Ignorance of The Mass is Ignorance of Christ
Even some holy persons will perhaps disagree with these pages. We do live in days of confusion, where St. Paul’s prophecies of error, loss of Truth, turning to empty versions of religion, are being fulfilled daily right before our very eyes (2 Tim 3:7-9, 2 Thess 2:10-12). How can people know, unless they are taught? And, we are certainly not taught much more beyond that God is a Good Guy, everyone is going to Heaven, and try to feel good. But, as we should all know, this is certainly not the first time in the history of God’s People that “the focus on God has increasingly been lost,” (Card. Ratzinger).
Part of the reasons people are so easily swayed or in error is due to the dumbing-down of all education. For those studying The Faith, Things of God, and the Word of God, a necessary help is often philosophy: real, true philosophy. Grace, as St Thomas reminds us, builds on Nature. It was there studying real Philosophy that we learned, “In your intellectual pursuits, you have got to, got to, got to, make SURE that your ‘starting point’ is correct!! 100% On-Target Correct! If you are even a tiny bit off at the very beginning, then, when you travel 1000 miles, 2000 miles, 5000 miles down the road, you are so far off course that you can’t get back.” [Protestantism, anyone?] Incidentally, real metaphysics (and epistemology) have to be your starting point in Philosophy.
So, regarding The Mass, as Jesus Himself declares that He Is The Starting and Ending Point (Revelations 22:13), so too Vatican II begins by stating, teaching, and declaring again that His Mass is our Starting Point and Ending Point (“Source and Summit”: Source meaning Starting Point, and Summit meaning the Ending Point that we all are climbing to, being drawn to).
Is The Mass at your parish focused on God? God first? If you are one of the very few who can answer “yes” to these questions, then, here is a small test for you:
What would happen if, all of sudden, the priest offered The Mass ad orientem? Or, simply started offering The Mass in Latin? Or, in hushed tones? Or, if he ordered all music stopped until a real choir could be suitably trained? Most lay persons, most priests, even most bishops, cannot answer these questions without proving a) their ignorance, b) their lack of knowledge of the things of God, and c) that the Masses they “offer” are totally focused on the people…whatever crazy, insane meaning that statement ultimately has…
Do you know enough about This Most Central of Realities in your life to be aware if someone, even a priest or bishop (or higher), tries to teach you falsehood about It, about Him? For example, John Paul II taught in Ecclesia de Eucharistia that “The Church draws her life from the Eucharist,” (EE, 1); “The Church from The Eucharist,” literally, in Latin. Church second, Eucharist First. Church second, The Mass first. However, to continue our “exam,” another prelate “taught” that “The church makes the eucharist, and the eucharist makes the church.” Incidentally, this man, among many other things, protected pedophiles, which should, I hope, speak as to any credibility he is due. Furthermore, virtually all bishops and priests today “side” with the “thinking” and practices of…a “man” like this…including, most likely, your own.
agree with a man like this (instead of the obvious deep, deep, deeply intellectual saint, Joh Paul II)…
Do you know enough about this, This Most Important “Part” of YOUR life!? Of your very EXISTENCE!? Of your own future eternity? To know What The Truth Is? Who to listen to? Who to trust?
As the saintly Archbishop Sheen said, the grave, grave error of the Communist idea, has entered the Church. Everything starts with “the community” and not with Christ Our Lord. “The people,” “the worshipping community,” etc., is our (false) starting point. However, as stated above, the authentic, correct, real, and true teaching, the Faith of the Church, is stated by the real Vatican II, by Pope St. John Paul II, and even more unequivocably by Pope Benedict XVI in Sacramentum Caritatis.Thus, we start with God, with Jesus, our High Priest and Lord. The Mass is His. The other Sacraments are His. The entire Liturgy of His Church is His.The Mass and The Eucharist is The Center, The Source, of everything. The Mass is the Source of all the other Sacraments. The Liturgy of the Hours, which is the literally continual Sacrifice of Praise offered to God by His Church, is completely “connected” to and follows The Mass every day of every year.Thus, again, The Mass is The Center and The Source of everything.It is, also, the Center of your life. It is “where you go” every week, or more often.Vatican II started with The Mass. Everyone needs to be “more involved” in It. This was (supposed) to happen through far, far deeper (authentic) education and catechesis, which never happenned. Instead, bishops and priests jettisoned everything overnight, leading to the confusions of today…As stated above, The Mass and Liturgy are all Christ’s. The action is all His and of The Holy Spirit. We are called to participate, which is mostly contemplative, mostly interior, receptive. The errors of the day ridiculously lead us, however, to believe that mere exterior actions (singing, waving at people, motions with our hands, merely reciting responses, etc) somehow have any real sanctifying, fulfilling effect. The bishops of today thus send their flock to meet The Lord saying, “But Lord, I sang at Mass! Loudly! I waved at everyone during the sign of peace!!! I’m a saint!”Do you know The Mass? His Mass? As ritual, as Sacrifice, as Rite, as totally received, as worship, as the real Heavenly Worship that we are invited into, as Mystery, as Jesus’ worship of The Father (ad Patrem)? Do you understand any of the significance of the above? Do you even care?