Free Republic

Hmmm....

Fr. Schall's take on the war need to be heard. He is perhaps the most articulate spokesman in the Catholic Church I have seen on this matter. He differs with TCR's position.

Interesting.

How untraditional an analysis...the Church knows what belongs to the substance of the liturgy and never wavers from it.

Council of Trent on the Mass and the "Substance of" Tradition

"The Holy Council declares moreover: The Church has always had, in the dispensation of the sacraments, their substance being saved, the power to decide or to modify what she judges better to suit the spiritual utility of those who receive them or with respect to the sacraments themselves, according to the variety of circumstances, times and places.--- The Council of Trent, Dz 1728; also Dz Herder ed, 1955, #931, p. 256"

The whole Catholic world accepts the eucharist as the eucharist in the new missal. Only less than 1% of all Catholics constantly cavil against it. They simplistically blame the liturgy for the decadent times which more than accounts for people turning away from religion (Lk 18:8)

The Stunning Simplicity
of the Liturgy

By Stephen Hand

Its beautiful simplicity could not be more stunning: An altar of sacrifice, a table of fellowship and community, the bread, the cup, the Word of the Gospel and of God‘s acts throughout history leading to it. And its effects, when our hearts are open to it, could not be more profound: reconciliation with God, faith in the living Lord, and reconciliation with our brothers and sisters in a life of good works, especially toward the poor (Lk 4: 16-22), reflecting the One Who is the Good, the True and the Beautiful.

Each of its parts---the Sign of the Cross, the opening prayer, its antiphons, the Gloria, petitions, blessings, hymns, the liturgy of the Word, the homily, the Creed, the Sanctus, the liturgy of the Eucharist, the Agnus Dei, the sign or kiss of peace, Lord’s Prayer, Communion, the final blessing and the ‘Amen‘---are all rooted in the sacred Tradition. All explicitly express the Church's soteriological, catechetical and eschatological truths and faith.

In all of its parts and signs---each one organically related to the other--- the whole of the Christian faith is recapitulated and taught again in every liturgy.

The liturgy, this wedding feast of the Bride and the Lamb who was sacrificed for us once and for always, is at once vertical and horizontal, both in its signs or parts, and in its implications or effects. It is at once both simple table and sacred altar, both the “breaking of the bread” and the unutterable divine sacrifice. It is both proclamation of His Word and Kingdom as well as the ultimate act of God, His saving immolation. It is both meal, signifying fellowship, and sacrament of reconciliation, signifying the divine sacrifice made by Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

It is ever the responsibility of the Church---as we see in the texts of Vatican II--- to see that these dual aspects of the liturgy are kept in view, in balance, so that they are always accessible through the prisms of faith and love, and that no one paradigm of meaning is ever presented at the expense of any other. For, just as cause and effect are inseparable, each part of the Mass complements the other, and no one part exhausts the others, which were given for our instruction in love, contemplation and praxis. Here indeed is the source and summit of our Faith as the Holy Father has never ceased to point out.

St. Paul sums up to the Corinthians all that he had received as Apostle in respect to this wondrous salvific Event:

"For this is what I received from the Lord, and in turn pass on to you: that on the night that He was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread, and giving thanks He broke it, and He said, 'This is my Body, which is broken for you'.

In the same manner He took the cup and said:

"This is the cup of the New Covenant in my Blood. Whenever you drink it, do this in memory of me" (1 Cor. 11: 23-27).

As we have written elsewhere, should she deem it necessary or good, the Church could reduce her liturgy to these words and acts, the "substance" around which all the ritual "accidents," which change through time, adhere. For only she is given to participate in and dispense the divine authority — the great "whatsoever" (Matt. 16:20) — until the Bridegroom returns to receive His Bride at the end of time. It is left for us to only "Hear the Church" which changes only in her "accidents" through the ebbs and flows of time, the "substance" perduring to the consummation.

So much to contemplate forever: living sacrifice, sacred memorial, grace, forgiveness, all issuing in a life of repentance, radical love and good works. Being a re-presentation of the one sacrifice at Golgotha by which God reconciled the world to Himself, forgiving the sins of all (Jn 3:16f), it is also the sacrament which restores us to each other through the call to forgive one another as He forgave all from the Cross of His crucifixion, and called us all unto a new Kingdom with new commandments and new beatitudes to live by (Mt 5-7). It is a call to “bear with one another charitably, in complete selflessness, gentleness and patience,” preserving the unity of the Spirit in the One Mystical Body of the Church (Eph 4:1-6).

Here, in the liturgy, is the call which springs from that moment when earth's history was split into a "before" and an "after" so that now He is "with us," completely, "always," (Isaiah 9:6; Matt. 28:20); here is the God who comes, the God who seeks us out, and who offers forgiveness and reconciliation to a world which will never again have to grope to find Him. He is there, in His Church, where, until the very end of the world are heard the simple words of consecration which are, with the Word of God, the substance of the Mass.

Simple and yet full of awe. Such transcendental riches and such unutterable humility and poverty… There is no contradiction here, any more than when we contemplate the life of Our Lord Jesus. As we contemplate His beatitudes, His miracles of love and forgiveness, His loving admonitions to be peacemakers, to consider the lilies of the field and birds of the air; when we contemplate His last supper, His crucifixion, or His Resurrection, we see very many different things at once, sometimes contemplating this aspect, sometimes that… It is the plentitude of His life, love and sacrifice which is the food of our contemplation, now and through eternity.

In the Consecration of the Bread and Wine the contemplative spirit sees and exults in both the most sublime majesty and the most heart-rending poverty. The contemplative spirit grasps all things at once in some way, often beyond words, whereas some critics only cavil and complain anxiously about this part or that. The former exults in the multiplicity of God’s mysteries, His works and truths, which he or she would contemplate forever. The latter only sees parts at the expense of the whole.

It is true that, as with any rite of the Church, a priest may celebrate the liturgical mysteries worthily or unworthily----this has ever been the case, just as we may receive the Eucharist unworthily---- but the rite itself, as such, retains its full salvific integrity, guaranteed by the Church and her Lord (Mt. 16:20; 1 Tim 3:15). What comfort we can derive from that. And what a wondrous joy to receive Our Lord in such majesty---and in such poverty (Phil 2:5-10).

“Every time this mystery is celebrated, the work of our redemption is carried on and we break the one bread that provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death, and the food that makes us live forever in Jesus Christ” (CCC 1405; LG 3)

Amen. Maranatha.

It figures. The Pope tilts ideologically leftward in most matters--

As if the Pope should enlist as a political Americanist like National Review and turn the Gospel into something other than a Gospel of Peace.

Yeah for Rumfield! Hurray Hiroshima! Down with the Pope!

Now here's a "new Gospel" for mankind.

While we're at it, let's revive the Levitical penalties (Stoning) for women caught in adultery and for witches. It will make some radtrad mouths water?

Stop making everything so black and white and discussing things endlessly. Mel is my new hero...

Making a movie in the original biblical languages. That is Radtrad's reductio ad absurdism. Flee the vernacular (which the biblical languages were at one time, recall) and take refuge in languages that have become dead. This is supposed to be piety? A furtherance of the Gospel and understanding?

More like Radtrad terror of the present and lack of faith in the risen Christ who urged that the Gospel be spoken to all peoples.

How sad.

I'm making an exception to my Lenten FR fast for this VERY important thread!

I think one ought not to break a fast, especially a public one. It makes it in this case look like Internet addiction is at work which is all too prevalent today even under the guise of piety. Reading messages mocks such a fast. We need spiritual power today which comes through trying to keep our vows and not presuming that our opinions are so important, needed and required that we can come to God's rescue. God is in control despite all appearances. The Church will not fail.

Well, at least Sungenis hasn't crossed the same dogmatic foul lines, as one man put it, that Michael Matt and friends have. Sungenis is wrong, but still this side of schism.

PS I'm new to this forum. Just signed up. Hope it becomes more edifying. --PC