Editorial: Radicati nella fede, January 2017
Newsletter of the Catholic community of
Vocogno, Diocese of Novara, Italy
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| [A Vatican II Moment: "African Mass," celebrated in the Archdiocese of Brasilia, Brazil*] |
We begin the new year, as always filled with expectations.
Along with these expectations we are also filled with fears, considering the rough waters of confusion we are now submerged in. Confusion, seeing as there is hardly anything left stable in the world and the situation is infinitely worse for us in the Church.
At one time the confusion of the world was crushed against the rugged stability of the Church of God. Men need a steadfast rock to build upon and inside the Church they found that stable composedness which gave them the confidence necessary to brave the struggles of their times.
The times can be uncertain and confusing; souls can experience moments of uncertainty in the interior struggle that passes between grace and sin; but the Church does not! The Church which speaks to us of God and gives us God, must be the Mother, who, in the turmoil of the times, stands firm, a safe haven in the travails of life.
And what will become of the souls engaged in this struggle, if they don’t have this safe haven? What will become of them, if, in trying to escape the confusion of sin, they find a Church perennially “at work”, engaged in changing and modifying everything continuously, in an anxious pursuit of novelty? A house under construction is an inhabitable place, you can’t live in it: souls may stay for a while, and if they leave they don’t come back.
This is precisely what you experience in the Church of today: fluctuating morality, uncertain discipline, messy administration of the Sacraments, a thrown-together liturgy, authority absent...; an ecclesial life filled with “it depends”, “we need to see” , “we need to adapt”, “it needs to be interpreted”, “”no need to exaggerate”, etc.
There’s no way around it, it’s the very opposite of a house filled with the peace of God.
Many are waking up to the fact that this situation is not normal - it’s not Catholic!
Many are waking up to the fact; they are beginning to talk about it, with the risk though, of not getting to the bottom of it. All those “devout conservatives” who are alarmed about the confusion after Amoris Laetitia (re: the uncertainties about the discipline of Christian marriage) are endearing but they weren’t so shocked about the New Mass that came before. All those who would like the Church to return to its noble stability are also endearing , but make one a little angry too, as they have never completely faced the problem of the reformed liturgy.
Yes, these devout conservatives are both endearing and make one angry at the same time, because not having understood the heart of the matter, they add to the confusion that already abounds in the Church.
We want to say to them, in all sincerity: “But why are you so shocked seeing as they have already changed the Mass?”
What chaotic revolution is not now impossible in the Church on the part of those who had no qualms about revolutionizing the Mass? What aspect of the Christian life will ever remain stable, if the Mass of Christ and His Church has not remained so?
It is true that throughout the centuries, every so often, there have been additions made to the Catholic Mass. The text for the Offertorio is, for example, medieval, the Gloria wasn’t there at its beginnings, but all of the “changes” changed nothing: they simply clarified the Mass that already existed, they freed it from possible ambiguities of interpretations in the course of time and they deepened consciousness in the celebrant and the faithful.
In short, the additions added nothing to the substance, and the slight changes changed nothing.
It was not so with the post-council reform: it worked a revolution that has changed consciences. Those who accept it, must then accept that the life of the Church is now conceived over and above Revelation, in perennial change, without limits. The Revolution is progressive, it’s only a question of time.
Don’t be scandalized then by the confusion - concern yourselves with the Mass!
At the beginning of this new year, we confirm our fidelity to the Mass of Ages, the only source of peace for every faithful Catholic.
Yes, to the Mass of Ages, which was never changed, nor revolutionized, but made clearer and purified of extraneous additions. Yes, to the Mass of Ages, even if the recent generation of liturgists laughs at this term. They laugh to avoid facing the problem, to avoid studying it in-depth, to avoid leaving the “court” of experts who contribute to the lie of a Church that is doing what it wants with its most precious possession from Christ: “Do this in memory of Me”.
The Mass of Ages is our only peace: the only peace for every believer who truly wants to belong to Christ.
Translation: Contributor Francesca Romana
[*Source of image: Parish of the Holy Spirit, Federal District, Brazil, Nov. 2016 - Arch. of Brasilia - tip: reader]
