The Ways mass is celebrated in the form of the early christians. There are also some jewish traditions, because you can be truly catholic without knowing and understanding your jewish tradtion.
Granted the mass will seem strange, but that is because it is new to you. i have gone to this mass every saturday night of my life and when i could not make that mass i would go to sunday morning mass. the music may sound strange but so does yours to me. i will never understand why you decide to turn the music into rock. our songs are taken directly from the bible, specifically the Pslams.
this is the last i will say because it is evident that your heart is closed. so goodbye.
Rosetta, I am sorry that you feel this way. It is not that my heart is closed; rather, I believe that we should follow what the Church prescribes for the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass so that we can offer a pleasing and acceptable sacrifice to the Lord. What I have tried to explain to you is that this particular service does not follow the norms prescribed by the Church.
First of all, I am not a proponent of rock music for use in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. I favor what the Church has used for centures and what is her preferred standard of music, Gregorian Chant, and I also favor hymns being accompanied by an organ.
Second, a good deal of the Mass does have its roots in Jewish liturgical tradition, mainly the Sacrificial aspect and the Psalms. I don’t dispute you there. If you were to look at the cultic worship that the Lord, himself dictated to Moses, you will find many similarities, including the ceremonial purification of the priest, the vestments (although those used for the Latin Rite are more Roman in nature), the tabernacle and otherr aspects. But, there is a divergence. I am very well aware of our Jewish roots, but, I am also fully aware that the Church is the New Israel. Furthermore, as the hymn At this Our Solemn Feast states:
At this our solemn feast let holy joys abound,
And from the inmost breast let songs of praise resound;
Let ancient rites depart, and all be new around,
In every act, and voice, and heart.
Remember we that eve, when, the Last Supper spread,
Christ, as we all believe, the Lamb, with leavenless bread,
Among His brethren shared, and thus the Law obeyed,
Of all unto their sire declared.
The typic Lamb consumed, the legal Feast complete,
The Lord unto the Twelve His Body gave to eat;
The whole to all, no less the whole to each did mete
With His own hands, as we confess.
…So He this Sacrifice to institute did will,
And charged His priests alone that office to fulfill:
In them He did confide: to whom it pertains still
To take, and the rest divide.
In other words, the old form of worship under the Old Covenant, passed away when Jesus instituted the new Covenant and the new form of worship, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. As I said before, we incorporate some aspects of the form of cultic worship of Ancient Israel, but, the Church, as the New Israel, fulfils the command of Jesus, who did came to fulfill the old covenant and establsh the New Covenant.
Now, as far as this being the Mass that the early Christians, what documented proof do you have of this? What little we have comes from the Church Fathers like St. Justin Martyr, Pope St. Clement and others. There really is no record that they celebrated the Holy Sacrifice in this manner. In fact, the Mass was protected with the lives of the martyrs of the Early Church and what they wrote, they were very careful to share because these sacred mysteries were meant only for those who were fully initiated into the Faith (having received the sacraments of Baptism, Holy Communion and Confirmation–at least their earliest forms of these sacraments).
With all due respect, what you described pretty much confirms the concerns that many people, including the present Holy Father, have had concerning this particular service, and, the accompanying theology because there are some things that just don’t jibe with what the Church has taught on the liturgy.
I realize that you’ve been a member of the Way all of your life, but, and I believe that this is a fair question, have you studied what the official teaching of the Church is on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass or are you going by what the movement has taught? From what you have written, there are some marked differences between the way the movement understands the Mass and how the Church interprets the Holy Sacrifice.
Incidentally, the former administrator of the Cathedral invited members of the Way to provide the music for the anticipated Sunday Mass one Saturday evening. It was very disconcerting and brought memories of that night. It was not consistent with the Mass at all. Normally, the Cathedral has an organist/cantor, but he was out of town that weekend. It was most uncomfortable and the words of the parts of the Mass that they Way sang did not jibe with the approved Spanish translation.
Rosetta, please understand that I am not trying to be rude. However, it is important, in my opinion, to be familiar with the official teachings of the Church, as handed down to us by the Magisterium. Sometimes, we can be so attached to a particular movement, whether it be the Way, in your case, or the Cursillo Movement in mine, that we may not see that there are, perhaps, some huge, glaring red flags that need correction.
The Holy Father personally directed Cardiinal Arinze to write the letter to the members of the Way to correct their services. Unfortunately, there are some who have not yet done so, to the point that my friend, the priest who had to celebrate the service in that manner, asked me for a copy of the letter to remind the members of the Way that they had to obey the directives of the Holy Father. So, the problems persist.
