Antagonism towards the TLM disturbs me. Celebration of this Form being so
sporadic, the clergy who celebrate it and the faithful who attend it are often seen
as eccentric, and the Rite itself anachronistic. Truly, until the Bishops get
behind the Extraordinary Form, people will see it as a bad thing –an attitude which
was treacherously preached to them for forty years (treacherous because it was the
Rite celebrated by saints and popes for centuries without qualm yet was earmarked
for destruction by those who followed the destroying ‘spirit’ which followed Vatican
II and was promoted as being the soul of Vatican II).
Mass above in the Traditional Form; below in the Revised Form.
Which seems God centred? Which seems congregation-centred?
Sadly
the Novus Ordo has become the flag
waved by those who follow the destroying ‘spirit’ of Vatican II, though it is a
spirit which actually stands in contradiction to the texts of Vatican II rather
than in harmony with them. To justify the following of this ‘destructive spirit’
and the promotion of the Missanormativa,
many engaged in the destruction of the integrity of the Traditional Form and those
who held to it.
Meanwhile,
use of Latin as the language of worship was described to me as “pure evil; it cuts people out of the Mass”.
Since Latin remains our official liturgical language it is time Bishops and priests
promoted its use. If they allow Latin to be decried as ‘wrong’ or worse, as ‘evil’,
they imply Muslims (who worship in Arabic) and Jews (who worship in Hebrew) are
engaging in something wrong and evil. Are our Bishops and priests willing to
say that? I don’t think so, which is why need to correct the idea that the use of Latin is over.
The best way to do this is of course by example, and to ensure parishes use at
least for the Credo, Gloria, Sanctus, Pater Noster and Agnus Dei at one of
their Masses. Words are no longer enough; action is needed.
Amazingly,
I have been told by some of the folk that the TLM “is just too hard; I don’t
know what to do during the silences”. That makes me wonder if people find
the EF difficult because it requires active
prayer and meditation, rather than the making of automatic responses. These
folk need guidance in practicing the prayer of presence. Others have told me
they do not like the EF because they regard kneeling and receiving on the
tongue an insult to their dignity. These folk simply need to be taught an appreciation
of this method as a demonstration of our dependence upon God which will soften
and humble their spirit.
It
is simply time that we value our heritage. How odd it is that we are happy to
have listed building status on some of our Churches yet the very liturgy which inspired
them and which they were built to house is evicted with ease and even, we may
say, derision. This cannot be of God; He does not declare what He has formed and
fostered in the Church under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit for centuries
to be a bad work. Is He not more likely to make that judgment on a work undertaken
in a committee room; a work geared toward the production of a new building
using materials taken from the demolition site of the former edifice?
This is at the core of the present collapse in the Catholic Church, and collapse it is. I speak, incidentally, as one who normally attends the Novus Ordo but also the Vetus Ordo as and when I can, circa 25% of the time.
ReplyDeleteThe introduction of the Pauline Mass, well beyond the suggestions of Sacrosanctum Concilium was a triumph for the liberal/Relativist factions within the Church, so warned about by St Pius X. The Novus Ordo, in its current forms, implicitly attacks the Mass as a Sacrifice, the Real Presence and the Ordained Priesthood, as it was intended to do by the Relativists. And how successful they have been. It is banal, awkward, protestantised, as in the Pater Noster Doxology and indeed the Sign of Peace, and absurdly contrived, which why young people, as they get older, take the first chance to escape.
In particular the turning from a universal language has led to National Churches, as in when we go to France, or even worse, here at home where the Polish community have drifted away into their own little Sunday morning world and no longer seem to mix with us.
But as I have said before, the answer lies with you priests. Start saying a Vetus Ordo, and at 11.30 Sunday morning, not every third Thursday at 3.00 pm. Your bishop might get a bit peeved but won’t sack you. You are too valuable.
Thank you, Jacobi.
ReplyDeletemany will agree with your comment 100%; others will dismiss it completely.; others will waver. None can doubt that the Church has fallen into disrepair and is dwindling away to nothing.
God grant us the exaltation of Holy Mother Church.
God bless.
What you say is true, Jacobi. The TLM is hated because it tells the truth of the One True Faith, to the Intellect, to the soul. It is the most powerful conversion to the true Faith, from the practical atheism, Protestantism, etc., of so many Catholics who have been erroneously instructed in the Faith and have adopted the ways of the world and a contempt for the doctrine of the Faith, often led in this by their priests, bishops. Priests who know and are keep their sacred duties seriously ought to learn and begin to offer up the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in its traditional form.
ReplyDeleteIn the current situation in the Church where the Holy Mass is celebrated in such a haphazard sloppy protestant way. Sometimes I go afterwards to theSSPX Holy Mass. Am I doing something wrong or are they actually part of the Holy Catholic Church?
ReplyDeleteThank you Paul.
DeleteI sse nothing wrong in going to a SSPX Mass in addition to your regular mass. You might need it to recover from some of the sloppiness you get at the 'regular' Masses!
God Bless.
Balderdash. The reason TLM is not liked is because those who go say anyone elseis a Progtestant. I attended TLM for 21 years and there was no mention of a community, prayers were mumbled, very few if any came to communion and the silence was defeaning. Go ahead and have TLM but let me worship the way Vatican II authorizes me. Don't tell meit doesn't. That is a lie.
DeleteThank you for commenting.
DeleteNo one I know says those who don't attend the TLM are Protestant.
Your experience of the TLM is not typical of today, though it may be of how it was said before we had it virtually removed from us and came to realise what we were in danger of losing .
Vatican II did not mention facing the people, communion in the hand or Extraordinary Ministers; it did authorise the continuance of Latin and removal of duplications from the TLM. It did not mention the need to compose new Canons etc., so you cannot really claim to be worshipping as Vatican II authorised, only as we have allowed the Pauline Missal to become. That Missal did not revoke Latin, Communion on the tongue or the altar-facing position: what we have today is very different from what Paul VI promulgated in his Missal as a faithful interpretation of the vatican II text.
God Bless.
Dear anonymous, I believe the reason the TLM is not liked is it is God centred rather than "I" centred. "Community" was already present in our SVP's , Women's league, Youth Clubs etc. all good work done with caring ways. Now we have nothing like this now we have less community to bring to the Mass.
DeleteThank you.
DeleteWe have lost a great deal since the community at Mass an the wider community became the focus of the Church.
God Bless you and yours.
Andrew and Fr D, do you really 'see nothing wrong' with attending an SSPX mass? really honestly? are you serious?
ReplyDeleteThanks for asking for clarification, Father.
DeleteThe comment says there is nothing wrong in going in addition to a Novus Ordo Mass; it would be an act of devotion and give s soul spiritual stability. There is nothing wrong in that.
God Bless.
Fr. Dickson: you contradict yourself. The Missal of Paul vi is not faithful to VII - it contains multiple canons
ReplyDeleteTank you for your comment.
DeleteMy comment says Paul VI saw it as a faithful implementation of Vatican II. Others may disagree or agree with him.
God Bless
It's not just the TLM that is important. It is the recovery of our selves as Catholics, our self realisation expressed in a really good God/Christ centred Orthodox Sermon.
ReplyDeleteYou can have all the Birettas in the world and all the lace you want. Unless we recover our identity as members of Christ's Body the TLM is somewhat of an orphan. Put the two together and you will have the unstoppable fiery revival of Catholicism.
Oh why Oh why did the Church make such a mess? and why don't they admit it?
Thank you Paul,
DeleteIndeed it is a whole identity and culture we need to recover. The TLM may be at the core of these but a core without a context is not a core at all, just an isolated oddity.
God Bless.
I was a teenager when the New Mass was introduced. It was a contradiction of everything that I had been taught as a child, which was that the Church being universal used a universal language (as do Islam and Judaism) so that a Mass in China was the same as a Mass in Poland which all could follow. Even at primary school we were taught to understand the parts of the Latin Mass and by age 11 could easily follow it. We were also taught that the Mass was eternal and could never be changed, that the host was the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ and there was no need for laypeople to receive the consecrated wine. All this was contrasted to Protestant communion services which was a memorial 'meal' and so was in the vernacular. How many of my generation must have been amazed to be told that, apparently the Protestants had it right all along and that the Council of Trent was wrong. The New Mass was a massive error intended to further 'ecumenism' by seeking to blur the externals of worship. It appears to have done nothing to attract Protestants to the faith but shook the faith of several generations of faithful Catholics.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lepanto.
DeleteI think this comment is sparking an idea for a blog post...but don't hold your breathe because it could be a while before I get the time to write it...
God Bless