The addiction to constant change is a feature and not a bug of the Vatican II mentality, legitimized however subversively by reference to a certain “spirit” with loose reference to the documents of said council.
The Church is in need not of change, whether or not for its own sake. We have suffered spiritually under the tyranny of nothing but constant change for over sixty years with concomitant chaos and confusion. The Church has need of stability. Souls are at stake.
The Abbot of Solesmes proposes changing the traditional Mass to effect its insertion into the missal, together with the Mass of Vatican II unchanged. This is an oxymoron: the Vatican II liturgy is defined most precisely by its constant state of evolution, never being any one thing but under a constant process of permutation.
The only reality left in the public life of the Church which is not subject to the evolution of revolution is the perennial traditional Latin Mass. It is defined most perfectly as that which does not change.
With due regard for the venerable scholarship of the good abbot, the most simple and unlearned of souls can perceive the value of the traditional liturgy as flowing from its perennial history: something precious which is handed down, organic and not manufactured. Something treasured because not subject to personal whim or the machinations of power.
Leave the holy Mass of tradition alone. It is nearly the only stable Catholic treasure we have left in this confused and rootless age of disbelief and sacrilege.
- A Simple Priest
