PRAY FOR THE TLM THIS LENT

 

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"The most beautiful thing this side of heaven" (Father Faber)

Because a "School Mass" had befallen her parish church this morning, a reader of  this blog resorted to assisting at the Traditional Latin Mass online from St Anthony's Whanganui (covering her bases, she'd been to the local NO Vigil Mass last night).

At St Anthony's they sang "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence" and our reader blubbed. She's not a weeper but she used to play that hymn, from the ancient liturgy of St James, on the organ at parish Masses. That is, until she was banned from playing the organ for remarks made on a certain blog about the Novus Ordo. Or the bishops. Or both. (She was also banned from arranging the church flowers, but that's beside the point.) 

Now, the organ is the only musical instrument allowed - by Vatican II - at Mass: at the Novus Ordo Mass. But that's beside the point too (although they'd have had canned musak and guitars (eek!) at the "School Mass").  

The point is, basically she wept because she can't attend the Traditional Latin Mass anywhere closer than Whanganui (two hours away), because Cardinal John Dew, acting on the motu proprio Traditionis Custodes of the current pontiff, has banned "The Mass of Ages" in his Archdiocese of Wellington. It's allowed in all the other dioceses in New Zealand it seems, but the current pontiff has given power to bishops to cancel it, and Cardinal Dew has done so.

It hardly seems fair. Or reasonable.

Such restrictions don't seem fair either, to hundreds of thousands of other Catholics throughout the world. So an international group of lay people are asking for prayers, penance and sacrifices from Catholics of good will everywhere this Lent, for the restoration of the Traditional Mass.

It makes sense. More sense than donating to that very dodgy crowd at Caritas.

Dr Joseph Shaw explains:

       Joseph Shaw, PhD

Dr Joseph Shaw has a Doctorate in Philosophy from Oxford University, where he also gained a first degree in Politics and Philosophy and a graduate Diploma in Theology. He has published on Ethics and Philosophy of Religion and has edited The Case for Liturgical Restoration: Una Voce Position Papers on the Extraordinary Form (Angelico Press). He is the Chairman of the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales and President of Una Voce International. He teaches Philosophy at Oxford University and lives nearby with his wife and nine children.

Today I am publishing a worldwide appeal for prayers for the traditional Mass, coordinated by Una Voce International, with the support of many others, including The Remnant. The official text below is followed by commentary of my own. -JS

Appeal for prayers and penances in Lent

for the Liberty of the Traditional Mass

From Una Voce International and others

Una Voce International and others concerned with the Traditional Latin Mass would like to appeal to all Catholics of good will to offer prayers and penances during the season of Lent, particularly for this intention: the liberty of the Traditional Mass.

We do not know how credible are the rumours of further documents from the Holy See on this subject, but the rumours themselves point to doubt, conflict and apprehension which is severely harmful to the mission of the Church. We appeal to our Lord, through His Blessed Mother, to restore to all Catholics the right and opportunity to worship according to the Church’s own venerable liturgical traditions, in perfect unity with the Holy Father and the bishops of the whole Church.

Attesting to the powerful intercession of Our Blessed Mother, right now in Ukraine, is a text from that benighted country that follows this appeal and Dr Shaw's comments. 

Una Voce International (Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce, FIUV,) https://fiuv.org

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My comments:

There's been a lot of talk on social media about a possible new document from Rome, which would restrict the celebration of the Traditional Mass even more harshly. Even a date for this document has been proposed: Monday of Holy Week (April 3 2023).

On the other hand, some sources in Rome remain sceptical. Even if a draft document does exist, it can be changed or discarded at any moment. We simply do not know what may be coming, let alone how it will be interpreted or enforced.

What we do know is that Catholics attached to the Church’s ancient liturgical tradition are living through a period of unprecedented uncertainty.

The word "attached" is somewhat infelicitous. St John of the Cross and St Teresa of Avila tell us that attachment to anything, even a holy thing like the form of the Mass, holds us back in our ascent of the Mountain of God. "Catholics who love the Church's ancient liturgical tradition" is more in line with their teaching (and the Gospel).    

In light even of existing legislation, whose meaning is endlessly contested, we can have no confidence that regular celebrations of the ancient Mass, sometimes nurtured over many years and enjoying the approval of successive bishops, will not be taken away without warning.

As if that were not enough, this Mass of the Saints and Doctors and Popes, that we have discovered and come to appreciate as a source of spiritual nourishment for ourselves and our families, is now condemned, as if — to adapt a phrase of the late Pope Benedict — even our longing for it were indecent: or even something to be ashamed of, even a symptom of mental illness.

The Second Vatican Council taught that the liturgy is the source and summit of the Christian life (Sacrosanctum Concilium 14). Not all Catholics live as if that were true, but this is a characteristic of those "attached" to the Traditional Mass. It is for them the calm centre of their spiritual lives, a moment of silent communion with their Creator, an oasis of peace among the noise of modern life: in the words of the Canon, referring to heaven, locus refrigerii, lucis et pacis.

As Pope Benedict indicated in his 2007 Letter to Bishops, many of those who have found safe harbour with this liturgical form have by that means escaped ‘deformations of the liturgy which were hard to bear’ -

Deformations, and in New Zealand especially a cavalier casualness, sloppiness, let's-get-this-over-and-doneness. 

 - ‘arbitrary deformations [which] caused deep pain to individuals totally rooted in the faith of the Church.’

It is this which is threatened by the current situation, let alone by some imminent tightening of the screws.

The mission of the Church is to bring souls to Christ. The current situation with regard to the Traditional Mass is a self-inflicted wound that undermines this mission. Apostolates and devotional events of proven value are perched on a precipice of uncertainty. Planning anything in connection with the Traditional Mass has become a game of chance. Hundreds of thousands of Catholics are deprived of the tranquil possession of their spiritual patrimony, even if it is not yet taken away from them altogether. The riches of this patrimony are hidden from many millions more.

Despite extensive efforts, I have not been able to discover any officially approved explanation of why the Traditional Mass was restricted in 2021. If it is because of some wrongdoing on the part of some particular group of people, nobody is willing to go on the record to explain who or what it was, or why that would justify causing such pain to those who are certainly innocent of it.

In the Archdiocese of Wellington New Zealand, the finger has been pointed at a certain blog for wrongdoing, in criticising the Novus Ordo. While the thought that a blog could wield such influence is in a worldly way rather flattering, it's hardly likely that Cardinal John Dew, a prince of the Church, could be so small-minded as to be bothered by it. (Someone right now is hastening to comment, "If the cap fits ...").   

What we do know is that we are justly afflicted for our sins, in all the suffering which God permits to fall upon us, and that God is above all factionalism and ideology. It is to Him, therefore, through the intercession of Our Blessed Lady, that we appeal, and we call on all Catholics, even those not directly affected by the problems just described, to join us in beseeching God to restore peace to the Church.

O God, who by sin art offended and by penance appeased, mercifully regard the prayers of thy suppliant people: and turn aside the scourges of thine anger, which we deserve for our sins. Through our Lord. (Collect of the Thursday after Ash Wednesday, 1962 Missal.)

Parce, Domine, parce populo tuo: ne in aeternam irascaris nobis.

  Spare, O Lord, spare thy people: and be not angry with them for ever.

   International TLM Lay Group Appeals to All Catholics of Good Will - OnePeterFive

Releasing trapped civilians in Ukraine 

The story below comes today, transcribed from an audio clip, straight from the Divine Will website. So we are assured of its veracity:

(Some) Ukrainians were confined to this particular building. They were Catholics. One of them discovered that in their pocket that they had a rosary. So the Rosary was started.

On the Second mystery Our Lady appeared to them in this group. They were all filled with the Light of heaven, of Our Lady. They continued to say the Rosary. It then was 12 o’clock in the day and they said the Angelus. So again, Our Lady was with them as they prayed the Angelus. 

So time was passing and they were getting more infused with Divine Will and Divine Light. So they kept praying the Rosary and they kept praying the Angelus. I’m not sure of how the duration was. A day or so, roughly.

So eventually they were found and they were rescued. They were safe. So they were asked to come out of this confinement that they were in. So when they were found they all in turn were reluctant to leave the Light. They didn’t want to leave their sanctuary that Our Lady had created for them. 

Yet the other thing was they actually were in there for some time as the people that were there thought that they would be malnourished and that they would have had no oxygen. That they would be in a quite distressed state.

To their delight of the rescuers, they found that they were completely nourished, their oxygen was perfect. Everything about them was perfect. They looked radiant.

So it just gives you GREAT HOPE. Like when I (Jenny Troy, Divine Will) heard this story, I said that’s a microcosm of a microcosm because that’s what we were asked to do, is to pray the Rosary from the heart and do the Angelus.

That’s what we would be left with ultimately when all this drama comes down our street. 

Our Lady is busy watching and enabling Her children to come into the Light more and more. In the Divine Will that is more of what we’ve been asked; to surrender and trust in Her and in the Divine Will - The Divine Mother and Our Lord - and come closer to Them. 

 

O Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of the Divine Will, please pray for us

 International TLM Lay Group Appeals to All Catholics of Good Will - OnePeterFive