The other day we saw at the liberal outlet Religion New Service an absurd piece about supposed “liturgical reform” by a Jesuit. It contained an attack on people who attend the Traditional Latin Mass. “Children and young people should not be allowed to attend such Masses.” HERE
Today at Crisis there is a response to that piece. There are several good points. Among which…
[I]t’s still delightful to see Fr. Reese openly admit the power of the traditional Mass to draw souls. Only authoritative force, he believes, can stop children and young people from attending it!
The fact is, the Traditional Latin Mass is growing and growing fast. It is not going away. One senses that there is coordinated, incremental attack on Tradition mounting from high circles. The Saint Peter’s Suppression was a sidewise attack on the Traditional Mass, which was more and more being celebrated each morning in the Basilica. Now this RNS piece comes from a Jesuit.
What traditionalists are doing may appear peaceful, but we progressives know it is violent. They are violently tearing the focus of religion away from our utopia of love, tolerance, and well-being. They are setting their sights on something otherworldly, something outside, something higher. Their every genuflection is in rude defiance of the dogma we’ve so carefully instilled in the Church: God is more within than without; He is to be found in ourselves, in the spirit of our times, in the community, in interaction with other human beings. As Fr. Reese says, “More important than the transformation of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ is the transformation of the community into the body of Christ so we can live out the covenant we have through Christ.”
Modernism, the essence of which is the reduction of the supernatural to the natural, is alive and well in the Church. Quite a few of the catholic Left seem to be immanentists.
They are predictably frightened by the resurgence of Traditional Mass, with its strong intimation of transcendence.
As the demographic sinkhole continues to yawn under the Church in these USA and elsewhere, the Traditional Latin Mass is growing. All manner of truly stupid attacks have been and are being made on it and on the people who prefer it. All in vain.
It seems to me that those who desire traditional sacred liturgy should do their best to shore up their gains and even get ready for more serious attacks, even persecution. Think of Nehemiah. After the Babylonian Exile, the Jews returned to Jerusalem. The walls of the city had to be rebuilt. Because various enemies threatened to attack, as the Jews worked on the walls they were armed. The rediscovered Law was read to the people and the feasts were reestablished.
You who desire our traditional sacred liturgy need to work with your trowels in one hand and your swords in the other. By “swords” I mean, rosaries and by “trowels” I mean corporal and spiritual works of mercy, active works at the parish or church, your concrete involvement. You need to pray on your knees specifically in gratitude for the opportunities for worship which you have and for protection for your priests. As nervous nellies of the hierarchy see the growth of the traditional Mass, instead of rejoicing and supporting the faithful in their charge the nervous nellies will have pangs of anxiety. People tend to fear what they don’t understand. Too few have taken the time to learn the older forms and then spend enough time involved in their celebration to get familiar with the ethos in which they were not reared. This is one reason why traditional Catholics remain the signal most marginalized group in the Church. Any amount of energy and attention, TLC, will be rained down on other special groups. Traditional Catholics occasionally get a handful of dirt. It is the rare prelate who get it about these seriously committed Catholics. As the demographic sink hole expands, I wonder how many have figured out that these people have close to 100% Mass attendance and are in general more generous in the collection than others. I wonder how many priests and bishops realize that, were a little TLC be shown them, these young, committed Catholics would go to the wall for them.
Hence, the “trowel” and the “sword”. That’s what is needed now.
Excel in prayers and in good works.
Today is the feast of St. Justin, Martyr, who was killed in about 165.
