Do Not Turn Into a Fight - 10 Reasons to Love the EF

[thewanderer]

Ok, so another thread was started recently with this post.

Hi, I want to share a small video that Una Voce Costa Rica produced a few months ago, sorry it is in Spanish, but I know some of you folks can understand most of the reasons and you can share with your Spanish speaking acquaintances:

youtube.com/watch?v=p3vqeZdb5Zg

Here are the text of the reasons in English (google translation, maybe you guys can help us polishing the translation so we can publish a English version of the video):

Reasons to Love the Traditional Latin Mass

1. Because it is the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar, where Christ is truly present and offers himself to the Father, renewing the central mystery of our salvation.
2. For over 1500 years the church held it and loved it with admirable zeal.
3. Because countless saints like St. Teresa of Avila, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Theresa of the Child Jesus and Padre Pio loved it and sanctified themselves contemplating their treasures.
4. Because it represents an enormous treasure for the church, the culmination of Tradition and the highest expression of beauty and splendor of the liturgy. Heritage for catholics worldwide.
5. Because the Church never abolished its use and many communities continued celebrating it with love and respect.
6. Because Latin is not an obstacle, but a sign of catholicity which generates a deep sense of the Eucharistic Mystery-(John Paul II), with which men of every language and of all time participate with the same language in the liturgy.
7. For the priest does not give us his back, but pray with us to the Eternal Father, in the same position and at the same point, all facing the Lord.
8. For with the solemnity and sacredness of their prayers, gestures and rubrics, we are unequivocally incorporated into communion with the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ.
9. Because what earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us. (Benedict XVI)
10. Because the Holy Father Benedict XVI hopes that the universal Church preserve the precious treasure of the Traditional Mass and values as well as the Mass in the ordinary form.

Also it would be interesting to know your own top 10 reasons to love the Latin Mass…

In Domino…

However, the thread looks like it is heading towards a battle between the two forms of the Mass. I think that it would be wonderful if we could have a charitable thread where those who prefer the EF could explain why they prefer it without being attacked for their preferences. So I decided to start another thread about it in the hopes that it will turn out ok. This doesn’t mean there can’t be discussion about any points brought up. But please make sure that any such comments are done in an extremely charitable manner that will not come across as an attack against those with a different preferance from yourself.

I for one am very interested in hearing more of the reasons why people prefer one form to the other, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who would be interested. So if anyone is interested in sharing, please feel free to post here.

 

[triumphguy]

Number 1 reason to love the mass.

The Real Presence of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ our Saviour made manifest and offered to us in love.

The Divine presence of the Word of God proclaimed to us each (Sun)day.

Everything else is utterly and completely unimportant in comparison.

 

[archangel04]

Oh it will. Someone will have to come in and put their opinion as to why they love the ordinary form. Geez, just start a new thread instead of posting on this one. The title is 10 reasons to love the EF, not 10 reasons to love the OF or any other form. But what ever

 

[archangel04]

Number 1 reason to love the mass.

The Real Presence of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ our Saviour made manifest and offered to us in love.

The Divine presence of the Word of God proclaimed to us each (Sun)day.

Everything else is utterly and completely unimportant in comparison.

You are right but that’s not the topic on this thread. If the question was why to love the Mass in general then your response would a good one, it still is but that’s not the topic off hand.

 

[thewanderer]

Number 1 reason to love the mass.

The Real Presence of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ our Saviour made manifest and offered to us in love.

The Divine presence of the Word of God proclaimed to us each (Sun)day.

Everything else is utterly and completely unimportant in comparison.

Of course this is true. That is a given. But different people are going to have differant reasons for liking whichever form of Mass (or Divine Liturgy) that they prefer. I’m really curious about finding out more about what in particular about the EF is a draw for those who like it.

I’m realizing I probably shouldn’t have brought up the idea of ‘prefering’ in the OP. This doesn’t have to be about someone ‘prefering’ one form to another. Its about what people like about the EF. I tend to prefer the OF over the EF, but there are still many things about the EF that I really like.

For one, I really like that at the consecration the priest gnuflects beforehe raises the host up for the congregation to see and adore, and then genuflects once more. This external action is to me a sign of the utmost reverance that sould be given to our Lord present in the Eucharist. I realize this extra genuflection is not necessary, but it helps me to focus on the reverance that is due and also on the fact that it is truly God himself present on the altar before me.

Does anyone else have similar things which they like about the EF? Like I said, I would love to hear more.

 

[Tantum_ergo]

You are right but that’s not the topic on this thread. If the question was why to love the Mass in general then your response would a good one, it still is but that’s not the topic off hand.

Exactly.

A reason to love the EF does not mean that one hates or dislikes the OF.

Let’s compare chocolate and vanilla ice cream. They’re both ice cream, right?

But some people will prefer chocolate and some will prefer vanilla. I’m pretty certain (I’m a vanilla ice cream person myself) that in preferring vanilla ice cream I am not disdaining chocolate itself (I happen to love chocolate cake and chocolate candy, and don’t really care for vanilla caramels!). And if somebody were to offer me a dish of chocolate ice cream with "sorry we don’t have any vanilla’, I would certainly eat it AND enjoy it.

But if I went into a store and there were two containers of ice cream for sale, one chocolate and one vanilla, I would prefer the vanilla. I just happen to ‘get more out of’ the vanilla. I have subjective and objective reasons. And those who prefer chocolate have their subjective and objective reasons and they are all just fine.

I happen to love the EF because it–to me, personally–has a richness and depth and character that helps me, personally, to focus more intently on Christ and to think more about loving and serving Him.

And I’m sure a person who loves the OF has pretty much the same kind of reason to love it–to that person, the OF has the kind of richness and depth and character that helps HIM to focus more intently on Christ and think about loving and serving Him.

My loving the EF does not in any way diminish that person’s love of the OF, just as that person’s love of the OF does not in any way diminish my love of the EF.

That’s fine, isn’t it? I mean, God didn’t give us JUST chocolate or JUST vanilla ice cream. We have different gifts but are of the same body. Different ice cream tastes but the same body. Different forms of the Mass but the same body. Right?

 

[choliks]

Now can we move on with the top 10 reasons? As an OF Mass goer, i’m very much interested.

 

[triumphguy]

I’ll start: Number 1 reason to love the EF:

If it suits your personality, spirituality or aesthetic predilections.

When someone gives this reason how can anyone deny their honesty?

 

[archangel04]

Now can we move on with the top 10 reasons? As an OF Mass goer, i’m very much interested.

Good!
one reason I have is the Latin. The use of a language that is not in my common tongue makes my brain wake up and pay attention lol.

the use of ad-orientem, this practice give me an external sense that something holy is happening because we are all facing the same direction, and even that the priest is leading us there. If I go into battle I don’t want my commander behind me I want to follow him into battle!

 

[sw85]

I have been to the EF only once and didn’t fully apprehend what I was seeing enough that I can delight in it. I’ve seen videos of it done more… professionally though. It seems to represent certain soteriological truths more fully than the OF mass does. Hard to tell how much of that though is simply the architecture of the places where that sort of mass tends to be celebrated.

 

[odile53]

Both forms are the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. I love both forms! But then again, I like both vanilla and chocolate ice cream.

One thing I do love about the EF is that the congregation tends to be more reverent. When I get to Mass I like to get there early and do some praying. People who are going to hear the EF tend not to conduct so many conversations in the nave before Mass starts.

One thing I don’t care for at the EF is if the parish is using a cheap kind of incense: I’m allergic to some of the highly scented ones, and spend Mass snuffling, trying to stifle sneezes, and my eyes are watering. I’ve found to my delight that there are some brands of incense that don’t bother me. But I’ve had the experience of my eyes watering so badly that I’ve lost a contact lens and had to drive home squinting.

One thing I love about the EF is receiving the Eucharist on the tongue and kneeling.

One thing I’m ambivalent about is the relative lack of visible participation of the people in the EF, especially High Mass. I guess I’m just so used to the OF that I find that something is missing a little if I’m not quite that active.

I don’t care for it when Father races through the Latin as if he’s going for the land speed record. That doesn’t seem to happen so often in English.

So, like I said, I love both forms.

And I make sure I get both my “chocolate and vanilla” by going to an EF Mass every so often.

 

[ImmaculataFides]

Oh it will. Someone will have to come in and put their opinion as to why they love the ordinary form. Geez, just start a new thread instead of posting on this one. The title is 10 reasons to love the EF, not 10 reasons to love the OF or any other form. But what ever

Some people get upset when they come to the reality that the Novus Ordo will be abolished within the next 50 years for a complete return to tradition, to the True Mass.

 

[thewanderer]

Some people get upset when they come to the reality that the Novus Ordo will be abolished within the next 50 years for a complete return to tradition, to the True Mass.

Can you please refrain from making such comments on this thread? This can be seen as a rather inflammatory comment and is likely to help turn this thread into the OF vs EF thread that I am most specifically trying to avoid!

On a similar note, I would appreciate it if those who are offended do not respond to this post, it will only help derail the thread. Surely we can manage to have one thread where we simply talk about what people like in the EF without turning it into a thread that compares and contrasts them both and so offends various Catholics from different ends of the spectrum!

 

[ProVobis]

Now can we move on with the top 10 reasons? As an OF Mass goer, i’m very much interested.

The low tone of some of the prayers.

Per Trent, Session 22:

And whereas such is the nature of man, that, without external helps, he cannot easily be raised to the meditation of divine things; therefore has holy Mother Church instituted certain rites, to wit that certain things be pronounced in the mass in a low, and others in a louder, tone. She has likewise employed ceremonies, such as mystic benedictions, lights, incense, vestments, and many other things of this kind, derived from an apostolical discipline and tradition, whereby both the majesty of so great a sacrifice might be recommended, and the minds of the faithful be excited, by those visible signs of religion and piety, to the contemplation of those most sublime things which are hidden in this sacrifice.

 

[ImmaculataFides]

Can you please refrain from making such comments on this thread? This can be seen as a rather inflammatory comment and is likely to help turn this thread into the OF vs EF thread that I am most specifically trying to avoid!

On a similar note, I would appreciate it if those who are offended do not respond to this post, it will only help derail the thread. Surely we can manage to have one thread where we simply talk about what people like in the EF without turning it into a thread that compares and contrasts them both and so offends various Catholics from different ends of the spectrum!

Hey, I wasn’t the one that started it!

Alright, I’ll stop derailing now.

 

[Indyann]

I like the EF when I hear some of the hymns I learned, in choir, when I was a child.(Both English and Latin)

 

[rben20]

The music (Sacred or Gregorian) I understand it can be used in OF but it isn’t the majority of the time. It really elevates the senses to God.

 

[thewanderer]

Anybody else on this site who likes th EF? I know there are more of you than just
this!

This is your chance to tell us all why you like it. You’re opportunity to help others see the beauty that you do in this form of the Mass. Feel free to step in and let us know!

 

[RogerDeCourcy]

Some people get upset when they come to the reality that the Novus Ordo will be abolished within the next 50 years for a complete return to tradition, to the True Mass.

I used to think like that but now, regretfully, I hope it isn’t. I hope it just dies out through lack of interest as the Church returns to rigour, solemnity and reopens Her treasure box. The OF protects the EF from the meddling that would follow if the EF were the only mass.

Want to put your own stamp on a mass? You have the OF.
Want to get away from that sort of thing? You have the EF.
Want to put your own stamp on the EF? You show yourself to be a dilletante.

If the EF were the only mass the liturgists would soon be making changes small and big to it.

 

[RogerDeCourcy]

I like the EF because it’s quiet and everyone involved tends to efface themselves. Also the beautiful prayers and the Chant. And the handsome vestments worn.