Thirteen Reasons To Prohibit The Traditional Latin Mass
Relax, why worry? It is only a matter of your eternal salvation.
Regarding concerns on the part of some nostalgic people (for a past they never experienced) about the return of the so-called “traditional” Mass (which in reality is according to the 1962 Missal), we give here 13 reasons why it should be absolutely forbidden for all eternity.
1. Latin is a foreign language like Turkish or Mandarin, and has nothing to do with our culture or our world.
2. It is not advisable that the new generations become radicalized in the Truth, because the modern world demands people who are tolerant, flexible, more fluid than dogmatic, and preferably of weak thinking rather than inflexible convictions.
3. If dialogue is the key to understanding the Catholic Church of the last sixty years, the traditional Mass lacks the dialogical character of today's Mass and incorporates a rite that does not allow for “the surprises of the Spirit”.
4. The priest says in the ritual some things that disturb the people, such as “judge me, O God”, or “deign to count us among your elect”, as if not all are saved.
5. The frequent silences of the traditional Mass disturb souls because it makes them fall into their interiority, something that they already have plenty of in practices more than recommendable like Yoga or New Age; besides, God does not like silence, but non-stop activity, as He told Martha and reproached Mary.
6. It is not appropriate for a mature faith to kneel or receive communion on one's knees, much less for the young. On the one hand, it hurts the meniscus and, on the other, it prevents us from showing ourselves to God as his equals.
7. It makes no sense to invoke St. Michael the Archangel during the “I confess” or at the end of Mass, for never has the world been more free from the presence of the devil (if he exists) than it is today.
8. The substitution of the organ for the guitar has contributed decisively to the fact that in modern celebrations only young faces are seen.
9. The offertory of the traditional Holy Mass is long, resembles a Eucharistic prayer and, above all, sounds very much like a sacrifice (something unthinkable in the 21st century).
10. The Roman Canon, besides being too long, privileges Roman martyrs, evoking an imperial and antidemocratic past.
11. The traditional Mass, and especially its offertory, places too much emphasis on a “sacrifice” rather than on the spiritual presence of Jesus in the assembly.
12. Young people value a liturgy that reflects their commitment to social justice and ecology while the traditional Mass, being too focused on sacred aspects, seems unconcerned with social, environmental and climate issues, as everyone else is.
13. The traditional Mass, far from adapting to cultural and social changes, seems to want to remain fixed on only one idea: God.
PS: you can add, in a synodal code, your reasons in the comments.
Rev. Javier Olivera Ravasi PhD is an Argentine priest currently assigned to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Wisconsin. See his blog QueNoTeLaCuenten.