"CHEAP" N O MASS CHEAPENS FAITH, LOSES IT

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Unpleasant surprises which are not of God

"I don't understand it." Novus Ordo Catholics say that same thing now, over and over. They can't fathom why the man they call 'Pope Leo XIV' and his hierarchy do and say what they do and say. Their stunned reaction - their bafflement - is driven in the main by decades of the Novus Ordo Missae (New Mass, Mass of Paul VI, Ordinary Form, whatever), which though theoretically valid, is inimical to the practice of prayer. N O churches are characterised by ugliness inside and out. That is not conducive to the soul's discourse with the Author of beauty. There are no kneelers. And usually not even pews you can lean a missal on, or elbows. Even the Eucharistic chapels have no kneelers or pews, just chairs, so that kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament is uncomfortable or downright impossible. Sometimes, in N O churches where raked floors are the thing, you look down on at an empty table instead of up at an altar and tabernacle. Above the tabernacle (if any) the Corpus of Christ crucified to save the whole human race is sometimes swapped for the risen Christ, so we're not reminded of His suffering and sacrifice. Does any of this matter? Does prayer matter? It matters supremely, because lack of prayer has meant the loss of faith so starkly evident in what's going down now, in Novus Ordo Land. Consider the following, if you will: 'Pope Leo XIV' has confirmed a manifest public heretic, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, as head of the Vatican's Council for the Economy. Marx campaigned for years to achieve legitimacy for Eastern Orthodox errors on divorce, remarriage and reception of the sacraments, and he got what he wanted in Amoris Laetitia. Marx tried to resign for his role in covering up monsters like Cardinal McCarrick but Jorge Bergoglio wouldn't let him. Now Bergoglio's successor and protege Robert Prevost has handed him a sinecure in the Curia. But wait, there's more. The US Catholic Biblical Association appointed a Jew - who doesn't believe in Christ but does believe in sodomy - to teach Catholics the Gospel A Ninth Rank Freemason was elected to the Vatican Committee on History A Vatican official or two paid homage to a pagan goddess in Peru, where their idolatry was immediately followed by a Force 7.2 magnitude earthquake At a Mass in Spain at Mass, grown men in full-length tutus danced after proclamation of the Gospel https://x.com/FredSimonTLM/status/2089444928296255567/photo/1 Cardinal François Bustillo, Bishop of Ajaccio, was hosted as the featured ecclesiastical guest at a Masonic luncheon in Corsica Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco (Algiers) celebrated Holy Mass on a train. Canon 932 states that the Eucharist is to be celebrated in a sacred place. A particular necessity permits celebration elsewhere - but he'd just left Lourdes, with its basilica, chapels and churches No "necessity, or suitable table, cloth and corporal" as required by Canon 932 Prevost-appointed Bishop Heiner Wilmer ignored the prohibition on lay homilies and claimed that the German Synodal Way’s disputes over women, sexual morality, celibacy, and participation 'remain active' Notre Dame’s McGrath Institute reported that 22% of bishops said they were comfortable ordaining a man with deep-seated same-sex attraction if he were firmly committed to celibacy Synodal “priest” “Father” Adam Štefanec… Synodal priest Fr Adam Štefanec, who supports LGBT in the Church, said he does not like the word “God” and suggested instead some 'universal word' that connects all human beings, like 'humanity'. He's been reading Prevost's encyclical and he will be rewarded for it In Cantabria, Spain, a priest in his homily reduced the Assumption of the Virgin to "mythology" and denied the Catholic dogma An American priest was found guilty of schism, excommunicated and dismissed from the clerical state for calling Francis and Leo 'usurpers'.  In other words, that defrocked priest (Fr John Mary Foster of Divine Mercy Mission, San Antonio, Texas) doesn't believe that Bergoglio and Prevost could possibly be the pope. Mr Foster (as he must be addressed now) is one of those perfectly horrid SEDEVACANTISTS. But doesn't it just stand to reason? Even if you discount the all other aforementioned scandals, Novus Ordo Massgoers (and 'traditional' Catholics) can hardly ignore the call of 'Pope Leo XIV' to chum up with Muslims - who attack Christians throughout the world with impunity, and whose ideology is fast replacing Christianity in Europe and throughout the West. It's our business as Catholics and Christians to forgive the perpetrators of these scandals, but that doesn't mean we may tolerate error. That's why the foregoing is recorded here - not as parish pump gossip, but as the bitter fruits of a Mass designed by a Freemason and with the help of Protestants, which is inimical to prayer and to the Catholic faith. As indeed, all the evidence suggests the Novus Ordo was designed to be. As the Lepanto Institute's Michael Hichborn explains below, "the New Mass is cheap". Catholics were short-changed by Vatican II's counterfeit Mass, and gradually are being made complaisant with the scheme of Vatican II's counterfeit of the Church, which is to ban the Traditional Latin Mass and force us all into 'loving communion' with the Novus Ordo and the Synodal religion. So that we will eventually forget the Catholic religion which alone can save our souls.   To avert that disaster, Catholics must boldly proclaim that the truth cannot evolve to suit the schemes of evil men, and that Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, now and for ever. From Michael Hichborn at the Lepanto Institute: Since the early 1970s, the Church has experienced a painful and precipitous decline in proper comportment at Mass, proper attire, attentiveness, and even belief in the real presence.  Along with this, many Catholics have succumbed to the immorality of the world and an indifferent attitude regarding what the Church even teaches. Since the early 1970s, the Church has experienced a painful and precipitous decline in proper comportment at Mass, proper attire, attentiveness, and even belief in the real presence.  Along with this, many Catholics have succumbed to the immorality of the world and an indifferent attitude regarding what the Church even teaches. Over the ensuing decades, many have pointed at various elements of social upheaval as causes for the lack of belief.  Some accuse the Second Vatican Council.  Some say it was the imposition of the New Mass.  Some claim it was poor catechesis, and others say it was the sexual revolution.  Some say it was television, movies, music, or civil unrest. While any one of these may bear some responsibility for causing, exacerbating, or permitting the decline of faith, the simplest explanation is usually the most accurate. In the world of economics, consumers are told they can only have two of the following three regarding a product.  It can either be 1) high quality, 2) inexpensive, 3) readily available.   The reason is that a product made well takes both time and money, and a producer can choose to either save time by paying for more people to produce, or he may save money by paying fewer to produce, causing it to take more time to make.  A product made inexpensively is going to sacrifice either quality or time.  And a product made quickly must sacrifice either quality or cost. With the advent of the New Mass in 1970, when bishops and priests the world over asserted that they wanted the Mass to be more accessible to everyone, it seems that they opted to sacrifice quality.  Since then, we’ve seen some attending Mass instead of their “Sunday Best” opt for beach clothes.   We’ve seen some who once piously approached the Communion rail with hands folded, kneeling and receiving on the tongue shift to walking in line, extending their hands, and feeding themselves our Eucharistic Lord, walking away and chewing as if He were a common piece of bread.   And where the faithful once knelt in silent prayer before Mass, and then remained in prayer afterward to offer a proper thanksgiving, it is all too common to hear the congregation socializing in the nave both before and after Mass. While any of the aforementioned factors have certainly contributed to the change in attitudes, beliefs, and practices of the faithful, nothing has been more ruinous to the faith than the exchange of the solemn for the cheap. Much ink has been spilled over the Novus Ordo and the Traditional Latin Mass.  Arguments back and forth have echoed in the halls of the Church for over 50 years without resolution, but one element of the conversation is conspicuously ignored.  Of all that could be (and has been) said of the New Mass, the forgotten aspect is its cheapness. The New Mass is cheap.  Now, I can already see the angry responses I’m about to receive for saying this, but before you respond, please read on.  A side-by-side comparison of the TLM and the Novus Ordo reveals that the new Mass is a stripped-down and restructured version of the TLM.   By its nature, it is “less” than the TLM.  A host of prayers, chants, blessings, invocations, and gestures proper to the Mass have been removed, which means that even when said in its best, most reverent manner, it is still “less” than the TLM.  And this, in part, is what I mean when I say that it is “cheap.” And one thing I need to make abundantly clear, in no way am I suggesting that those priests who say the Novus Ordo or those who attend the Novus Ordo, or even those who prefer the Novus Ordo are not good, holy, and faithful Catholics.   What I’m talking about is an assessment of what was given to the Church in 1969/1970 – or rather, what was taken away from us – and why this has generally had a deleterious effect on the faithful. One of the reasons given for the revision of the Mass (or, rather for the creation of an entirely New Mass) was the desire to make the Mass more “available” to the faithful and to non-Catholics.   They said that the Mass in Latin prevented the faithful from understanding the Mass   They said that the priest facing the altar made it difficult for the faithful to follow the Mass  They said that the faithful should have more active participation the music needed to be updated and more relevant the repeated prayers and the use of sacramentals were superfluous and redundant.  They said that the Mass was unnecessarily long and should be shortened. I’m not going to bother defining “they” because we’ve all heard these arguments.  But what happens when we make something more “accessible?”  We make it “common.”  By stripping away the mystery of the Mass, the faithful no longer had to reach up to contemplate the sublime Sacrifice because the Sacrifice was reduced to a meal.  And in economics, what happens when something becomes more “common?”  It becomes inexpensive, or cheap. And the cheapness of this Mass is reflected in the new raiments.  Gold embroidered vestments made of expensive and intricately woven silks have been exchanged for a glorified polyester tablecloth with a hole cut in the center    Soul-raising polyphony and the chanted propers of the Mass have been reduced to folk music on strummed guitars   Intricately painted stained glass windows depicting the saints and the Life of Our Lord were replaced by random shards of colored glass    Gold and silver chalices, ciboria, and patens were replaced by crystal, wood, and even clay versions of each    High-quality marble altars and reredos were removed (in many places, torn down and destroyed), to be replaced by a simple wooden table    Masterfully painted statues were taken away and replaced by felt banners   Beautifully painted walls and ceilings were plastered and painted over, leaving only a stark white finish Tile floors were covered in carpet.  Ornate pulpits were replaced by basic lecterns  Communion rails were pulled out  Tabernacles were moved to the side, and in some cases removed altogether. Much that displayed and represented the richness of the Mass, the depth of the Mysteries, and invited the faithful to look up and reach – even if just a little – has been reduced to a cheap imitation of the name brand.  While Timex watches and Rolex watches both tell time, no one in their right mind would ever try to claim that a Timex watch is just as good as or even better than a Rolex.   And just as both the Novus Ordo and the Traditional Latin Mass confect the Eucharist and provide the True Presence of Christ, no one can rightly compare the two and say that they are equal in quality, richness, and depth. The cheapening of the Mass leads directly to the cheapening of the setting, attire, and vessels of the Mass.  And as the priest dressed down for Mass, so also the faithful  As the priest became more conversational in the Mass, so also the faithful.  As the attitude of the priest became more casual in the Mass, so also the faithful  And as that which once demanded solemnity and reverence is now reduced to a social gathering, can there be any surprise at the loss of faith? Our faith cannot be held cheaply because it was purchased for us at a great price!  In a museum, no one marvels at a banana taped to a wall, but people will come from great distances to look at a masterpiece that took years to complete.  Why?  Because things of high quality and great expense automatically inspire awe among the observers. Our Blessed Lord offered Himself in our place to atone for our sins of the heart through the suffering on the Mount of Olives, of the flesh through His scourging, of sins of the spirit by His crowning with thorns, sins of rebellion through the carrying of His cross, and the sin of Adam by dying on the Cross.   Every individual drop of blood He shed for us is of infinite value, and He poured out all of it to purchase our little souls. Esau sold away his inheritance for a bowl of porridge.  Judas sold Our Lord for 30 pieces of silver.  Our Blessed Lord gave everything of Himself for us – and even provided us with the privilege of being mystically present with Him at the very moment of His sacrifice.  The least we can do is to avoid cheapening His sacrifice by giving back to Him the best that we have so that our prayers are not cheap, either. If we are to preserve the Faith as it was handed down to us, we must preserve the Mass with the same care we would of some object of great value.  And the Mass is worth so much more than any material good. As always, please pray for the Church, for our bishops, priests, deacons, and for Lepanto's mission as we continue to unearth the truth and "restore all things to Christ." (Col. 1:20) Christus Vincit! Michael Hichborn President Lepanto Insititute