God, come to my help. Lord, quickly give me assistance. You are the one who helps me and sets me free: Lord, do not be long in coming. (NOM, Introit, Psalm 70 2, 6)

    Already we notice that the Novus Ordo has removed a few verses from even it's Introit. I shall cite the entire passage, leaving in bold what is omitted.

Graciously rescue me, God! Come quickly to help me, LORD! Confound and put to shame those who seek my life. Turn back in disgrace those who desire my ruin. Let those who say "Aha!" turn back in their shame. But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. May those who long for your help always say, "God be glorified!" Here I am, afflicted and poor. God, come quickly! You are my help and deliverer. LORD, do not delay!

    What is omitted is a God Who puts to shame those who are the enemies of the Psalmist. This is again a God Who actively fights against the evils of this world. While God gives us a free will, God is not neutral. If you stand against Him, and assault His people, He will defend them. Yet today, since there are always men of good faith, and God is "love", why would He defend his people? This sounds like such a wrathful God, shaming the people who oppose Him. As has been stated before, people talk so much of God's love, they no longer recognize His justice, or His holiness. A God Who shows righteous indignation against sacrilege and sin is somehow "Not the God of the New Testament" as we are so many times told. God has not changed, my dear readers. The God that defended His people who asked for His defense still defends His people today. Now for the Collects:

Let Thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of Thy suppliant people; and that Thou mayest grant them their petitions, make them to ask such things as shall please Thee. Through Our Lord… (TM, Collect)

Father of everlasting goodness, our origin and guide, be close to us and hear the prayers of all who praise you. Forgive our sins and restore us to life. Keep us safe in your love. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (NOM, Opening Prayer)

    . Other than the usual problem of not being clear enough in stating exactly what "restoring us to life is" in the Novus Ordo, I shall not focus too much on the Collect today, but I have cited them above for the reader. Now to the Epistle / Readings.

Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ: as some of them tempted, and perished by the serpents. Neither do you murmur: as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them in figure: and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand let him take heed lest he fall. Let no temptation take hold on you, but such as is human. And God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able: but will make also with temptation issue, that you may be able to bear it. (TM, Epistle, 1 Corinthians, 10:6-13)

Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity! Here is one who has labored with wisdom and knowledge and skill, and yet to another who has not labored over it, he must leave property. This also is vanity and a great misfortune. For what profit comes to man from all the toil and anxiety of heart with which he has labored under the sun? All his days sorrow and grief are their occupation; even at night his mind is not at rest. This also is vanity. (NOM, 1st Reading, Ec 1:2, 2:21-23)

Brothers and sisters: If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory. Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry. Stop lying to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed, for knowledge, in the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all and in all. (Second Reading, Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11)

    I would like to make note of a simple distinction between the Second Reading of the Novus Ordo, and the Reading in the Traditional Epistle. The Traditional Rite chooses a passage that, like the Novus Ordo, commands Christians to flee idolatry. Yet what we see alongside this admonition is what happens when people do not flee idolatry, they are destroyed. The Novus Ordo no longer issues punishment for non-compliance, as God's love has no sense of righteous punishment. This is why Buddhists can perform their abominations at a Catholic altar, and people see no problem with it. Yet when a group of those in "schism" (Father Michael McMahon and the SSPX students who prayed the Rosary in the Grand Rapids Basilica - see Booting the Buddhists from the Basilica) rise up and defend God's honor, they are obviously the one with the problem. (Am I the only one who sees the problem with those perceived to be in schism are more zealous for the defense of the faith than those actual Catholics "in full communion" which I would suggest is a communion in name only in many cases?) As has been said before, it is a "shortening of the arm of God."

    Now the Novus Ordo picks some truly majestic readings, when one actually reads all the passage. The first reading from Ecclesiastes is something that should be on the regular reading list of every Traditionalist. Yet the Novus Ordo does some considerable editing. While I can certainly understand them not wanting to quote two entire chapters for the reading, why the selective editing of reading one verse of one chapter, then three verses of the next, without talking about the richness that is in between? Well I submit, to those who thirst for novelty, and changing everything, as the Novus Ordo clearly does, this passage is a standing rebuke. I will quote all two chapters in full, bolding what the Novus Ordo has omitted.

Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity! What profit has man from all the labor which he toils at under the sun? One generation passes and another comes, but the world forever stays. The sun rises and the sun goes down; then it presses on to the place where it rises. Blowing now toward the south, then toward the north, the wind turns again and again, resuming its rounds. All rivers go to the sea, yet never does the sea become full. To the place where they go, the rivers keep on going. All speech is labored; there is nothing man can say. The eye is not satisfied with seeing nor is the ear filled with hearing. What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun. Even the thing of which we say, "See, this is new!" has already existed in the ages that preceded us. There is no remembrance of the men of old; nor of those to come will there be any remembrance among those who come after them. I, Qoheleth, was king over Israel in Jerusalem, and I applied my mind to search and investigate in wisdom all things that are done under the sun. A thankless task God has appointed for men to be busied about. I have seen all things that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a chase after wind. What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is missing cannot be supplied. Though I said to myself, "Behold, I have become great and stored up wisdom beyond all who were before me in Jerusalem, and my mind has broad experience of wisdom and knowledge"; yet when I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly, I learned that this also is a chase after wind. For in much wisdom there is much sorrow, and he who stores up knowledge stores up grief. I said to myself, "Come, now, let me try you with pleasure and the enjoyment of good things." But behold, this too was vanity. Of laughter I said: "Mad!" and of mirth: "What good does this do?" I thought of beguiling my senses with wine, though my mind was concerned with wisdom, and of taking up folly, until I should understand what is best for men to do under the heavens during the limited days of their life. I undertook great works; I built myself houses and planted vineyards; I made gardens and parks, and set out in them fruit trees of all sorts. And I constructed for myself reservoirs to water flourishing woodland. I acquired male and female slaves, and slaves were born in my house. I also had growing herds of cattle and flocks of sheep, more than all who had been before me in Jerusalem. I amassed for myself silver and gold, and the wealth of kings and provinces. I got for myself male and female singers and all human luxuries. I became great, and I stored up more than all others before me in Jerusalem; my wisdom, too, stayed with me. Nothing that my eyes desired did I deny them, nor did I deprive myself of any joy, but my heart rejoiced in the fruit of all my toil. This was my share for all my toil. But when I turned to all the works that my hands had wrought, and to the toil at which I had taken such pains, behold! All was vanity and a chase after wind, with nothing gained under the sun. For what will the man do who is to come after the king? What men have already done! I went on to the consideration of wisdom, madness and folly. And I saw that wisdom has the advantage over folly as much as light has the advantage over darkness. The wise man has eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I knew that one lot befalls both of them. So I said to myself, if the fool's lot is to befall me also, why then should I be wise? Where is the profit for me? And I concluded in my heart that this too is vanity. Neither of the wise man nor of the fool will there be an abiding remembrance, for in days to come both will have been forgotten. How is it that the wise man dies as well as the fool! Therefore I loathed life, since for me the work that is done under the sun is evil; for all is vanity and a chase after wind. And I detested all the fruits of my labor under the sun, because I must leave them to a man who is to come after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruits of my wise labor under the sun. This also is vanity. So my feelings turned to despair of all the fruits of my labor under the sun. For here is a man who has labored with wisdom and knowledge and skill, and to another, who has not labored over it, he must leave his property. This also is vanity and a great misfortune. For what profit comes to a man from all the toil and anxiety of heart with which he has labored under the sun? All his days sorrow and grief are his occupation; even at night his mind is not at rest. This also is vanity. There is nothing better for man than to eat and drink and provide himself with good things by his labors. Even this, I realized, is from the hand of God. For who can eat or drink apart from him? For to whatever man he sees fit he gives wisdom and knowledge and joy; but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering possessions to be given to whatever man God sees fit. This also is vanity and a chase after wind.

    What Traditional Catholic would not read those two chapters and feel edified beyond belief? One could almost say the summa of Catholic spirituality is to be found in these two chapters. For the passage teaches the difference between the knowledge of this world, and the wisdom that comes in Christ Jesus, something this world desperately needs. Does this not sound like our society today? Modern man, in his arrogance, believes he has done everything anew. What he does not know is that several millennia ago, people thought the same way. For in all this novelty, there exists the "vanity of vanities." Complete and utter emptiness. We pay no attention to the wisdom of those before us, yet God never forgets. We do.

    Rather than promoting, refining, and preserving a liturgy that had stood the test of time, for 1500 years if not longer, we decide it is better to "speak to modern man" and give a new liturgy. Yet behind that spirit of novelty is utter vanity. Look at all the "benefits" of these new programs since Vatican II we are told! 65 million Catholics in America! Yet behind those numbers, is not even one fifth of the Catholic population willing to worship God on Sundays. Behind the glorious façade of numbers, is vanity, emptiness. Behind the spirit of "reaching to our separated brethren" in ecumenism (a laudable goal no doubt, as who wouldn't want these intelligent souls home where they can truly use that intelligence!) we have the emptiness of our own churches, and indeed, of this world. After all we've done in the pursuit of "knowledge", wisdom and making things new, modern man has emptiness. Yet we are not showing him how he gets his fill, as we omit the section where the inspired writer tells us, to even eat and drink as a result of God's grace. This passage shares the solution to the crisis of faith we Catholics are in, to overthrow the pursuit of earthly wisdom and novelty. Yet it is that earthly wisdom and novelty that the Novus Ordo thrives on. The entire focus of this passage the Novus Ordo suppressed, and I submit with good reason. Those who thirst for novelty cannot say these words and not cringe.

    The Second Reading also omits a key element as I show below the entire passage with what is omitted in bold.

If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory. Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry. Because of these the wrath of God is coming (upon the disobedient). By these you too once conducted yourselves, when you lived in that way. But now you must put them all away: anger, fury, malice, slander, and obscene language out of your mouths. Stop lying to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed, for knowledge, in the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all and in all. (Colossians 3, 1-11)

    The omissions do not stop with the first or second reading, as they continue into the "Responsorial Psalm", the beautiful Psalm 90 that is employed by the Novus Ordo this week. In the Traditional Mass Psalm 8 and 58 are used, tying in together in short succinct essence of how great God is and only He can defend us. For the Novus Ordo Gradual I shall quote the Psalm in full, as custom, bolding what is omitted.

O Lord, our Lord, how admirable is Thy Name in the whole earth. V. For Thy magnificence is elevated above the Heavens. Alleluia, alleluia. V. (Ps. 58: 3) Deliver me from my enemies, O my God: and defend me from them that rise up against me. Alleluia. (TM, Gradual, Psalm 8: 2)

But humans you return to dust, saying, "Return, you mortals!" Before a watch passes in the night, you have brought them to their end; They disappear like sleep at dawn; they are like grass that dies. It sprouts green in the morning; by evening it is dry and withered. Truly we are consumed by your anger, filled with terror by your wrath. You have kept our faults before you, our hidden sins exposed to your sight. Our life ebbs away under your wrath; our years end like a sigh. Seventy is the sum of our years, or eighty, if we are strong; Most of them are sorrow and toil; they pass quickly, we are all but gone. Who comprehends your terrible anger? Your wrath matches the fear it inspires. Teach us to count our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart. Relent, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants! Fill us at daybreak with your love that all our days we may sing for joy. Make us glad as many days as you humbled us, for as many years as we have seen trouble. Show your deeds to your servants, your glory to their children. May the favor of the Lord our God be ours. Prosper the work of our hands! Prosper the work of our hands!

    As is rather custom, the omissions are very carefully selected, and they all have to do with the same thing, that of anger, wrath, and justice. It also speaks of the fear of God, something which again, our modern society has no concept of, nor is it taught. Though this is getting terribly redundant, the scope of the problem is something very few conceive, and as we see, week after week after week, the same things continue to pop up again and again, to where one cannot deny there was a concerted effort to eliminate those parts of Sacred Scripture from the Mass that had anything to do with God's justice, so one could get a more mythical "Buddy Christ" than the true "Mystical Body of Christ" providing a true representation of God. It also speaks of our humility, again something that is continually removed from the Mass, as modern man has no need for humility, for he has all this knowledge, which Sacred Scripture just told us is "vanity of vanities." This line of omission was also carried right into the Second Reading for the Novus Ordo, from St. Paul's Epistle to the Colossians, which I quoted above, bolding what was left out in the Novus Ordo which of course spoke of the wrath of God and turning away from sinful habits. Can't have that in the New Order!

    I shall now quote just the Gospels, as they are both good in their own right, though some could say the choice reflects either a removal of "anti-Semitism", or a denial of prophesy, for Christ predicted the destruction of Jerusalem. For sake of brevity and space, I myself won't focus too much on either.

At that time, when Jesus drew near to Jerusalem, seeing the city, He wept over it, saying: "If thou also hadst known, and that in this thy day, the things that are to thy peace; but now they are hidden from thy eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, and thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and straiten thee on every side, And beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children who are in thee: and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone: because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation." And entering into the temple, He began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought. Saying to them: "It is written: My house is the house of prayer. But you have made it a den of thieves." And He was teaching daily in the temple. (TM, GOSPEL, Luke 19:41-47)

Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me." He replied to him, "Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?" Then he said to the crowd, "Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one's life does not consist of possessions." Then he told them a parable. "There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. He asked himself, 'What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?' And he said, 'This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods and I shall say to myself, "Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!"' But God said to him, 'You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?' Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God." (NOM, Gospel, Luke 12:13-21)

    Again both Gospels are from Luke and both have an important message, but the Novus Ordo has diluted the meaning so much that "You fool" passes right over the common Novus Ordo church-goer, thinking that Our Lord is referring to someone else and not to them. How else can you explain the devastation that has occurred over the past 40 years? They "are not rich in what matters to God." Again the NAB has omitted an important word rarely found in the Novus Ordo today: "soul." Consider the DRV translation of verses 19-21:

DRV:
"And I will say to my soul: Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thy rest, eat, drink, make good cheer. But God said to him: Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee: and whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God."

    Again you can see how liberties have been taken in translating the Latin where the word 'anima' - "soul" is clearly used. This same has been shortened and trashed in administering of Communion in the Novus Ordo. In the Traditional Latin Mass the priest - and only the priest - pronounces the words for each communicant: Corpus Domini nostri Jesu Christi custodiat animam tuam in vitam aeternam. Amen. Nothing is left out. Translated: "May the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve thy soul to life everlasting. Amen." In the Novus Ordo it has been shortened from the original to "This is the body of Christ" to streamlined: "Body of Christ." Again, the concept of "soul" and why we receive our Lord in the Holy Eucharist is totally absent in the Novus Ordo. And we wonder why so few Catholics believe in the True Presence any more!!!

    Now let us move on to the Offertory prayers.

The justices of the Lord are right, rejoicing hearts, and His judgments sweeter than honey and the honey-comb: for thy servant keepeth them. (TM, Offertory Psalm 18: 9-12)

Grant us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, worthily to frequent these sacred mysteries: for as often as this saving Victim is offered up, so often is furthered the work of our redemption. Through Our Lord... (TM, Secret)

Merciful Lord, make holy these gifts, and let our spiritual sacrifice make us an everlasting gift to you. We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. Amen. (NOM, Prayer over the Gifts)

    Once again, the altar of ecumenism is accepting sacrifice! As is basic Catholicism, the Mass is more than a "spiritual sacrifice." As a matter of fact, calling it a spiritual sacrifice, and leaving it at that, is a false definition of the Mass. We make a spiritual offering to God, there is no doubt of that. Yet that offering must be united with the Victim Himself being offered on our altar. This is the prayer that is said in preparation for the sacrifice, and the fact that it is the Sacrifice of Calvary is not even implied. It is not even implied we are frequenting that which is sacred, it's simply a prayer of our offering ourselves to the Father. Right and proper as this by itself would be, without mention of the Cross which makes this possible, such prayer is not effective. There is nothing of the work of God in the prayer of the Novus Ordo; it is 100% dependent on man. God is doing nothing in this. Rather, in the rite of Tradition, we ask God for the right to frequent the Eucharist, and that every time the Victim is offered; we are closer to the end, where we are in Heaven. One has no idea that this is even about the Eucharist in the Novus Ordo!

"He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, abideth in Me, and I in him, saith the Lord." (TM, Communion, John 6: 57)

May the reception of Thy Holy Sacrament, O Lord, both purify us from sin and grant us unity in Thy Service. Through our Lord... (TM, Postcommunion)

Lord, you give us the strength of new life by the gift of the Eucharist. Protect us with your love and prepare us for eternal redemption. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. (NOM, Prayer after Communion)

    What is the strength of new life? How does God protect us in His love? None of these answers are given. The Traditional Rite makes it perfectly clear. You'll note the continuity of the Communion Prayer with the Postcommunion Prayer. We are strengthened because our sins are purified from us. We are protected by given unity in serving God. This is what prepares us for eternal redemption, yet the Novus Ordo doesn't tell us this. It leaves it to the option of the priest, if you have a good priest, you just might get the Orthodox Catholic faith. But don't count on it. No longer can the liturgy truly be understood as a guide for that faith.

    When pointed out with these problems, many Novus Ordinarians, and even those honest, pious attendees of the Novus Ordo will say "Well Tierney you can't just turn back the clock." I don't think it's turning back the clock. My friends, the Novus Ordo has a broken clock! It only has one hand of the clock. You can tell the hour, but not the minute. Just like from the Novus Ordo, you can tell God's mercy, but certainly not God's honor and justice. So let us have the Mass of Tradition, so we may always know what time it is in our journey of salvation.

To contact Kevin or ask him any questions, click on his name above. For past articles in this series, see www.DailyCatholic.org/2004lex.htm Archives