Although we have long since diverged from my original topic, I think that using Latin is a bit alienating. I totally agree with the statement that Latin was not bringing in converts. My father, a convert, has told me time and time again that he would not be Catholic if the mass were not in English. This notion that I keep coming across that the mass is not for us, but for the glory of God is a half-truth. The mass is for us. Jesus died for us. He gave US the Eucharist to tide us over until we meet again.
There has also been talk that using Latin is more inclusive for everyone, but it’s really not inclusive for anyone. It turns us from being full active conscious participants to bystanders who only have a vague perception of what it is we’re actually saying. Most people haven’t the capacity nor the energy to learn Latin sufficiently to genuinely participate and understand. It encourages us to be oblivious followers, and that’s not what this whole Christianity thing is all about. We’re supposed to understand, or was I deceived by my 13 years of Catholc school and I just wasted my time. You tell me.
Back to the original topic… are there any modern NO masses with guitars and all that hippy-dippy feel good stuff that makes the traditionalists cringe, but has maintained the communion rail?
A friend of mine told me about one such church… in Austria. Sorry, I’m not flying to Europe to have my cake and eat it too.
I am afraid that, with all due respect, you are sorely mistaken and misinformed about Latin. Latin is the official language of the Church. All of her documents are written in Latin (of course, there is the exception of the Cathechism, wirtten in French, but, that is another story). Latin has been used by the Church for centuries. In fact, prior to the Second Vatican Council, you could literally travel around the world and the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass would be the same in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, as it was in Laredo, Spain, Monrovia, Liberia or Luckenbach, Texas. Before panning Latin, I would suggest that you read the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy.
The Constitution notes that:
- Particular law remaining in force, the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites.
- But since the use of the mother tongue, whether in the Mass, the administration of the sacraments, or other parts of the Liturgy, frequently may be of great advantage to the people, the limits of its employment may be extended. This will apply in the first place to the readings and directives, and to some of the prayers and chants, according to the regulations on this matter to be laid down separately in subsequent chapters.
It was never the intent of th Council to do away with Latin completely. In fact, as the document states, Latin should be preserved in the Latin Rites, of which we are a part.
To my knowledge, and I have had to attend the kind of liturgies that you have mentioned, no such a service exists. Perhaps it is because the two are incompatible.
With all due respect, I also believe that there is something else that you might not have taken into account. The Mass is the meeting point between heaven and earth. It is the heavenly liturgy. It is, as the Constitution wisely observes:
- In the earthly Liturgy we take part in a foretaste of that Heavenly Liturgy which is celebrated in the holy city of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, a Minister of the Holies and of the true Tabernacle22; we sing a hymn to the Lord’s glory with all the warriors of the heavenly army; venerating the memory of the saints, we hope for some part and fellowship with them; we eagerly await the Savior, Our Lord Jesus Christ, until He, our Life, shall appear and we too will appear with Him in glory23.
The veil between heaven and earth is lifted and we are in the presence of the Divine Majesty of God. We worship him together with the cloud of unseen witnesses that joins us at every Mass, the Church Triumphant (in heaven) and the Church Suffering (in purgatory). That is why we must strive to offer a pleasing and acceptable sacrifice to God.
As to understanding the Faith, I am reminded of a line from the venerable hymn, Alleluia, Sing to Jesus:
Faith believes nor questions how.
To have an authentic Sensus Fidei doesn’t mean that we have to understand the mysteries of what the Church teaches. Remember the experience that St. Augustine had where he saw a young boy trying to fill a hole in the sand with the ocean. He told the little boy that it was impossible. The child told him that it was just as impossible for him to understand the mysteries of God. We are not called to understand. We are called to believe and to grow in the Faith.
The problem is that there are some people who insist that they have to wrap their minds around God. It is the other way around. He wraps Himself around us. Our minds are too puny to contain Him.
Gotta’ say, my friend, that the image conjured is most disconcerting to me. 