies; the sanctuary. When celebrating the New Form of Mass we enter into the Holy of Holies as if by right, not by grace; without so much as a by-your-leave. I find this presumptuous.

The genuflections are more frequent; they occur before and after each time the celebrant touches the Sacred Victim (Host, from the Latin ‘Hostia’, meaning Victim). In the New Form they are reduced to two: after having placed the Victim back on the altar, and once before the consuming of the Sacred Victim.

The Signs of the Cross over the bread and wine before the consecration are reminders of how blessed is the act in which we engage (the Self-Sacrifice of the Risen Victim; the Lamb standing as though slain cf. Rev.5v6). After the Consecration the signs of the cross identify the Sacred Victim and remind us of the Cross on which He died.

Kissing of the altar before each occasion when the celebrant turns from it to face the people and call them to prayer, reminds us that the altar is the symbol of Christ the Cornerstone and Rock of Ages. These kisses are frequent, and their duplication not excessive: frequent exchange of kisses between husband and wife both demonstrates and builds love.

The silent Canon is non-negotiable. The silence of this moment wreaks of solemnity and awe, recalling the injunction of the prophet Habakkuk: “The Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silent before him” (2v20).

Singing while the priest recites texts is a symphony before God, not a duplication. It is akin to a quartet where three of the four provide the echo and backing to the soloist and the text sung by him. While four-part harmonies by the quartet may sound very grand and display the unity of the quartet, the use of a soloist retains the unity of the performance, adds variation and displays both distinction and diversity within their unity.

The One-Year Cycle is common sense. The current three-year cycle, intended to cover more of Christ’s teaching, has the anomaly of celebrating three times in the course of that teaching the Lord’s Birth, Passion and Resurrection. Can the Lord’s teaching not be well covered in one year? Are duplications of it by use of each synoptic Gospel really necessary? I think not. Far better to hold to the natural one-year cycle -which the whole secular world (and indeed the Church in its calendar) follows in day to day life.

Richer use of Scripture. A question I ask myself is: “Why, when we were told that we needed more scripture, were the psalms at the foot of the altar and the Lavabo, and the text on burning coals from Isaiah, all cut down to paltry one-liner antiphons?” The use of the Old Testament in the readings is indeed sparse in the Traditional Form, but occurs at major moments in the retelling of Salvation History so as to demonstrate the link between the Old and New Testaments. What we have in the New Form is so many readings and at such length that on asking congregants what the readings were about after Mass they often cannot remember: they have been given so much they have missed even the essential elements of the texts. The use of scripture in the Traditional Form is succinct, and more likely to be accessed by its hearers.

The Traditional Calendar allows one to commemorate more than one saint at a time, whereas reducing this to one saint per day in the New Form means many saints are left uncelebrated because there aren’t enough days in the year to accommodate them all. Yes there are many missed from the Traditional Form too, but more are included. Why make the best the enemy of the good?

All in all then, I see the Traditional Form as far richer and more useful and practical. Those who prefer the New Form of Mass may celebrate in the stripped and minimalist Rite if they wish; I will hold to the promotion of the fullness of the Sacrificial meal with all its trimmings. If each Mass is indeed the full Christ event (a Christmas Day and an Easter Day) shouldn’t we want all the Christmas and Easter trimmings?

13 comments:

  1. Dear Reverend Father

    As someone who Loves the TLM I was wandering, IF and WHEN the 1962 books are revised (for surely it cannot remain unaltered as to become a fossil) one thing I would love to see included would be a Psalm, where like the Judcia Mea Deus the Antiphon is said, the Psalm prayed and the Antiphon repeated between the Epistle and the Gospel (much like in the Novus Ordo)

    Unlike the Judcia Mea the Psalm itself would have to be said entirely by the Priest, as its too much to expect a server to learn an entirely new psalm for each day, but if there was the Antiphon didn't change, what would your opinion be?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry for the delay in publishing and responding; it’s been a very ‘bitty’ weekend (bits of this and bits of that).
      I personally can’t see the need to change the Judica me which is preparation for a specific act of worship ; it asks for “mercy before godless nation” before one “goes to the altar of God”. It is the most fitting of the psalms for that reason. I have to say I find the analogy of the liturgy becoming a fossil if left unchanged to be inapplicable, since fossils are dead remains and the Traditional Form of Mass is new to (and thus lives again) in each generation. The traditional Form has never been a Missal that was unaltered, but such alteration was always by addition, never subtraction. It was always that it was further adorned and elucidated.
      God Bless

      Delete
    2. Father I don't want to change the Judicia Me I would like to ADD a psalm between the Epistle and Gospel reading as we have in the Novus Ordo.

      Delete
    3. Sorry for the misreading.
      There is a small portion of the psalm read as the gradual between the two readings at the TLM. Granted it is just a verse or two, but again it focuses on the important point of the psalm chosen. I wouldn't object to longer portions of the psalm, though this could make the Gradual rather long when it is sung.
      God Bless.

      Delete
  2. A very full expose of what, I'm sure, we all find in the (rightly called) Extraordinary Form of the Holy Mass. It is 'extraordinary' that we show such respect & awe before our God. Sadly the OF has not resulted in this awe & respect as few acknowledge the presence of our Lord & God in the tabernacle as they pass, instead they give a cursory nod of the head. How can anyone still believe in the Real Presence as so feebly (if at all) acknowledge that Presence. This doesn't just reflect on the laity either!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry for the delay in publishing and responding; it’s been a very ‘bitty’ weekend (bits of this and bits of that).
      I do wish I'd mentioned the loss of the Offertory, which allowed us to prepare a sacrifice (the new Mass only has a prayer based on Jewish blessing before meals).
      God Bless.

      Delete
  3. And what earthly reason was there for deleting the 'Prayers After Low Mass' - when Celebrant and Congregation join in unified prayer. Overall the words and phrases in The Mass are profound and moving, too numerous to mention, but take [at the incensing] Pone, Domine .... "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth and a door round about my lips. That my heart may not incline to evil words: to make excuses in [my] sins.". Also the Perceptio ....
    "Let not the partaking of your Body, O Lord Jesus Christ, which I, though unworthy, presume to receive, turn to my judgement and condemnation; ..... The totality of the text melds together into one homogeneous prayer. Not to mention the Preparation Prayers, for recitation before Mass.

    Who in their right minds denigrates their ancestry, likewise our history? I put my faith in that which I was taught in my youth, who sacrificed much on our behalf - both metaphorically and in fact.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sixupman. I agree entirely with you. I love the Church of my youth. The one that you and I grew up in. The Church today seems sooo different. After Mass where are the people making their thanksgiving for Holy Communion? The people all stand up in groups chatting away with their backs to the tabernacle. Its like a protestant church.

      Delete
    2. Sorry for the delay in publishing and responding; it’s been a very ‘bitty’ weekend (bits of this and bits of that).
      Sadly, Churches are no longer places of worship but community spaces...thus the chatter and forgetfulness of the lord truly Present in the tabernacle in a way He is not present in the word, the priest or the people.
      If we forget the Lord is there, well,no wonder the prayers after mass where deleted.
      God Bless.

      Delete
  4. Replies
    1. Sorry for the delay in publishing and responding; it’s been a very ‘bitty’ weekend (bits of this and bits of that).
      Pax te cum!
      God Bless.

      Delete
  5. If I may comment Father,

    The loss of the Sanctuary as a holy place is one of the grave faults of the New Mass in its myriad of variations, and lay involvement.

    As you say we have so many truncated readings it just means little and I suspect goes right over the heads of the average lay person today.

    Partly I suppose because we have such a splendid choir at the Traditional Mass I sometimes get to, I have come to realise the beauty and wisdom in the ancient choice of psalms, chanted and said in the Old Mass, and the sense of connection with the Sacrifice we take part in.

    All this is missing now in the New Mass, which no doubt accounts for the chatter and laughter in church immediately after,(not to mention before ), in front of the central Tabernacle, at the New Mass.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you.
      A strange anomaly is that while a select few laity (the servers, readers and EMHC) now have access to the sanctuary, the majority of the laity are excluded as they receive from the priest while standing in front of the sanctuary (priests often illictly leaving the sanctuary to distribute them there). By contract, in the TLM every communicant gets to kneel on the sanctuary edge and thereby touch and enter into the Holy of Holies.
      God bless

      Delete

Please comment using a pseudonym, not as 'anonymous'.
If you challenge the Magisterium, please do so respectfully.
We reserve the right to delete from comments any inflammatory remarks.
If we do not reply to your comment it is through lack of time rather than interest.