On the Anniversary of Summorum Pontificum: Loss of Active Participation at the TLM

I attended a TLM recently and noticed how during the Canon of the Mass there was a succession of people leaving the church to use ‘the smallest room in the house’. The door literally did not stop. At a superficial level this might seem to indicate that the TLM is unable to engage the people and that Summorum Pontificum is out of place in the modern Church. Speaking to the people in the coffee morning after the Mass I asked why they went out during the Canon and the reply was always of the same kind: “I find the silence difficult and there’s nothing going on at that point so I miss nothing”. All of the responses I received were of the same kind and highly enlightening: they indicate that many Catholics no longer know how to pray, for if they cannot pray for five minutes during the silence of the Canon, can they sit for fifteen minutes silent prayer at home? They may know how to ‘say prayers’, but they seem unable to open themselves up to a deeper encounter with God.

We thus know why they come in to Church and turn it into a meeting room with conversations: they do not know how to pray silently to the Lord Truly present in the tabernacle in preparation for the Holy Sacrifice and parousial banquet.

The Mass gives us our identity and forms our community; as the re-present-ing of the Holy Sacrifice of the Cross and the source of our salvation we must be actively engaged in the liturgy at the deepest level. Vatican II thus called for a liturgical renewal that would enable such participation, but the liturgy which followed the Council seems to have precluded such participation: Catholics now follow the liturgy in a superficial level of dialogue and activity; they have in fact, had deep, active and engaged participation disabled by the Novus Ordo. We have disabled rather than enabled the ability for heart to speak to heart.

In the final analysis, the TLM is difficult for many to actively engage in at the deeper level simply because they are not called to actively engage in the Novus Ordo at the deeper level: they respond with voice and action, but when it comes to meeting God in contemplative, silent prayer they stumble. Thus, rather than Summorum Pontificum having no place in the modern Church, it is showing itself to be as prophetic in terms of the liturgy as Humanae Vitae was in terms of morality, since it permits the recovery of the ability to speak to God heart to heart.

When Catholics admit that the silence of the TLM is beyond their praying ability; that they need to be saying and doing something, we know we have –that the Novus Ordo has- gone dreadfully wrong.

If mutual enrichment is to become a reality I suggest that the enrichment of the TLM will be by texts; the addition of new prefaces. The enrichment of the NO must be the recovery of silence; the Preparation of the Gifts should be done in silence as presumed by the rubrics; the Canon could offered in silence as in the TLM (I think this should be a requirement) and the priest’s preparatory prayers before Holy Communion should be done silently as presumed by the rubrics. Interestingly, the rubrics do not demand the Canon be said out loud; it simply says the words of consecration should be spoken clearly and distinctly as the nature of the words demands. ‘Clearly’ can mean ‘without mumbling’; ‘distinctly’ can mean ‘in a particular manner’. None require the loss of the sotto voce. Here then, is an opportunity for the Novus Ordo to be enriched in its celebration: use of the under-voice for the Canon, so that the prayer life of the people can be enhanced.

PS. I have to add this is the first time I have noticed such a use of the smallest room, and I think it is worth adding that of all those who appreciate the silence of the TLM most, it is the returning long-lapsed and the converts. That said, if we ask people why they will not attend the TIM, we will, I think, find them saying not only that they don't know Latin but find the silence difficult. In my experience it takes a while for some to get used to the TLM but then they do, they really appreciate it and want to hold onto it.