I am well aware that questioning does not mean that one rejects what is questioned.
However, there are many ways of asking a question; one is from curiosity. Others can come across in a multitude of other ways, some of which are negative to a lesser or greater degree.
You ask about the Confiteor. I don’t have an answer, and I am not sure if anyone today has an answer, although I suspect there are reasons it was done.
The Anglicans started research into the fathers of the Church, and that research soon spilled over into the Catholic Church. And that, as best I can determine, either started research into early liturgy, or fueled it. I have no clue as to why the confession to Mary and the saints was removed, although the date you suggest – back to 500 give or take some may have been where that was added in. I have no objection to it being taken out, nor would I to having it put back in. It does not concern me.
And as to the Collects, again, I have no dog in the fight – as-is does not disturb me, nor would adding them back in bother me in the least.
I don’t recall that I have expressed an opinion of you, although you have felt necessary to make a slur about me in your posting, which I find… interesting.
I do not oppose – vehemently or otherwise, someone who asks questions out of curiosity. I am opposed to people who cannot say enough about their opinions of the Mass in a way that comes across as having superior knowledge of “how it should be”. And frankly, the bone I was picking was far less with you than with who you were responding to.
No, I do not think the OF is the second to the last of all possibilities (penultimate) nor the last (ultimate). I most seriously doubt that we will ever go back from the vernacular to all Latin. I have no problem with some of the prayers being said in Latin, although it is exceedingly rare out here on the West Coast. I also have no problem with saying them in the vernacular.
What I want to see is people listening to the prayers of the priest and silently joining in with him – and not returning to the days where people said the rosary during Mass or read from booklets of novenas. I want to see the active participation in the Mass (and no, that is not hand waving).
And yes, some Catholics feel the Mass could be improved upon; and I would encourage them to address that with those who actually may have some (name removed by moderator)ut – which largely means getting those opinions to Rome, since that is whence changes will come