DEEP IN MY HEART, THIS IS WHAT I PRAY WILL BECOME MANDATED BY POPE LEO XIV—ONE CAN’T EVEN CALL IT THE “REFORM OF THE REFORM” BUT RATHER THE REFORMED MASS CELEBRATED IN CONTINUITY WITH THE 1962 ROMAN MISSAL—THAT’S THE WAY TO GO, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND ALL THAT IS HOLY!

I copy this and the photos from Kinsey Marshall’s Facebook post. It is excellent. And deep in my heart, my dream is that the Pope would mandate that the Roman Missal fabricated by Bishop Bugnini be celebrated in this fashion. At least then, there would be continuity between the 1962 Missal and the most recent edition of the Bugnini Missal. That would be a good thing—but it needs official approval not just a contrived boutique usage done by liturgical geeks, if you know what I mean:

The “Unicorn” Novus Ordo: Kinsey Marshall

For fifty years it’s been the rumor in traditional Catholic circles: the reverent Novus Ordo. Not a guitar Mass with felt banners. Not a rushed vernacular Low Mass where the Propers are replaced by “Gather Us In.” The one that looks, sounds, and prays like the Roman Rite actually survived 1969.

People call it a “unicorn” because they’ve heard it exists but never seen it. Ad orientem. Latin Ordinary. Gregorian chant for the Propers. Communion rails. Roman Canon whispered at the high altar. Asperges me on Sundays. The Missal of Paul VI, celebrated with the ars celebrandi the Council fathers knew.

Klaus Gamber said the post-conciliar reform had become a “fabricated liturgy” because that unicorn went extinct. Joseph Ratzinger spent his life insisting it wasn’t extinct — only exiled — and that the whole point of Summorum Pontificum was to teach the Novus Ordo how to be Roman again.

And then you walk into Alt St. Peter’s on the Marienplatz.

The Roman Rite on the Petersbergl

Walk into Alt St. Peter’s on Sunday morning and you step into the liturgical argument Joseph Ratzinger and Klaus Gamber carried on for decades: What does it mean for the Roman Rite to remain itself?

The setting hasn’t changed. 

Munich’s oldest parish never installed a freestanding “people’s altar” after Vatican II. The 1730s Baroque high altar by Egid Quirin Asam still stands unobstructed. “Every one of the five weekday and six Sunday Masses in this church continues to be celebrated versus Deum upon this splendid high altar”. The communion rails remain, fitted with a white linen cloth. The tabernacle is central. Pius VI offered Mass here in 1782. Joseph Ratzinger did as Archbishop of Munich and Freising.

The 1970 Missal, celebrated as the Roman Rite

At 10:30am the Hauptgottesdienst begins. This is the Pauline Rite — the Missal of Paul VI — but done with what Ratzinger called the “hermeneutic of continuity.”

1. Asperges / Vidi aquam

Before the principal Sunday Mass, the rite of sprinkling opens the liturgy. Outside Paschaltide the schola intones Asperges me, Domine, hyssopo; in Eastertide it’s Vidi aquam. The celebrant in cope processes from the sacristy, sprinkles the high altar, himself, ministers, choir, and people as he walks the nave. This isn’t nostalgia. It’s the Ritus aspersionis of the 1970 Missal, sung in Gregorian chant because the Graduale Romanum is still the Church’s book of music. The people stand, make the Sign of the Cross, and the Mass flows straight into Gloria.

2. Ad orientem, Latin, and the Roman Canon

The priest faces liturgical east, with the people, toward the crucifix and tabernacle. The Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei are routinely sung in Latin — Missa de Angelis on ordinary Sundays, Mozart or Haydn Missa brevis on feasts. The Roman Canon / Eucharistic Prayer I is preferred, said ad orientem in a low voice. Readings and homily are in German, but the ars celebrandi is unmistakably Roman.

3. Communion at the rails

No standing lines. The faithful kneel at the communion rails to receive. Acolytes hold the communion paten. The schola sings a motet — Palestrina, Lassus, Bruckner’s Locus iste — while the organ improvises on the chant.

The musical tradition: Benedict XVI’s Bavaria

Alt St. Peter’s maintains Munich’s kirchenmusik tradition. The parish choir and schola cultivate three layers:

Gregorian chant: Propers from the Graduale Romanum — Introit, Gradual, Alleluia, Offertory, Communion. Not replaced by hymns.

Renaissance/Baroque polyphony: Mass settings and motets by Lassus, who worked in Munich, plus Palestrina and Victoria.

Classical Viennese Masses: On solemnities, the Hauptorgel and orchestra sound with Haydn’s Nelsonmesse, Mozart’s Spatzenmesse, or Bruckner. This is the Festmesse tradition the Baroque altar was built for.

Congregational hymns from Gotteslob are used at Offertory/Recessional, but they don’t displace the Proper. The acoustic of Zimmermann’s rebuilt interior was made for chant and polyphony, not guitars.

Gamber and Ratzinger in the pews

Klaus Gamber, in The Reform of the Roman Liturgy, argued that the post-conciliar reform became a “fabricated liturgy” because it broke organic growth: tables replaced altars, versus populum became ideology, Latin and chant were exiled. He would point to Alt St. Peter and say: “Here is what was not abrogated.” The altar, the rails, the orientation, the Asperges — all preserved, so the 1970 Missal could be grafted onto the living tree instead of planted in a pot.

Joseph Ratzinger, as Cardinal and Pope, made the same point with a different conclusion. In The Spirit of the Liturgy he wrote that ad orientem, Latin, and Gregorian chant aren’t museum pieces but the natural language of the Roman Rite. As Archbishop of Munich he celebrated in this church. As Pope he taught that the Novus Ordo and the 1962 Missal are “two forms of one rite.” At Alt St. Peter you see his thesis: The Pauline Rite is capable of continuity, if celebrated with the spirit of the rite.

The rupture Gamber feared — and Ratzinger labored to heal — never happened on the Petersbergl. The Baroque altar wasn’t wrecked. The Asperges wasn’t dropped. The Missa de Angelis didn’t become “pre-conciliar.”

Sunday at St. Peter’s, then, is an argument in stone and sound: The Roman Rite did not begin in 1969. The Missal of Paul VI, when celebrated versus Deum, with chant, with rails, with Vidi aquam in Eastertide, is still the Roman Rite. Gamber would call it proof that the old was never abolished. Ratzinger would call it proof that the new can be celebrated in continuity.

And the bells — some cast in 1327 — still ring it in.

The unicorn isn’t quite a myth. In Munich, it’s on the Petersbergl. And it’s been there every Sunday since the Council, waiting for the rest of the Church to remember how to ride.

WHAT A GREAT, CLEAR AND CHARITABLE WAY TO CORRECT THE HERETICAL GERMAN SYNODAL WAY AND TO DO IT WITH YOUNG PEOPLE VISITING THE POPE FROM GERMANY

 I emphasize what the pope says in red:

ADDRESS OF POPE LEO XIV
TO GERMAN CATHOLIC STUDENT ASSOCIATIONS

Audience Hall
Freitag, 5 June 2026

[Multimedia]

_______________________________

In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Peace be with you!

Dear brothers and sisters, welcome! Herzlich willkommen!

I am told that Germans are very punctual! Ich bin ein Ausländer.

Dear friends,

I am pleased to greet all of you, members of the German Catholic student associations, who are gathering for a joint conference, the Cartellversammlung, for the first time outside of Germany. Your decision to come here to Rome, ad Petri Sedem, is motivated by the Catholic faith that defines you, by the communion that binds us as disciples of Jesus and by the cultural activities you undertake. I would like to reflect briefly on these three aspects to strengthen the bond of fraternity that unites you and your shared dedication to the Church.

Regarding your Catholic identity, your firm commitment to the faith is reflected in the four principles that guide your association: religio, scientia, amicitia and patria. In the face of the despotism and ideologies of the past, the Catholic faith has never been merely a veneer or a label, but rather a way of life to be shared in university and in work settings. Like evangelical leaven, your fraternity continues to grow within scientific and political contexts as well as across various academic, professional and social circles. This communal dimension of your activities benefits not only your country, but also all of Europe, of which Germany is at the center.

To this geographical centrality, you rightly add the cultural centrality of the human person, a creature of God and the architect of his or her own life. Faced with the challenges of the technological revolution, you should devote particular attention to the study and the promotion of our common humanity. In his or her irreducible expression as male or female, the human person is in fact always relational and limited, and therefore called to become a task for oneself and a gift to the other. Just like the exercise of reason, so too does the light of faith illumine the promises and deceptions of the present time, calling on each person to do their best to help build a just and peaceful society.

Regarding the spirit of communion that animates this initiative, I am pleased to recall your motto: In certibus unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas. These words attest to the true foundation, the critical dialogue and constant dedication that characterize your association. The relationship among members of many associations is not limited to sharing knowledge, but matures into reciprocal esteem. It is not confined to ideas but becomes a collaborative practice. As all of you follow Christ, the only Lord and Master of life, you represent Catholic values in society not as those who carry partisan flags, but as representatives of the common good of humanity. In Germany, in Italy and throughout the world, the same Catholic faith strengthens our cooperation, without compromising with the trends of the moment, without placing individualistic preferences ahead of the common Tradition of the Church. In the joy of fraternity, I therefore encourage you to promote the evangelization of culture: your university organizations continually draw in new young people because they bear witness to passion, competence and authentic Christian friendship.

With regard to the diverse cultural activities that you undertake across various fields of study and work, you have come to realize that it is not merely a matter of pursuing a profession (Beruf), but of following a vocation (Berufung). Indeed, the search for truth is a good worth desiring and passing on. As we pursue it methodically, we come to understand that no field of study can be reduced to mere speculation. Precisely because it involves the exercise of both intellect and will, study is rather a commitment, requiring self-discipline and conversion: a transformation of the mind, which we cultivate like fertile soil by honing our tools of the trade. By doing our very best, we become responsible stewards in society without being seduced by careers focused on money. Let us rather recognize that culture is the good of humanity: truth sets us free, while falsehood distorts names and things. In the face of what dehumanizes people – especially the least among us, the poor and the sick – I ask you to be witnesses to Christian humanism. In this regard, I invite you to reflect deeply on what Pope Benedict XVI, a distinguished former member of your association, said: develop a coherent “ecology of man. Man, too, has a nature that he must respect” (Address to the Bundestag,, 22 September 2011). Integral ecology, so dear to Pope Francis (cf. Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’ 10–11, 62), sheds light on the fact that the world is full of meaning, and not an inert entity to be shaped arbitrarily or by the thirst for power. We, in fact, are not random aggregates of particles, but bodies open to transcendence: by directing our thirst for life and justice, for wisdom and love, we discover together the truth in knowing, doing and believing.

After all, human beings are always seeking God, and he has revealed himself to us as our Saviour. It is not in spite of our activities, then, but precisely through what we do that we develop a relationship with God, which becomes a path to holiness. Yes, the cultural mission of Christians is to direct society and history toward this pinnacle of a God-centered life. Through the intercession of Saint Boniface, evangelizer of Germany, may you be witnesses to this wisdom of the Gospel in German and in European society. With esteem for your associations, I gladly impart my Apostolic Blessing upon all of you and your loved ones. Danke sehr!

Let us pray together: Pater noster …

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE MASS AS IT DEVELOPED ORGANICALLY OVER 2,000 YEARS UNTIL THE 1970 USURPER STRIPPED IT DOWN AGAIN?

Liturgical theologians touted the breakthrough that the Bugnini contrived Mass was. And that breakthrough was “resourcement”!

It’s one of those words that everyone, except liturgical elites, forget what that French word means.

Let me make it simple.

In 1969, you take a fully loaded Lincoln Continental  sedan and you strip it down and return it to the Model T Ford from which it evolved and grew organically.

That’s what the 1970 Roman Missal or, truthfully, Bishop Bugnini did to the 1962 Roman Missal, organically developed over centuries. He tried to return it to the way the early Church celebrated the Mass in a Model T fashion.

So, from the Mass, you take away automatic transmission, power brakes, electric windows, cruise control, V-8 engine, computers and safety features and strip it down to what it was originally without all those accretions. 

Yes, that’s what the 1970 Missal tried to do, or better yet, Bishop Bugnini did.

I had a Ford lightbulb moment when Pope Leo was giving His Holiness’ Wednesday catechesis on Sacrosanctum Concilium. SC was not talking about some future stripped down, contrived Mass like the one Bugnini came up with, but rather it was talking about the Mass of the day during the Council and for centuries before. 

Yes, in not the most unambiguous way, SC called for some conservative reforms. Most of these, in my most humble opinion, had to do with the complexity of Pontifical Masses celebrated by the Bishop of Rome and all other bishops. It was not aimed at the typical parish Low or High Mass. Maybe more to the Solemn Sung Mass with deacon and subdeacon.

Noble simplicity doesn’t mean stripping the Mass down to a Model T Ford. It means making it easier to celebrate the Mass with vernacular rubrics and taking away some of the odd additions to the more solemn celebrations of the Mass, like the server kissing the priest’s hand, the taking of the paten in a solemn way away from the altar, the oddity of the paten not used on the corporal until right before the priest’s “Domini non sum dignus”.

A useless repetition would be the double prayers at the PATFOTA, the double “non sum dignus” at Communion time, one for the priest the other for the laity and the Confiteor again recited prior to the people’s non-sum dignus.

But what in the Name of God and all that is Holy is wrong with the priest and ministers at a sung Mass saying the PATFOTA while the Entrance Chant (Introit) is chanted?

What in the Name of God and all that is Holy is wrong with all of the other silent and private prayers of the priest that Bugnini completely stripped away?

What is wrong with all the sign language used by the priest during the Roman Canon, like multiple signs of the Cross, genuflections and bows???

What is wrong with the Last Gospel and in fact with the Order of the Mass where the Dismissal comes first and the Final Blessing last, with those pesky private prayers of the priest in between? 

Fidelity to SC’s call for certain changes in the Mass would be the 1964 Roman Missal that allowed for quite a bit of vernacular but also mandated Latin for the Roman Canon or any Eucharistic Prayer developed, although SC did not call for additional Canons!

Preserving Gregorian Chant and Latin could be accomplished by mandating that in a sung Mass the Propers be in Latin and perhaps the fixed parts of the Mass. 

SC did not call for a reorientation of churches and the wreckovation of church sanctuaries. It did not mandate that the Mass always be said facing the assembly. 

It did not call for standing for Holy Communion, the removal of altar railings and extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. 

I hope Pope Leo realizes as he teaches us about the true meaning of SC that His Holiness needs to reform the reform and make it what SC actually sought for the Mass of the ages.

Hint: It isn’t the 1970 Roman Missal or any other version of said missal since 1970.

HAS MONSIGNOR STEPHEN ROSSETTI JUMPED THE SHARK? POSSIBLY, AT LEAST HIS ARCHBISHOP, CARDINAL ROBERT MCELROY THINKS SO AS HE CALLS OUT ROSSETTI’S HETERODOXY! YES, YOU READ THAT CORRECTLY!

Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington attends a press conference at the North American College in Rome, Friday, May 9, 2025. (Credit: Gregorio Borgia/AP.)

In my most humble opinion, Cardinal McElroy made the right decision. I’ve seen some of Monsignor’s videos on Facebook and some of these raised questions in my mind. 

I have been to many talks given by Monsignor Rossetti in my diocese and elswhere, especially when I was vocation director. I thought he was very articulate. My only complaint back then and I made it known to him personally in a question and answer session in my own diocese with him, was about reintegrating priests guilty of molesting minors back into the ministry. He and the rehab facility in Washington, DC where he had worked had advocated for this in the 1990’s before this scandal overwhelmed the Church when made public. 

Of course Rossetti made it clear that he wasn’t speaking about true pedophiles who prey on young children, but rather those who abuse teenagers. He felt these priests could be rehabilitated and returned to ministry. But he also promoted transparency in do so, that everyone should know that the priest was returned to ministry, kind of like alcoholic priests who are in recovery, making it known they are to their congregations. 

But! But! But! I complained, what about the victims or potential future victims? He had no good answer to that question but, of course this was in the 1990’s! 

My other comment about Cardinal McElroy’s point about calling out Monsignor’s heterodoxy about demons as it is taught by the Church is that one could say this about the good Cardinal and his desire for women’s ordination and sex outside of Holy Matrimony:

“The question of the ordination of women to the priesthood will be one of the most difficult questions confronting the international synods in 2023 and 2024,” Cardinal Robert McElroy of San Diego writes in an essay for the Jesuit periodical America. “The Church should move toward admitting women to the diaconate, not only for reasons of inclusion but because women permanent deacons could provide critically important ministries, talents and perspectives.”

“The effect of the tradition that all sexual acts outside of marriage constitute objectively grave sin has been to focus the Christian moral life disproportionately upon sexual activity,” he added. “Sexual activity, while profound, does not lie at the heart of this hierarchy [of truths]. Yet in pastoral practice we have placed it at the very center of our structures of exclusion from the Eucharist. This should change.”

When one plays that type of game in order to change moral teachings or make them less important or to change doctrine as it concerns the Ordinary Magisterium’s infallible teachings on who can be ordained, that is Satan creating the loopholes, no? I am sure Msgr. Rossetti woould agree with me! But I digress!

Here’s an excerpt from Crux’s article on this own sad thing which you can read in full HERE:

The Catholic archbishop of Washington, D.C., Cardinal Robert McElroy, on Wednesday removed a well-known priest as an exorcist of the archdiocese after he made public comments suggesting that UFO sightings were the work of demons.

McElroy said the archdiocese also was cutting ties with the St. Michael Center for Spiritual Renewal, a Washington-based nonprofit headed by the priest, Monsignor Stephen Rossetti.

The archbishop said Rossetti’s statements “linking UFOs to demonic presence and the Center’s recent use of social media gravely undermine the Church’s very precise teaching on the devil, demons and exorcism.”

“There’s a danger here,” Rossetti said in a May 29 video posted on his Facebook page addressing UFO sightings and the existence of aliens. “As an exorcist I wanted to raise that danger. And that is that demons like to hide. … They don’t want us to know what they’re doing because they’re more effective when we don’t realize it.”

“They can kind of get into your head, you know, and manipulate things in the world to influence us to do evil.”

IS THE NAMING OF AN EWTN EXECUTIVE, A STRONG, ORTHODOX LAYWOMAN, LIKE MOTHER ANGELICA, ALTHOUGH SHE WAS A RELIGIOIUS, A BETTER GIFT AND AFFIRMATION OF EWTN FROM THE POPE AND THE VATICAN THAN THE MAGNIFICENT MONSTRANCE GIVEN TO EWTN FROM THE VATICAN AFTER MOTHER’S BROUHAHA WITH CARDINAL MAHONY OF LOS ANGELES IN 1997? WELL, YESSSSS!

Mother Angelica and EWTN were and are no shrinking violets. Mother spoke her mind and orthodox Catholics ate it up, especially when she stood up to power. She was prophetic and often recieved a prophet’s reward, like Jesus did, from those in power. 

Those promoting women’s leadership in the Church and the heterodox promoting of female ordination (now they also promote trans ordinations as a development of their heterodox doctrines) hated Mother Angelica, absolutely hated her and wanted her taken down. They were emboldened when Pope Francis also spoke ill of EWTN for their audacity in criticizing His Holiness—he called their criticism of him and the Church the work of the devil. It’s almost like Monsignor Rosetti saying UFOs are demons—but I digress!

The video above I saw at Rorate Caeli brings back so many memories of my time in the seminary and later in parish life in the 80’s and 90’s and also as vocation director when we were using some of the pagan things that Mother rails against in this video from 1997. In fact, I think I saw this live on Mother Angelica Live in 1997–as a disclaimer I also appeared on her program “Mother Angelica Live” around that same time touting the restoration of the Church of the Most Holy Trinity in Augusta, Georgia! No brag, just fact!

This is a time capsule to say the least. Most of what she is complaining about have been eradicated by Popes JPII and Benedict XVI. But the aging cabals, still alive, were trying to bring it back and under Pope Francis seem to be succeeding with Pope Francis’ brand of synodality—something most rank and file clergy and laity absolutely despise and wish would simply go away—we need a Mother Angelica today to call it out. 

With the appointment of a woman executive from EWTN to a Prefect for Communications at the Vatican, a woman shaped and formed by Mother Angelica and her EWTN network, the heterodox, aging cabals must be seeing the writing on the wall—Pope Leo is no Pope Francis, he’s more of a Pope Benedict XVII rather than a Pope Francis II!

Here’s AI description of the monstrance sent to her by the Vatican in the midst of all of what those in high places in the USA were trying to do to Mother to shut her up and shut her down” 

Mother Angelica's well-publicized controversy with Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony in 1997 stemmed from her on-air criticisms of his pastoral letter on liturgical changes, during which she urged Catholics to disobey his directives. [1]

While it is a popular legend that Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) directly sent a monstrance to EWTN in the aftermath of that specific clash, the famous monstrance displayed at EWTN's Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament has a different origin. [1, 2, 3]

The beautiful monstrance in question was originally a gift to Pope John Paul II from the people of Nowa Huta, a suburb of Kraków, Poland. During a papal visit to Poland on June 15, 1999, the Pope fell and was injured the day prior. As a result, Cardinal Angelo Sodano accepted the monstrance on his behalf. The Pope later entrusted and gifted this monstrance to Mother Angelica and the EWTN sisters in appreciation for their ongoing global evangelization and the perpetual Eucharistic adoration at their Hanceville shrine. [1, 2]

Mother Angelica and EWTN have long maintained a strong alignment with Cardinal Ratzinger and his theological perspectives. In the years following the conflict, Cardinal Ratzinger (and later as Pope) frequently spoke on Eucharistic mystery, and eventually awarded Mother Angelica the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal—the highest papal honor for religious—in October 2009. [1, 2, 3]

I’M ALL MYSTAGOGUED OVER THE MYSTAGOGY TYPE MASS, THE VETUS ORDO, SPECIFICALY, THAT I CELEBRATED ON SUNDAY AT SACRED HEART CHURCH IN SAVANNAH FOR THE FEAST OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY!

 As a part of the mystagogy of this liturgy, I start at the end and work toward the beginning. All is needed in this mystagogical catechesis are the photos as these are worth a thousand mystagogical words!

As we were celebrating the Most Holy Trinity by way of the Vetus Ordo, as described in Sacrosanctum Concilium, it is appropriate that this Mass shows us the most mystagogical aspect of this ancient Mass in its Vetus Ordo, no? 

By the way, we had 17 altar boys participating!

FOR THE MOST PART, WHAT POPE LEO SAYS ABOUT THE LITURGY IN HIS WEDNESDAY AUDIENCE CATECHESIS CAN BE SAID OF BOTH THE VETUS AND NOVUS ORDOS…

 LEO XIV (My most humble, astute comments in red embedded in the pope’s text.)

GENERAL AUDIENCE

Saint Peter's Square
Wednesday, 3 June 2026

[Multimedia]

________________

Catechesis. The Documents of the Second Vatican Council. III. Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium. 3. Rite, sign and symbol

 

Dear brothers and sisters,

As we continue our catechesis on the Conciliar Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium (SC), we wish to pause and reflect on some of the fundamental elements of the sacred liturgy, such as rite, sign and symbol.

The Second Vatican Council, building on the valuable work of the Liturgical Movement, has helped us to rediscover a truth that was very much alive in the consciousness of the early Church and in the teaching of the Fathers. The rites of the Christian liturgy are not a mere external covering of the sacramental mystery, a collection of arbitrary ceremonies, but are the ecclesial mediation through which the divine gift reaches us. Precisely for this reason, the Council invites us to understand the Mysterium fidei which is realized in the liturgy through rites and prayers (cf. SC, 48). (Keep in mind that SC is speaking about the Mass that was celebrated at Vatican II, not the Bugnini Mass, not that what the pope says doesn’t apply to it also!)

Rite gives shape to liturgical action and, through it, to our lives, generating in us a spiritual sensibility that makes us capable of savouring the presence of God through Jesus Christ. Naturally, this happens if we do not remain strangers or silent spectators (cf. ibid.) with regard to the liturgy, but participate in it with our full selves – body, mind and heart – in obedience to the Lord’s command. Through the sacred rite we are thus formed in listening to the Word of God, in giving thanks and in adoration, in fraternal sharing and in ecclesial communion. We discover that we are an assembly with many faces, united by the same faith. (Let’s face it the Vetus Ordo does this much better than the Novus Ordo which is all over the place in the manner in which it is celebrated. If nothing else was changed with the 1962 Roman Missal, except the use of vernacular for it and the Liturgy of the Word as it is now in the Novus Ordo, the 1962 Missal celebrated in this fashion (actually the 1964 Missal) and we might have experienced a new springtime in the Church, but alas!)

The rite involves us in a well-defined sequence of gestures and prayers, which can sometimes be at odds with our individual tendency towards spontaneity. Its logic, however, is not to constrain freedom within rigid frameworks. On the contrary, with the solemn simplicity of its rhythms, the rite interrupts our frenetic activities, leading us back to what is essential. We thus discover another dimension of action, not guided by calculations of productivity, and another experience of time and space. In the rite we experience a logic of gratuitousness, we find a pause that regenerates the heart, we recognize that we are preceded by divine grace, we learn to live in a rhythm inhabited by the Holy Spirit.

The grammar of the rite is interwoven with the signs and symbols proper to the liturgy. In it, as the Council states, “the sanctification of the man is signified by signs perceptible to the senses, and is effected in a way which corresponds with each of these signs” (SC, 7). The Catechism of the Catholic Church explores the value of these signs, recalling that “their meaning is rooted in the work of creation and in human culture, specified by the events of the Old Covenant and fully revealed in the person and work of Christ” (no. 1145). The sign of water is emblematic: from the origins of creation to the Flood, from the crossing of the Red Sea to the Jordan, right up to the water flowing from Christ’s side, which becomes a sacramental sign of immersion in His death and resurrection.

“Sign” and “symbol” are terms that are often used as synonyms. In reality, a sign is symbolic when it is able to refer not only to an idea, but to an entire system of meanings and values. In this way, for example, when we are sprinkled with holy water, (herein, the Holy Father falls into the secularizing trap that the Novus Ordo has promoted! Would it not be better, more accurate and more liturgical to say that we are blessed with Holy Water, rather than sprinkled with it? Sprinkling is a secular term, blessing is religious!) our awareness of the gift received at Baptism and our commitment to new life in Christ is rekindled. Secondly, symbols are essentially practical in nature, being first and foremost actions: some simple and common, such as kneeling and exchanging the sign of peace, or more demanding, such as the constitutive acts of each Sacrament. Above all, symbols have a unique performative and transformative dimension, both in relation to the material elements of which they are composed and to those who come into contact with them, engendering a sense of belonging, touching the heart and mind, and giving rise to authentic ecclesial relationships.

In the Apostolic Letter Desiderio desideravi, Pope Francis, echoing a statement by Romano Guardini, identified “the first task of the work of liturgical formation: man must become once again capable of symbols” (no. 44). We need to allow ourselves to be educated by the rites of the liturgy, caring for the beauty of our celebrations with a delicate touch and without arbitrariness, and committing ourselves to an authentic mystagogy. The experience of a living and devout liturgy, accompanied by appropriate mystagogical catechesis, is the best resource for reawakening in everyone that openness to the encounter with God which, in the logic of the Incarnation, can only take place by involving the whole person: spirit, soul and body (cf. 1 Thess 5:23). (Once again, Pope Leo channeling both Romano Guardino and Fr. Z, tells us to read the black and do the red! Pope Leo says it this way: “…caring for the beauty of our celebratioins with a delicate touch and without arbitrariness…!)

My final comment, most humble as it is as it isn’t mine:

I would suspect that 99.9% of the people at the Wednesday audience don’t know what the heck “mystagogy” means and, as is typical, the Church throws out these words that have no meaning for people hearing them. It mystifies them as does the Novus Ordo.

But here’s the most dreaded AI’s description, which is good and would have taken me hours and hours to discover on my own, but with AI only a second or two! Praise AI!:

Mystagogy (from the Greek mystagogia, meaning "leading into the mystery") is an ancient Christian form of catechesis that guides participants from the visible signs of the liturgy and sacraments into the inner, spiritual meaning of divine grace. It is an experiential, lifelong journey of spiritual transformation. [1, 2, 3, 4]

The Roots of the Practice

Historically and in modern liturgical traditions, such as the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA), mystagogy is the vital period following the reception of the sacraments of initiation. However, it is not merely an academic review of doctrine. [1, 2, 3]

Authentic mystagogy involves:

• Moving from Sign to Mystery: Using the tangible symbols of the Mass (water, light, oil, bread, wine) to help the faithful encounter the unseen realities of heaven. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
• Connection to Daily Life: Reflecting on the liturgy so that it progressively transforms your everyday actions, leading to a deeper life of prayer, charity, and discipleship. [1, 2, 3]

Why the Concept Remains Relevant

Throughout history, Church Fathers like St. Cyril of Jerusalem and St. Augustine emphasized that the mysteries of the faith cannot be fully understood before experiencing them; rather, their true meaning unfolds through continuous, prayerful participation. This ancient method continues to be promoted globally as an essential way to renew parish life and deepen personal faith. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

If you are looking to integrate the practice of mystagogy into your own life or community, I can help you:

• Find Eucharistic Mystagogy Resources made available for the National Eucharistic Revival.
• Discover spiritual reflection methods that connect daily life experiences with scripture and Church teachings. [1, 2]