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Chaplain's
Message St.
Pius X Catholic High School - Spiritus (October 2007) Will the Real Mass Please Stand Up Pope Benedict XVI recently
released a document expanding the use of the Pre-Vatican II Mass. Some might
wonder, "Doesn't the Pope have something better to do with his time? Why
this, why now?" And why would a high school chaplain choose to write
about it? The answer is that the celebration
of the Sacred Liturgy is at the center of the life of the Church. As a successor
of St. Peter, the Pope has the primary task of protecting the unity of faith
and the continuity of its transmission throughout the world and in every age
(cf. John 21). Continuity or
Rupture? Although the faith is the same
today as that of the early Christians, its expression in liturgical worship
develops over time. The necessity of continuity, or organic development in
Catholic Liturgy, has emerged as a recurring theme with the Holy Father. His
recent document "Summorum Pontificum," issued "motu
proprio" (on his own initiative) addresses the lack of continuity in the
last 40 years since the Second Vatican Council and the need for its
restoration. Why write the motu
proprio? The purpose of the motu proprio is
"interior reconciliation in the heart of the Church." The Pope
explains that "ruptures" have occurred in the historical
development from the old to the new. Defending the use of the old Mass he
says, "There is no contradiction between the two editions of the Roman
Missal. In the history of the liturgy there is growth and progress, but no
rupture. What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great
for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even
considered harmful." In other words, to protect the
continuity, the old must be preserved. This will only serve to influence the
celebration of the new. Why the fascination
with the Latin or the old Mass? In the Pope's view this occurred
after the Second Vatican Council, "above all because in many places
celebrations were not faithful to the prescriptions of the new Missal, but
the latter actually was understood as authorizing or even requiring
creativity, which frequently led to deformations of the liturgy which were
hard to bear. I am speaking from experience, since I too lived through that
period with all its hopes and its confusion. And I have seen how arbitrary
deformations of the liturgy caused deep pain to individuals totally rooted in
the faith of the Church." These arbitrary deformations are
not part of the authentic reform and organic development of the liturgy.
Unfortunately, in the past 40 years we have become accustomed to these
deformations. For many people that is all they know. And still others
actually prefer these arbitrary deformations to the authentic celebration as
called for by Vatican II. In other words the authentic
celebration of the Novus Ordo Mass would feel and appear much more like the
old Mass. Unfortunately the case is quite the opposite at almost any given
parish. The fact that the old and the new look and feel so drastically
different demonstrates that there has been a rupture in the growth of the
liturgical development. Old vs. New?
Tridentine or Mass of Vatican II? Or Both? The old form of Mass (a.k.a. Tridentine
Mass, Latin Mass, Old Mass, Mass of the 1962 Missal, Mass of St. Pius V,
Veterus Ordo) and the new form of the Mass (a.k.a. Mass of Vatican II, Mass
of Paul VI, Novus Ordo Mass, New Mass) are two forms of celebrating the same
Latin Rite. The Pope explains in the motu proprio that the new Mass is the
"ordinary form" and the old Mass is the "extraordinary
form", but both are valid and worthy for divine worship. Without giving
examples, the Holy Father intends to give guidance to the reform of Vatican II
and the celebration of the new Mass. Far from going back in time he sincerely
seeks an authentic celebration of the Novus Ordo Mass, one that is guided and
enriched by the Tridentine. Fr. John Shramko Chaplain www.spx.org |