The sacrafice of the Mass and Vatican II

[TimothyH]

The one thing that the monastic communities brought to the table along with the Franciscans was austerity. In our conventual masses austerity was the order of the day. The beauty of the mass was to be found in its austerity. The chapels were very simple, almost bare. The rituals were very simple. The monks generally used Gregorian chant, but did not have as many prayers such as the prayers at the foot of the altar or the last gospel. The Franciscans used very plain chant or no chant at all. We did not have the prayers at the foot of the altar, nor the last Gospel, nor the three Hail Mary’s and the prayer to St. Michael. There were less parts of the mass that were silent. Most of it was very audible. The idea was to simplify so as not to use as many books. When the order was founded, several books were needed to celebrate the mass. Francis received a one book missal and lectionary from Pope Innocent III. That became the Franciscans’ mass. It would later be expanded and adapted by the Council of Trent. But the Franciscans kept their austere older form.

At Vatican II, there was a strong move to bring out of the monasteries and friaries this simpler form of the mass. When it’s celebrated as the monks and friars do, it is quite beautiful in a different way.

The problem became that too many people thought that they could get creative with it and took a good thing and ruined it, much to the chagrin of friars and monks. Now, we have to fix it.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, FFV

I’ve experienced it, and the simplicy is something I appreciate about about Mass at the Cistercian Monastery near me. It is simple, austere in the way which I believe Christ would have lived, without a lot of distractions and without anything that isn’t essential. Even the homily is austere; to the point, doesn’t waste words, but always edifying and uplifting.

And the Mass is said slooooooowly. It is slow enough to be uncomfortable to to the person who is used to back-to-back mega-parish Masses which try to be huge productions stuffed into 59 minute packages. There is no rush.

I love it and go back every few months when my schedule allows. For some reason I love it most on really, really cold days. I don’t know why. But the austerity is something I appreciate very much. The only thing one can focus on is Christ. There really isn’t much else to see. It seems so uncluttered and makes me appreciate the Mass at my own parish with chant and incense even more.

-Tim-

 

[Rand_Al_Thor]

So true!!! I don’t think there is a better song, in any genre, style, or in all of music than Immaculate Mary. I don’t even think I have encountered a song that affects me the way that song does.

A beautiful song, to be sure! My personal favorite hymn is “Holy God We Praise Thy Name”. Closely followed by “Be Thou My Vision”.

 

[JM3]

The problem became that too many people thought that they could get creative with it and took a good thing and ruined it, much to the chagrin of friars and monks.

Pope Paul VI’s as well, I think.

vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_p-vi_exh_19740202_marialis-cultus_en.html

We contemplate with joy and gratitude the work so far accomplished and the first positive results of the liturgical renewal, destined as they are to increase as this renewal comes to be understood in its basic purposes and correctly applied.

 

[JReducation]

I’ve experienced it, and the simplicy is something I appreciate about about Mass at the Cistercian Monastery near me. It is simple, austere in the way which I believe Christ would have lived, without a lot of distractions and without anything that isn’t essential. Even the homily is austere; to the point, doesn’t waste words, but always edifying and uplifting.

And the Mass is said slooooooowly. It is slow enough to be uncomfortable to to the person who is used to back-to-back mega-parish Masses which try to be huge productions stuffed into 59 minute packages. There is no rush.

I love it and go back every few months when my schedule allows. For some reason I love it most on really, really cold days. I don’t know why. But the austerity is something I appreciate very much. The only thing one can focus on is Christ. There really isn’t much else to see. It seems so uncluttered and makes me appreciate the Mass at my own parish with chant and incense even more.

-Tim-

If you come to mass at our house, it’s very simple. We use the oldies but goodies for hymns. There are a few good modern hymns based on biblical passages, stories or psalms that are lovely too. The chant, when used, is very recto tono. Not elaborate like Gregorian chant or polyphony, but very pretty. It can be in either Latin or English, depending on my mood that day.

There are no distractions. The room is white. There are wooden chairs, because it’s too small for proper choir stalls. The altar is dark wood. There is a tabernacle on a pedestal behind the altar, a wooden cross and a statue of St. Francis on one corner.

There is no communion rail and there are no kneelers. You use the floor for the few parts when we do kneel, most of the time we stand. The mass is slow with many pauses for prayer.

We do place a lot of emphasis on the horizontal. That’s very Franciscan and you’ll never take that out of the tradition. Even the way that we speak about our priests, which is different from how we speak about other priests, tells you a lot about how we celebrate the mass. We see our priests as religious brothers who serve their brothers by leading in the sacrifice of the mass. They are not seen from the bottom up or the top down, but horizontally. They are simply brothers who are ordained. When mass is over, they are just brothers.

We place a very strong stress on fraternity during the mass. There are many exchanges between the brothers. I believe this may have been where the extended kiss of peace came from. It’s a very conventual custom. Except that when we do it, it’s very affectionate. It’s a real hug, not a handshake. We probably get this from the Cistercians and Benedictines, whom Francis admired very much.

There is also the absence of stress. While every movement is reverent, it is as simple and as minimal as possible. Even when we celebrated the old mass, when the priest made the sign of the cross at several points during the mass, they were to be very simple or minimal. There was no need to make them too obvious, unless you were blessing the congregation in a large church and needed to be seen from the back.

There is a sense of peace and beauty that is equal to that of the Tridentine form, but not the same as the Tridentine form. I always think of it as comparing Asian art to Greek art. Both are beautiful. One is strong and the other is very delicate.

Pope Paul VI’s as well, I think.

vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_p-vi_exh_19740202_marialis-cultus_en.html

He was not alone. But there is no reason to have a stroke over it either. God is much more resilient than man is. As St. Bonaventure would say to the brothers when they worried too much about doing this or that which offended God. He always said that if it were a sin, there was just cause to worry, because our souls were at risk. However, it it were a matter of externals, the worrying was more sinful than the breach of a rule, because such worrying reduced God to our state. It implies that we see God as fragile as we are and as shallow as we are. God is concerned about sin much more than he is about externals that can be fixed, tweaked, dispensed with, changed or dropped altogether. Truth and morality are eternal.

We work slowly, patiently and with great gentleness in repairing the damage that is often done, remembering that God does not have an ego as weak as our our, sensibilities as fragile as ours and has much greater understanding of us than we do of him. We must approach the problems through the mind of God, not the mind of man. That’s why St. Bonaventure wrote, Journey Into the Mind of God… It was really an analysis of Francis of Assisi’s journey into the mind of God and how Francis learned to think and see through God’s thoughts and eyes. Bonaventure wanted to encourage all Catholics to try to learn this form of mysticism. It’s very beautiful, because it allows us to remain calm and quiet in the midst of calamity and noise. . . if we master it.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, FFV

 

[Mrs_Sally]

It’s definitely different. I personally have a different opinion as I think there has been a great deal of good music produced in the last 50 years all the way up to today. I would probably say that there is still great music produced today, but you certainly have to look harder to find it.

Part of the problem with music in general is that with the advent of radio, phonographs, etc. people haven’t had to create their own music, so music education has fallen. No one sings together as a family or at a party anymore. No one plays the piano or other instrument for dances. All things that used to be very common even into the 30s and 40s in some places. I agree that it is much harder to find good music in both popular and church music than it used to be.

 

[Mrs_Sally]

God is much more resilient than man is. As St. Bonaventure would say to the brothers when they worried too much about doing this or that which offended God. He always said that if it were a sin, there was just cause to worry, because our souls were at risk. However, it it were a matter of externals, the worrying was more sinful than the breach of a rule, because such worrying reduced God to our state. It implies that we see God as fragile as we are and as shallow as we are. God is concerned about sin much more than he is about externals that can be fixed, tweaked, dispensed with, changed or dropped altogether. Truth and morality are eternal.

We work slowly, patiently and with great gentleness in repairing the damage that is often done, remembering that God does not have an ego as weak as our our, sensibilities as fragile as ours and has much greater understanding of us than we do of him. We must approach the problems through the mind of God, not the mind of man. That’s why St. Bonaventure wrote, Journey Into the Mind of God… It was really an analysis of Francis of Assisi’s journey into the mind of God and how Francis learned to think and see through God’s thoughts and eyes. Bonaventure wanted to encourage all Catholics to try to learn this form of mysticism. It’s very beautiful, because it allows us to remain calm and quiet in the midst of calamity and noise. . . if we master it.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, FFV

I love this thought. It is very comforting to know that God isn’t worried about the ridiculous things that distract me - like the shoes the altar boy is wearing. I spent most of Mass this morning bringing myself back to focus!

 

[JReducation]

I love this thought. It is very comforting to know that God isn’t worried about the ridiculous things that distract me - like the shoes the altar boy is wearing. I spent most of Mass this morning bringing myself back to focus!

I know what you mean. Today, the deacon preached on the quote from Deut, in the first reading and the Gospel. I kept waiting for him to speak about the whole idea of the law and help people understand that this is one example of a part of the Old Covenant that remains intact, so that it’s not true that the Old Covenant has ceased to exist, but it has been fulfilled in the New Covenant and that was Jesus’ reason for quoting Deut. He wanted to bridge the Covenants.

Of course, the deacon did not mention this at all. After mass, I mentioned to one of our brothers how this had absorbed my attention the whole time. His answer was on the money.

“So you missed mass, because the deacon was not saying what you wanted him to say?”

And you almost missed mass because the server was not wearing the shoes that you would have selected for him.

EMBARRASSING!!!

Fraternally,

Br. JR, FFV

 

[Mrs_Sally]

EMBARRASSING!!!

Fraternally,

Br. JR, FFV

And the worse part is, it was a lovely Mass - very reverant, good music, reasonable homily (although the pastor was required to talk about the annual giving program today), AND both of my children were home and sitting on either side of me! Let alone that God came down from heaven!!

Embarrassing indeed!