Sunday, September 7, 2014
A CAUSE FOR ANGER AND CONSTERNATION
What is it about this image of the Mass (this one an EF version, but could easily also be an OF version celebrated in this manner) that causes so many bishops, priests and laity to become angry, apoplectic and downright mean? Just what is it about the celebration of and the focus entirely on the Paschal Mystery in this photo that drives so many to angry distraction? What has this Mass done to them? Answer me?
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18 comments:
I've often wondered why many in the Church and in the world not only do not like but have an irrational hate for the old Mass and "formality" during Mass. I can only come to the conclusion that traditional modes of Catholic reverence cause people to come face to face with the reality of who God really is and what He expects from us. For instance kneeling and receiving on the tongue brings home the fact in a real way that we are receiving GOD HIMSELF, He is the creator we are the creature. We are not on this earth to do our own thing, but to know love and serve God in this life to be happy with him in the next. I know I know. But that definition really is true and society has lost that reality. Everybody today is their own little god.
It reminds them of their unbelief...
A suggestion from an attorney:
Maybe every Catholic in the Diocese of Savannah who loves the EF Mass should do as I have done and have their will provide that they want an EF Requiem Mass for their funeral. Do this and give your pastor a copy of this part of the will (usually the first page) in advance ('might even send a copy to the Diocesan Chancellor's office just for good measure) and let your family and friends know so that they can follow up on this and speak up on your behalf when the time comes.
'Just another way to try and get the EF Mass celebrated throughout our Diocese. . . it NEEDS to happen somehow!
When I attended a traditional Latin Mass for the first time since I was 10 years old, I was stunned. The reality of Jesus' profound sacrifice was brought home to me in a way the Ordinary form always fell short of delivering. My utter unworthiness before God and His immense love for me was revealed in the Prayer of St. Ambrose that I found in the TLM missal. The reverence and quiet that had been literally robbed from worship for the previous 20 years was suddenly restored. To read about it is one thing, but to experience it was quite another.
You know the answer to your question, Father. The people who hate this Mass and grow suddenly intolerant at its mention do so because they have bought the great lie. They thought there was a revolution in the Church and they loved it. They thought that the Roman Rite as we knew it was gone forever. They preferred a style of worship that glorified man and dumbed down the prayers. As I once heard a priest of this diocese say in a homily: "Before Vatican II we had the old Church, and now we have the new Church and thank God the old Church is gone forever."
The Traditional Mass reminds them that their revolution has failed. The young seminarians who embrace tradition and are treated with contempt by old liberal pastors are a threat to them. The hatred will go when they either convert and accept that the faith cannot be changed or when they pass on. They might still hold the keys to the rectories, but they know their revolution has failed.
When Pompey final captured the Jerusalem Temple for the Roman Empire, killing tens of thousands of defending soldiers in the process, he found in the Holy of Holies not the treasures of a kingdom, but an empty room. Why had all those men laid down their lives for an empty room? The same reason Catholic priests face what appears to be just an empty wall today. There's Someone there.
Sadly, too many Catholics today seem more like Roman generals than like true believers.
The reason and answer is simple, the Novus Ordonarians see the truth of the EF and fear it! Time and time again we have said how powerful the EF and Latin is and how the devil hates the EF with a passion, the gestures, rubics the solemness of the EF all are about Christ and not about us!! Vatican II was a gigantic experiment that utterly failed at the core and look what has happened to Holy Mother Church an almost total destruction! Mass in the vulgar tounge, drums, guitars, altar girls, female and male lay lectors, female cantors, felt banners, dancing girls in leotards, ripped out communion rails, torn down high altars, ripped out kneelers, the list goes on and on. Thank God for the F.S.S.P., Institute of Christ the King, The Friars of The Immaculate who are all but destroyed by Rome and yes even the S.S.P.X. who without them these prior communities would never have been. Pray for our Holy Mass of All Times to return to Rome and all of our churches and pray for Cardinal Burke, Ranjith, Bishop Schneider, Bishop Slattery, Bishop Finn, Bishop Morlino, Bishop Perry all of these holy men have been supportive of the TLM.
Your final question deserves an answer. What has this Mass done to them? It has CONVICTED them.
When a human is faced with guilt, they have two paths they can pursue. They can seek forgiveness and repent or they can balance their guilt and avoid facing it by blaming. In this case, the object of blame is the fictitious "Old Church". If they can remove sin, guilt, responsibility and accountability by creating a "New Church", then they never have to face the conviction that comes from within when faced with the reality of God.
Because to them it is life going in the wrong direction. I expect they would like to have even more disorganized liturgies, women as priests talking feminist theology from the pulpit, gay rainbow banners flying in the sacristy, gay partners married and applause, applause and liturgical dancers swirling up the aisle with tambourines and ribbons streaming behind them, and here in this photo we are reaffirming the male priesthood in a liturgy of worship of God directed from the people through the priest and upwards to heaven.
It seems to me the desire was to Protestantize the Church, to make it un-Catholic even without saying so. And I would venture to guess the progressives that go apoplectic over this image are also the ones who don't believe in the Real Presence and abhor Marian devotions as well.
In that photo they see a reversion back to everything they hate.
Robert, Amen. I had the same experience, and I could not stay away. It is also the realisation of a terrifying commitment: "Leave your family and friends behind and follow Me". Gulp.
Dear Father, these bishops, priests and lay people you speak of are guilt ridden. They know the EF is the TRUE MASS and therefore hate it. They have tried in vain to destroy it for over 45 years and lo and behold it has risen from the ashes thanks in part to the F.S.S.P. S.S.P.X. and our Holy Father Pope Benedict the XVI with Summorum Pontificum. You cannot destroy the Mass of All Times instituted by Our Lord himself Jesus Christ no matter what they do.
Just wondering if any of you here in this blog have had the same experience I have with the TLM, that it has always been the older priest's I have had back and forth arguments with regarding the TLM. They always seemed to loath it yet they were the one's who celebrated it in their youth. I never understood their sheer hatred of the Mass they were brought up on. At times their eyes buldged at the mention of the TLM very very unsettling at the time for a young man such as myself. Even as a young man I found the Novus Ordo Mass to be very "child like" with hand holding, pop music, clapping, altar girls, horrid vestments, banal music, I thought to myself what is this going on before my eyes? I soon discoverd the TLM and right then and there I knew I found the Lord present, for it was all about him and not us in the pews, with the priest leading us to Jesus.
Contrary to what most people might think would most effective in communicating the Saving Mystery, I firmly believe (based on my own experience, like Robert Kumpel) that the EF Mass does a more effective job with this. I base this on my own experience when I first encountered the EF as an adult when I was in my early 30's (more than 20 years ago) and on the relayed experience of my brother after I took him to his first EF Mass (he had been lapsed for some time before that and, since then, has returned to practicing his faith). I have had similar reactions from friends--especially a friend of mine who is a fellow attorney and convert (I took him to the EF Mass in Little Rock shortly after he converted years ago).
I'll admit that it may not be as effective without some friendly guidance on the first experience (an older gentleman kindly guided me through the missal at the first EF Mass I attended and I did the same for my brother and my attorney friend).
Just look at the picture for this post--there is no ordained minister nor any cantor facing the people and exhorting them to sing or respond or giving prefatory explanations of anything that is going on. The obvious focus is on God and not on the people. The sacred actions speak much more than translated words. I guess that's it--the EF's power and emphasis is more focused on the actions and the OF seems to be more focused on words and comprehension of them. This, and the orderly linear nature of the EF, may explain it's appeal to men and boys.
Oftentimes, I pay more attention to what someone does and how things appear than I do to what they say. This is even true of movies and TV for me (and then my wife asks "are you listening to me?" or, "did you hear what they said?") Too many words are often "tuned out" by a lot of guys--it's just part of our nature. We are visual/spatial beings.
Father, and everyone else, please feel free to chime in on something that I have personally noticed from talking to seminaries who are around my age (early 20's)
The overwhelming number of seminarians I have met are way more traditional than the older priests. I would say 85-90% of the ones I have met are wanting to learn the TLM.
Basically, what I was told is that they are doing is biding their time and waiting for the "old modernist liberal" to die off so that they are not harassed.
Honestly, I give the Church 10 more years of the crap we are in now. This is the modernists last gasp, and they know this. They have not produced the following they thought they would. I'm personally looking forward to the biological solution finally setting in.
I deplore the NO as it is 99% of the time celebrated. If I had a non-SSPX TLM located near me I would go in the blink of an eye. But since that is not the case I grit my teeth and go to my local NO Mass literally only bc the Church says it is valid
"Basically, what I was told is that they--are biding their time and waiting for the 'old modernist liberal' to die off so that they are not harassed." Anonymous, I'm more than twice your age and this is exactly what I believe to be true regarding the younger generation of priests and seminarians and the EF.
Maybe, if I live a normal life span, I'll a least get my wish for that EF Requiem Mass for my funeral and one of these current young priests or seminarians will celebrate it for me!
Fr. McDonald,
Maybe, whether formally or informally, plans to expand the availability of the EF in the Diocese of Savannah will get discussed at the priests' retreat this week? 'Just hoping . . .
While we may happily note the increasing piety among seminarians, we should not forget that there were many traditionally-minded seminarians in the Seventies and Eighties, but these were run out if they failed to conform their thinking to the post-VCII "spirit".
We should also not forget those older priests and laymen who never "drank the Kool-Aid", but instead suffered in silence through the all the liturgical and theological calamities of the Seventies and Eighties, to which was joined the moral calamity of the Pervert-Priest Crisis in the Nineties-2000's.
The piety and traditionalism of younger seminarians is old news. This has been going on for a long time and the practice is called "submarining." They are screened at the seminary where they are asked trick questions such as, "What do you think about ordaining women?" If they are careful enough to answer without demonstrating their sympathies to the Church's teachings, they get in and have their sensibilities assaulted for the next four years, unless they are fortunate enough to go to one of the few (very few) seminaries that has not been corrupted. Not only are they taught questionable theology, but they often have to endure the advances of homosexual students and faculty. I interviewed one former seminarian who was taken to dinner by one of the faculty to discuss how difficult things were at home because his father was dying. The priest who took him to dinner got him drunk, then raped him when he had passed out. The young man is now dead and the priest is now laicized and a highly-respected member of the "arts community".
Many of these young men deserve a medal of valor just for making it through the seminary. They must hide their orthodoxy and, in some cases pray the rosary in secret, as if it were a crime. If that's not bad enough, when they are finally ordained, they are so excited to finally exercise their ministry only to be sent to a parish where a cranky old liberal treats them with amused tolerance or, more often than not, contempt. The young priests who can survive all this without post-traumatic stress disorder and keep their faith and sanity will indeed be fantastic priests. But it is tragic to think of how many are lost along the way and how much the few survivors have to endure.
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