FATHER MARTIN FOX HAS A POINT ABOUT TINKERING WITH THE 1970 MISSAL OR AT LEAST WANTING TO DO SO

This is a comment Fr. Fox made on another post:

Fr Martin Fox said...

I will point out, yet again, that most people do not like the Missal of 1970, especially those who claim to be it's ardent supporters. Witness how many self-described "Vatican II" priests (note: I am a Vatican II priest, but they would shudder at the thought, as well as my cassock) cannot abide the Mass of Paul VI as it is, but rather must tinker, adapt, adjust, omit and re-arrange? The prayers aren't right, so they have to be re-arranged; the Gloria cannot stand alone, they must overlay it with a sprinkling rite. The proper antiphons prompt a reaction akin to garlic for a vampire. Using Latin texts for the ordinary parts, as called for by (a) Vatican II, (b) Pope St. Paul VI, (c) Pope St. John Paul II, (d) the U.S. bishops? UNTHINKABLE! Instead, let's "improve" the 1970 Missal with processions of athletic trophies arranged before that table up there -- what's that for? (i.e., the altar of sacrifice), let's take the tablecloth and candles off the table and have the kids dress it at a certain point, and let's have the sign of peace be "improved" by handing out roses or whatever... Oh, and let's have people stand around that table, that'll really make it work better, too...

There aren't many who actually like the 1970 Missal as it is. Oh, some exist, but not many.

My Comments:

Father Fox is right but it also occurs on the right. When I look at the 1970 Missal, I try to see how it could resemble the older Missal better. Let's have ad orientem, let's kneel for Holy Communion, let's chant.

But the greatest problem with the Ordinary Form is that so many of those who are faithful to it don't really believe what the Church teaches about the Real Presence or the purpose of the Mass as a glorified experience of the One Sacrifice of Christ in an "unbloody way."

Why is that? No one seems to want to connect the dots.....

And this tinkering also as to do with sanctuaries. Take a look at this:

This look is so common today for Catholic sanctuaries. Yet it is blah. It looks like a stage. And even the decorator thought it needs help with a statue of Mary stuck to the side and an image of the Divine Mercy stuck further back. 

 

I look at it and say, what if we added an altar railing, the altar is pushed back and elevated three steps and the priest's chair is to the side and there is the Benedictine altar arrangement. 

It lacks so much as does the 1970 Missal. 

And no one seems to care but bloggers.......

The Power of Darkness and the Power of Light!

Yikes! On Monday night we celebrated the Solemn High Requiem in the EF Form for All Souls. Little did we know that the powers of light and darkness loomed heavily upon St. Joseph Church. As the names of those who died from our parish was chanted in litany form, I dimmed the lights of the Church. As the Introit began, I raised the lights to their fullness. The darkness cannot overcome the light, or can it?

The next morning, Tuesday November 3rd, during the celebration of the 8:00 AM daily OF Mass, as the Liturgy of the Word began the electricity in the church ended! Only the sunlight illuminated the interior of the Church. A small fire at a crucial power box at the rear of the church outside did away with all the electricity and light in the Church. Only sunlight and candles illuminated the ensuing darkness.

If this had happened on Monday night when there was absolutely no sunlight, but praise God, only a full moon, there would have been no way for our choir to sing the complex Requiem they had rehearsed for so long as they would not have been able to see their music sheets and the organ could not have accompanied them. The nearly 300 parishioners who had come to the first Solemn High Requiem in the Extraordinary Form in more than 45 years would have been in total darkness except for the candles on the altar, the six candles surrounding the catafalque and the votive candles burning the truth about Christ the Light which no darkness can extinguish. The Mass would have had to be completed in the "low" form. But praise God, the electricity fueled the lights for this Mass though the wires were a burning!

The electricity was not returned to the Church until about 3:00 AM this morning. Thank you Macon Power! Nonetheless, I still celebrated our Tuesday's Extraordinary Form Low Mass at 5:00 PM last night. We had about 20 people there, more than some small missions get on Sunday. With the time change, the sun was setting and in the church it was twilight. So I placed two extra candles on the altar so that I could see the Roman Missal texts and Mass began. We celebrated another Mass for the dead and of course black vestments were used. Because only candle light powered our vision, it was just like celebrating Mass in the catacombs! Our scroll with the names of all the faithful departed from this past year inscribe on it along with the book of the dead at our Blessed Mothers' Chapel increased the ambiance of being in the catacombs in those first three centuries of the Church secretly praying the Mass out of sight from those who would not permit it in the daylight.

Jesus Christ is the light of the world, a light no darkness can extinguish. While the electrical light hung by a thread on Monday night, Jesus' light will never fail.