Just to be clear, I like the reform of our calendar and the classification of solemnities, feasts, Memorials with a capital "M" and memorials with a little "m". The Roman Missal after Vatican II has a greater variety of prayers and a fabulous daily Mass lectionary. There is almost no lectionary for daily Mass in the EF Mass. There are very few Masses in the EF Missal. While one may like the EF Mass's order, the OF Missal is far richer than the 1962 missal in the variety of prayers and Masses offered; in fact there is no comparison.
As well, when there is no particular feast to be celebrated in the OF Mass one can either used the prayers for Sunday or some other Mass that ties into the readings of the Mass for that day. This is not the case in the EF Mass. If there is no particular feast on any given day, one uses the readings and prayers of the previous Sunday although there are a few votive Masses the priest could choose.
Now what I don't like about our current calendar is the term used for "Ordinary Time" and the elimination of the three pre-Lenten Sundays and the loss of ember days. I am also sorry that the week before Holy Week is no longer called Passion Week although the Passion Prefaces are used the last two weeks of Lent and technically it is still there but not called such.
The cycle of the year above captures very well the intent of the calendar even the reformed calendar and it could easily be adapted for the reformed calendar. We are in the Sundays after Epiphany now and after Pentecost, wIll be in the Sundays after Pentecost. While it is a mouthful, one could still say Ordinary Time after Epiphany and Ordinary Time after Pentecost with the post-Vatican II calendar. Liturgical Time after Epiphany or Liturgical Time after Pentecost anyone? Or how about Time after Epiphany or Time after Pentecost? Or how about Sundays after Epiphany and Sundays after Pentecost?
One would hope that any future reform of the Roman Missal would reform the calendar slightly to bring back the three Sunday pre-Lenten season, ember days and the designation of the Time after Epiphany and Time after Pentecost. It would be wise also to return the Octave of Pentecost to the calendar, for some strange reason it was eliminated in the reform.
And as you know I am clairvoyant but maybe not, but I predict that the future reform of the Missal will bring us back to only one Roman Missal for the Mass in the Latin Rite and it will be the current 2010 Missal with two forms of its order, the Ordinary Form and the Extraordinary Form with either form celebrated in Latin or the vernacular or a combination of both. Of course this new missal would adjust the calendar as I have suggested. The reformed lectionary will continue with a year "D" which will be the pre-Vatican II lectionary for Sundays.
5 comments:
"If there is no particular feast on any given day, one uses the readings and prayers of the previous Sunday."
Actually, this essentially never occurs in actual daily experience with the EF Mass. For instance, during the green-vestment times after Epiphany and after after Pentecost--Tempus per annum ("ordinary time" in OF English translation)--I don't recall ever having seen green vestments at a weekday Mass. Because there is always a saint to be celebrated or an appropriate votive Mass, or a requested Mass for the dead.
But even with those Masses, Henry, the readings kept repeating themselves, especially for the Masses of the Dead which have only one set of readings. Today we can say Masses for the deceased without using the Mass of the dead but simply use the Mass of the Day whatever it is and I presume that is the case still with the EF Mass that a Mass for someone who is dead can be said in conjunction with the Mass of the day no matter the degree of solemnity. Apart from funerals in the OF form of the Mass, Masses for the Dead are seldom used for daily Mass.
I must agree that the textual richness of the OF missal's prayers and readings is the primary basis for my continued devotion to the OF liturgy, which in the most typical local parish practice has little else to recommend it. More could be done in dioceses and parishes to emulate papal practice, even if St. Peter's resources are unique. In the current www.knoxlatinmass.net/newsletter.htm I remarked that Pope Benedict's recent Mass of the Epiphany was "was both traditional and Latin (though not Tridentine), replete with papal silver trumpets, Gregorian chant, sacred polyphony, and wall to wall classical Roman vestments". If only the OF Masses accessible to most bore at least some practical resemblance to Our Holy Father's liturgical example.
I believe the one year Traditional calendar to be superior in nearly everyway to the new calendar. The ferial Masses are really not given their due in your argument. The celebration of the same Mass throughout the week turns the previous Sunday into a mini-Octave where we have a whole week to reflect on the Mass readings. Also, the series of the readings makes a lot more sense - for example, Second Sunday after Epiphany begins the miracles with the wedding in Cana and continues along throughout the upcoming weeks as we contemplate Christ's miracles.
The limited number of Masses is a good thing, in my opinion. And the multitude of saints in the old calendar includes some you may have never heard of. It is simply much deeper in history as it tends to follow the Roman Martyrology, which is not pretty much forgotten as far as I can tell.
Then, you have the special time of Lent where there is always a proper Mass for each day - made more special by there not being proper readings for any other season's days.
Finally, the exclusion of the time leading up to Lent is a travesty as it serves as a time to prepare for the literal 40 day fast that most people would do during Lent.
At any rate, the time is marked in a much better way in the old calendar. And frankly, I prefer the limited number of readings in the old calendar. So, I try my best to follow that calendar. But it is good that we have the option. I really hope the old calendar is not done away with in my lifetime, although I would like it to be updated to include the newer saints' feasts. I think they'll happen in the next couple years.
Marc
I would hope that this predicted one Roman missal would return the Feast of the Epiphany to January 6, the Feast of Corpus Christi to Thursday after Most Holy Trinity Sunday, and the Ascension of Our Lord to the Thursday forty days after the Resurrection of Our Lord (Easter)in the United States. I also hope that there would be an end to optional Holy Days of Obligation on Mondays and Saturdays. The U.S. bishops definitely need to work on the deadly sin of sloth especially when it comes to the liturgical calendar.
Post a Comment