Sunday, February 17, 2008

In Defense of the Novus Ordo Mass

Mass
As a Catholic who reveres the Holy Mass, be it Novus Ordo Mass or the TLM, I was happy to find that Margaret Mary posted about it on her blog late last night.

She refers to another post by Venite, Missa Est
Some Traditional priests who are not in full communion with Rome admonish their congregations not to attend Novus Ordo Masses (NOM) “because NOM is evil.” They preach that, if no Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) is available on a given Sunday, those in their congregations should substitute a rosary for Mass attendance...
My goodness! Imagine, substituting praying the Holy Rosary for the Sacrifice of the Mass...the Sacrifice at Calvary!!.
...But let’s get down to basics. What is essential (that is “due”) to a proper liturgy of Mass? It must allow the priest to accomplish just two priestly functions: renew Christ’s Sacrifice on Calvary; and confect the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Period -- Close the book (as Fr. Wolfe, FSSP, says). Those two functions are proper and necessary to the “substance” (in Thomistic terminology) of the Mass; all other elements are devotional “accidents.” Actually, in unusual circumstances (like in unlit dungeons Note: emphasis added by me), priests have said valid Masses with little more liturgy than the words of Consecration. Would anyone dare call such a Mass evil?...
The imagery of the Holy Mass being celebrated in a dark dungeon reminds me of how Vietnamese Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan was forced to celebrate Holy Mass. He was imprisoned by the Communists. He would celebrate with a tiny piece of bread and a drop of wine on the palm of his hand. That was the way he celebrated the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass...on the palm of his hand. I can't imagine that being considered invalid or worse, evil.

There are some places where the Mass is not readily available for people to attend. We should be grateful to our priests for every Mass they celebrate.

8 comments:

Marie said...

I SO agree with you Esther. If we deny the validity of the Norvus Ordo Mass this then leads one to the conclusion that every Sacrament including that of Marriage, Baptism, Confession etc is also invalid.

You see the slippery sloap if we deviate away from the Churches Stand on the Norvus Ordo Mass?

If the Catholic Church accepts that the Norvus Ordo Mass is valid then so must ALL Catholics accept it...Lest they be disobedient to the very Church they love.

Excellent points made TY Esther:)

Peace & a Holy Lent to you:)

Marie xoxoxo

EC Gefroh said...

Marie, good point. I hadn't thought that far.

This also reminds me of listening to AB F. Bruskewitz on Fr. Pacwa's show. One caller had a question about the validity of altar girls. The Ab made it clear that Rome does permit altar girls so there is nothing liturgically abusive about using the girls as altar servers. However, a bishop can state that his diocese will only have altar boys if he chooses.

Marie said...

Very true Esther:)

We really DO need to stand WITH what the Church Teaches us on these issues.

Remember there are many 'Latin Mass observers' who believe that the Seat of Peter has been empty since the death of Pope Pius X, how absurd?!?

But this can ONLY happen when we begin preaching what we 'think' the Church 'should' teach rather than accept what it DOES Teach.

The pendulum swings both ways when we disregard the Catholic Church and its Stance on issues. Sure there have been Liturgical abuses and also those 'Latin Mass' catholics who refuse to recognise the Popes since Pope Pius X.

I will stand with Rome on ALL issues integral to our Faith.

Peace to you my friend:)

Marie xoxoxo

EC Gefroh said...

So true Marie!!!!!!
BTW, I miss your peace AND love that you always signed your comments with ;-)

Anonymous said...

The apostles asked Jesus, "why do the teacher of the law say that Elias (Elija) must restore all things? In Malachais (Malachai)it say that before the Lord returns (2nd coming) he shall send forth his messenger who shall purify the preisthood so that their sarifices and offerings will be pleasing as in days past. It's not talking about the Jewish preisthood as Saint Paul makes clear to the Hebrews!

As we know in the 1960's vatican II was made with the help of 6 protestant ministers. It was not a dogmatic council like Vatican I was. They wanted to change the mass to be more like the protestants! They wanted to get rid of the altars throughout the world in exchange for tables, an altar is used for sacrifice.

This went against Saint Pope Pius v who said in a dogmatic council, "The Mass could never change"!

Since Vatican II the world has been drawing away from God and closer and closer to the Devil!

We are warned in Malachias (malachai) that unless God sends his messinger to purify the preisthood he will have to come and destroy the earth, but he will send him.

Mason said...

I don't think anybody's denying the validity of the NOM, at least not here. The point is that the Novus Ordo has been stripped of the signs and symbols that make it Catholic, and that teach the Catholic faith by their very practice. Because of this, the NOM is mostly spiritually bankrupt and for that reason, it is injurious to the spiritual sense of the Faithful, and therefore the Church at large, at least the Roman Church.

This raises an interesting question as well: the Church says that consecration of the Eucharist outside of Mass is an abominable offense against the Divine Majesty of Our Lord (CIC 927). Your quote there says that this is all that is necessary for the Mass...isn't there an inconsistency here? I think I'll take the Code of Canon Law over Venite Missa Est.

Finally, you can question the spiritual efficacy of the Mass without being disobedient to Holy Mother Church. Read one of The Holy Father's books and you'll see he's of the same opinion.

Matthew said...

I would agree with Mason.

Anonymous said...

"The point is that the Novus Ordo has been stripped of the signs and symbols that make it Catholic, and that teach the Catholic faith by their very practice."

The better way to express this would be to say that the Catholic Mass has been stripped of the signs, symbols, &c. The fact that the Novus Ordo is typically celebrated poorly reflects upon the age in which it was introduced and upon the circumstance that accompanied its introduction.

Had the 1962 Missal been maintained after the Council, and were it in ordinary use, today, then that Mass (which some call the "TLM") would be the Mass that suffered the abuse and neglect of the clergy of the day. The "old Mass" would today look like the "new Mass".

It happened that a new typical edition of the Roman Missal was promulgated, however, and so that Missal suffered the abuse that would have come upon the liturgy regardless.

The fact of the matter is that the present day Catholic Mass using the Missal promulgated by Pope Paul can and ought to be celebrated as Catholically, as Romanly, as reverently, and as majestically as the Catholic Mass was celebrated when the 1962 Missal was typical.

There is nothing wrong with today's Catholic Mass, itself, only the way it has been mispackaged and abused.