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I really love the Latin mass. In my personal Rule of Life, I chant the Angelus in Latin three times a day. The reason I love it, aside from its innate beauty, is that I know that I am speaking to God. God is listening to me and He is accustomed to Latin. He has heard it for a long time and HE knows what it means, which is all that matters to me. I am going to mass to worship Him and appeal to Him, not to appeal to MYSELF and to entertain MYSELF.
I am not entirely ignorant of what the Latin is expressing. I will usually read the English and the Latin before chanting it, and I would love to actually learn Latin at some point, if I could possibly squeeze one more project into my schedule of projects. But not knowing what each word means, in context, is not a bother to me either. I know that these ancient chants have an imprimatur that protects me from heresy or from insulting our Lord. Not that I think He is insulted by the English used in the Novus Ordo either. I am not part of the party of outrage that has a constant litany of complaints issuing forth from the lips.
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Another advantage to Latin is something which some folks OBJECT to. They say it is a "dead language," meaning it is not spoken anywhere in the world. In my mind, this is a benefit. Because the language of Latin does not change, the meaning of the words of the mass will never change. It won't shift with the shifting tides of verbal fashion. We do not have to worry that what we are saying now means, "Lord, I offer thee a blessed chocolate donut."
The Novus Ordo seems an ugly thing. Don't get me wrong: I love English. As a writer, that is the language I use, and I love its variety, complexity and nuance, but it seems to me that the words of the Novus Ordo are the ugliest, most basic words available. No effort seems to have been made to use beautiful words and sentence structures. It is like a hammer on my head. Yes, I am perfectly clear on what it says and probably most of what it means, but it tastes like medicine in my mouth.
Catholic Cathedral
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Biel Moro
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I will, in obedience, do whatever is required in any church I attend, and I am not going to campaign for change, like so many do. I know that I am not in charge and that my personal, subjective desires are completely irrelevant. But I do feel very sorry for our poor God who must listen to this ugly thing. I am not saying the sentiments are ugly. No. They are not ugly. It is the language that is used that is so poor and bland. Plus, I do think a little mystery, when it comes to God, is not a bad thing.
It looks to me that, in their zeal to correctly and specifically describe what is going on, the creators of the N.O. gave no thought to beauty. Please note that I am a convert, post Vatican II, so my comments have nothing to do with "the good old days."
Catholic Cathedral
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Brandon Morgan
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Although I was not a Catholic during the supposed "good old days," I DID attend one Latin mass when I was about 6 years old. My father had abandoned our family to write for television and collect adult toys like boats and planes and starlets who wore too much makeup, and on this particular Sunday, our mother had also taken off with her inamorata of the moment and had left us for the weekend by ourselves. My sister was only 5, and I barely 6.
Iday, our Cuban maid, had come over in the morning to retrieve us and take us with her to her parish to attend mass. The church was gorgeous. High ceilings soared above us, stained glass was on all sides, a beautiful altar sparkled in the sun that shone down on us through the windows, and highly polished EVERYTHING dazzled my eyes. I was enraptured.
I was also hungry. And I noticed that there was a line of people on their knees at the front who were getting cookies given them by the priest. I would get on my knees if it meant I could have a cookie, and I asked Iday if I could go up to the altar. She reacted with an unsure look on her face, so I took advantage of her confusion, grabbed my little sister's hand, and ran like the wind to the altar rail.
We looked like two little "raggamuffins" (as my mother would call us) in our inappropriate little shorts and tee shirts that we wore daily for our play time. The priest solemnly made his way down the line and then stopped to look down at me, bemused.
"Have you had your first communion?" he asked, me, not unkindly.
"Huh?" I said, obviously clueless.
The kindly old priest smiled and walked past us. The people in the front pews who had noticed, tittered in laughter at the poor little girls who did not know what they were doing.
So I grabbed my sister's hand again and dragged her back up the aisle to our seats next to Iday, my face burning with shame.
"But I want a cookie!" my sister whined.
Catholic Altar
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Mateus Campos Felipe
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That was my only experience with the Latin Mass before I became Catholic, finally, in my late 40's.
When discussing the Latin Mass with others who have more experience with it than I do, they complain that they do not understand Latin and that the mass "means more" to them in English because they know what is going on. That seems to be the prevailing rationale for the Novus Ordo mass, and apparently, people who feel that way are in the majority.
But I find this tendency to cater to the PEOPLE to be part of what has gone wrong with the church (and the rest of society, frankly.) We are far too used to being entertained so that now we expect everything to entertain us. This is a wide-spread problem.
For example, I see memes on Facebook demanding that people entertain the meme writer with "positivity" and rejecting anything that is sad or does not entertain the writer, who tells us that you will not be their friend any more if you are a sad sack and write about your woes. The meme writer will remove you from their friend list because they "deserve" better than you.
This means, of course, that if you are having a rough time of it in life, that you must keep it to yourself because we are all now required to entertain our friends and only be sources of "joy," which is meant to mean enjoyment, actually.
If this keeps up any longer, we are going to have to rewrite the Bible and take some things OUT. The Beatitudes will have to go, first thing. Unfortunately, they are the words of Jesus:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit:
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven
Blessed are they who mourn:
For they shall be comforted
Blessed are the meek:
For they shall inherit the earth
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness:
For they shall be filled
Blessed are the merciful:
For they shall obtain mercy
Blessed are the pure in heart:
For they shall see God
Blessed are the peacemakers:
For they shall be called the children of God
Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness sake:
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven"
Matthew 5:3-10
We will also have to eliminate some central themes to accommodate our new internet-led priorities. When Jesus is asked to say what is the greatest commandment in the law, He replies:
"Love the Lord your God with
all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your mind. This
is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: Love your
neighbor as yourself. All the Law and
the Prophets hang on these two
commandments."
Matthew 22:37-40
It is obvious from the last passage, in particular, that what God finds most important is not the inward journey of self-satisfaction. It is not the pursuit of personal pleasure and entertainment. It is an outward looking thing.
Catholic Church Altar
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Jas Rolyn
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One of the downsides of living in the internet age is that enjoyment is at our fingertips, and if we run across something boring or sad while doom-scrolling our Facebook news feed, we are easily out of it by moving our fingers across the screen. Eliminating suffering and accumulating sources of thrill are relatively easy in the U.S. We are training our bodies and minds to be even more selfish and pleasure seeking than they already are programmed to be.
Youngsters have learned that, in order to get big rewards and lots of endorphins flowing through their bodies, all they have to do is move their finger ever so slightly across the screen, in the "right" way. It ruins them for work, later in their life, because work is not organized to entertain them and it does not reward them for the mere flick of a finger. One has to do a lot more than that to earn a paycheck, and these children of the video game are not amused.
The fear of loathsome suffering and the feeling of entitlement to pleasure operates against every religious principle we have as Catholics. The internet and its immediate availability of psychological and biochemical reward have ruined us.
Catholic Altar
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Tolga Ahmetler
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What does any of this have to do with the Latin Mass? I will tell you. I believe that the idea that the mass should cater to us, with the priest facing US, and the dull-as-dishwater language meant for US and OUR complete understanding, is the direct result of our fear of loathsome suffering and the feeling of entitlement to pleasure that our citizens have always had, in a certain amount. The "pursuit of happiness" and all that. But the ease of the internet has increased it, like psychological steroids.
Don't think this old gal is immune to it either. I must consciously fight against it and will myself to be a bit less suffering avoidant. This is what the ancient ascetic practices were all about. You know, the hair shirts and the offering up of pains and sufferings.
I am not wearing a hair shirt, but I have within my own body an enormous amount of daily suffering, despite a supply of pain pills, and there are many times during the day when I spur myself on to do some kind of good work, even though to do it causes me great physical pain. I push through it and "offer it up" in reparation for my sins and the sins of the whole world. That is the Catholic way.
Catholic Altar
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Alexandra
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So, you will excuse me if I prefer the Latin Mass because I know that it is not for my entertainment. I am not worshipping ME. During the Latin Mass, unlike the Novus Ordo, the priest faces God (who is in the East, everyone knows that.) He does not face the people. We are beside the point. We are there to worship God, witnessing the Priest make the offerings. I know there are many other reasons why the Latin Mass is superior, according to those more educated than I am, and those who were accustomed to the Latin Mass, but my own reasons are enough for me, since I am not trying to convince anyone nor win anyone over to my side. I am simply musing over the topic and, the next time it appears in my Facebook feed, I can offer a link to this blog post so that I do not have to reinvent the wheel every time it comes up.
Catholic Church Interior
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Lance Lozano
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I realize that Pope Francis has recently put more restrictions on the Latin Mass, and I understand that at least part of the reasoning behind doing that is that many of the people who are lobbying for its return are also taking a somewhat militant stance and going to war with anyone who disagrees with them, which is not the meekness which Christ requires of us. But I am concerned that Papa's reasoning appears to be reactionary, which will only remain a thought in the back of my mind for the present time, as I am opposed to complaining about our Pope.
It is difficult to get to mass at all these days. It took me a couple of years to get someone to bring me the Eucharist. I called and called the parish office, and finally had to contact the bishop's office, and even then it took several months to get it into gear.
I do not have a car and do not have the money to buy one. I hope that one day someone will decide to donate to my GOFUNDME so that I may get one and thereby get to doctors appointments and, especially, mass.
If you are not able to get to church, you are out of sight and out of mind because the church has folded in on itself and, like the rest of us, has become the thing that needs to be propped up, instead of going out of itself to help a suffering world. Suffering is icky. Come to the church and buy some bingo tickets so the church can continue to offer bingo. Come to the church fiesta to enjoy the entertainments and the church can make money.
Catholic Church Interior
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Sascha Bosshard
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When I have transportation, I will attend the one church that has Latin Mass one day during the week. It is a poor little church in a very old part of town, and I feel very sorry for its poverty and lack of members. I just pray that it is allowed to stay open and continue to pray in that divine language of Latin that I imagine God has grown to love over the last thousand years or so.
In the meantime, God bless us all.
Silver Rose
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