 Editor's Note: This series on the Propers of the Mass features the apologetics of Kevin M. Tierney in this special feature simply called "Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi" which, of course, translated means roughly how one prays is how one believes. As you can see the differences between the two are as clear as black and white. One, the Latin Mass is full and reverent, the Novus Ordo sterile and bland. It needs innovation and novelty to spice things up. The Latin Mass merely depends on the Divine. This series compares the Propers of the synthetic Novus Ordo with the absolute Propers of the Traditional Latin Mass to show all that the NOM comes up far, far inferior, if not worse. Many might place the blame on the venom of the vernacular, but we all know what vipers injected this poison. It must be sucked out and spit out forever. Hopefully this series will give readers motivation to expedite that process in the counter-revolution dedicated to taking back the Mystical Body of Christ for Christ! Today Kevin compares choice Propers from the Second Sunday After Epiphany Traditional with the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Novus Ordo propers in showing vividly how the whole concept of watering down the essence of God's message is reworked to please man and dilute the truth. Kevin asks which satisfies your palate, the rich, full body of the Traditional Latin Mass - the "Dom Perignon" champagne of worship - which goes down smooth, nourishes, refreshes and enables one to grow rich in grace or the watered-down bland and nutritionless "Ripple" beverage of NOM that can lead to being homeless in the True Church.
Editor's Note: For the full Proper of the Traditional SUNDAY MASS with the Latin included, see "Omnis terra"
SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY
Traditional Proper compared to
the Novus Ordo Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
First allow me to extend my hopes that everyone had a blessed holy season of Christmastide. In the past few weeks you were treated to my analysis of the Charismatic movement, which will continue, and it is my hope that it has been well received. As this column winds down, redundant as it may get, at times we simply need to have these thoughts reinforced into our minds. For those who attend the Latin Mass, we need to be reminded why we attend it. It's not just the window dressings and the externals. This is not said to denigrate Latin, but just that the faith is better presented in the Traditional Roman Rite. If the Roman Rite were in English and the Novus Ordo in Latin, this problem would still be here. Catholics who want a liturgy that leaves no stone unturned would still choose the Roman Rite over the modern. For those my friends who attend the Novus Ordo, it's a call to do what so many of us have done; to examine the liturgies on their collective merits. With confidence I say you will make the choice - more and more every day - to attach yourself to the Rite of our Catholic forefathers, Saints, and Doctors of the Church in the Latin Rite.
As is the custom in this series, The Traditional Mass will be marked by TM and be in blue type , the Novus Ordo Missae by NOM and in maroon type, as in marooned by synthetic novelty. With that said, let us get down to the business of the Propers. We shall be skipping both the Introits and the Collects today, since they are the same. Let us start with the Epistles of each. As always the Traditional Mass Proper is always listed first.
Brethren, having different gifts, according to the grace that is given us: either prophecy, to be used according to the rule of faith; or ministry, in ministering; or he that teacheth, in doctrine; he that exhorteth, in exhorting; he that giveth, with simplicity; he that ruleth, with carefulness; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be without dissimulation. Hating that which is evil, cleaving to that which is good. Loving one another with the charity of brotherhood, in honour preventing one another. In carefulness, not slothful: In spirit fervent: Serving the Lord: Rejoicing in hope: Patient in tribulation: Instant in prayer: Communicating to the necessities of the Saints: Pursuing hospitality. Bless them that persecute you: bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them that rejoice, weep with them that weep. Being of one mind one towards another, not minding high things, but consenting to the humble. (TM, Epistle, Romans 12:6-16)
The LORD said to me: You are my servant, Israel, through whom I show my glory. Though I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength, Yet my reward is with the LORD, my recompense is with my God. Now the LORD has spoken who formed me as his servant from the womb,
that Jacob may be brought back to him and Israel gathered to him; and I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD, and my God is now my strength!
It is too little, the LORD says, for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the survivors of Israel; I will make you a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. (NOM, First Reading Isaiah 49:3, 5-6, verse 4 omitted in bold)
As is all too common with the Novus Ordo, one of the central themes of the readings it selects is omitted. Why is this so? For Scripture advocates many times a spirituality of willingness to suffer, to be patient, to have a faith that does not waiver. In today's humanistic world (and in a liturgy which is about as friendly to that humanism as one can get) this is flat out unacceptable. For you see, there is no joy in suffering so we are told today by so many modern Catholics. Those in the past suffered without reason, not understanding that their emphasis on suffering and sacrificing for others made them Pharisees living in the letter of the law but not the Spirit, as Neo-Catholic ideologue George Sim Johnston once told the world. Here We see omitted in the Novus Ordo the call to not despair, and indeed to toil, for we toil not in vain. For our reward is not in this world, but in the next. It was this kind of mentality that drove people to conquer the world for Christ. That mentality is replaced today by one which seeks not to conquer the world under the banner of Christ the King, but to dialogue with all, and far beyond tolerating error, to respect it and promote it. For those who trust in the Lord, and endure such toil, the passage in the Novus Ordo then goes on to expound the blessings. Thanks to modern theology, the selection of reading loses much of it's significance.
The Traditional Rite allows no such manipulations of Holy Writ. After mentioning the numerous different gifts, Paul then exhorts the Christian, no matter his gift, to glorify God. It calls for humility, love, and charity to all, using one's talents for the betterment of the body. In today's individualistic society, this is exactly what we need to hear. Rather, we are given a passage in the Novus Ordo that, thanks to the clever manipulation of modern theology, loses its significance. This trend continues in the responsorial Psalm, with the "creative editing" of the Holy Word of God continuing in the NOM; first the Traditional Rite:
The Lord sent His Word, and healed them: and delivered them from their destruction. V. Let the merices of the Lord give glory to Him: and His wonderful works to the children of men.
Alleluia, alleluia. V. (Ps. 148: 2) Praise ye the Lord, all His Angels: praise ye Him, all His hosts. Alleluia.
(TM, Gradual, Psalm 106: 20-21)
I waited, waited for the LORD; who bent down and heard my cry, Drew me out of the pit of destruction, out of the mud of the swamp, Set my feet upon rock, steadied my steps, And put a new song in my mouth, a hymn to our God. Many shall look on in awe and they shall trust in the LORD. Happy those whose trust is the LORD, who turn not to idolatry or to those who stray after falsehood. How numerous, O LORD, my God, you have made your wondrous deeds! And in your plans for us there is none to equal you. Should I wish to declare or tell them, too many are they to recount. Sacrifice and offering you do not want; but ears open to obedience you gave me. Holocausts and sin-offerings you do not require; so I said, "Here I am; your commands for me are written in the scroll. To do your will is my delight; my God, your law is in my heart!" I announced your deed to a great assembly; I did not restrain my lips; you, LORD, are my witness. (NOM, Gradual, Psalm 40: 2-10, bold verses omitted)
Gone in the NOM Gradual is the talk of the deliverance of the person by God, hence making the new direction in the next verse make all the more sense. God first delivers the person, and then He stabilizes them. There is no talk of deliverance in the Novus Ordo and its retelling. Furthermore, after this deliverance, there is no talk of trusting in God and suffering the toil, as was omitted in the first reading as well. In context, it becomes deliberate that the omissions are trying to obscure something. This toil involves not turning to idolatry or falsehood. Today, idolatry and falsehood are universally supported in automatically assuming that every single person (even when evidence is to the contrary) is simply acting in good faith obeying "the dictates of his conscience", even when that conscience instructs him to commit untold atrocities. To those who endure that toil, the blessings are numerous. God is a God who is not neutral, and who does take sides. God, if He exists at all to most today, is a neutral observer. The Novus Ordo, through it's editing, can help to reinforce that assertion. Can you see how dangerous this is?
Since the Gospel for the Second Sunday After Epiphany focuses on the Miracle at the Wedding Feast at Cana for the Traditional liturgical calendar while the conciliar church features John 1: 29-34 and the testimony of Saint John the Baptist one cannot really compare them. Suffice it to say that the new church places much less importance on Epiphany, refusing to recognize this time as the Time After Epiphany but rather more of that all-encompassing "Ordinary Time." It only reinforces that there is absolutely nothing in the Novus Ordo which is extraordinary whereas in the Traditional Latin Mass the entire rite with its perfect selection of scriptural passages to emphasize the purpose of the Mass is extraordinary. Thus, allow me to next move to the Secrets.
Sanctify, O Lord, the gifts we humbly bring, and wash us from all stain of sin. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
(TM, Secret)
Father, may we celebrate the Eucharist with reverence and love, for when we proclaim the death of the Lord you continue the work of his redemption, who is Lord for ever and ever. Amen. (NOM, Prayer over the Gifts)
Continuing in the exercise in redundancy, we reach upon a point that has been touched upon all too often in this series. The Novus Ordo tells you only half the story. If this were claimed to be a New Rite, perhaps this could be justified. Yet by claiming that this was merely reforming what already existed, and it staying the same Rite, one has a lot of explaining to do, as to why this prayer was so shortened and edited. The Traditional Rite tells us about God making Holy that which is presented on the altar, and any stain of sin being washed away because of those Holy Gifts. Such is the rich sacramental theology the Rite of Tradition gives us. The Novus Ordo on the other hand only talks about the work of redemption being continued. Nowhere is the sanctification of gifts mentioned, nor does it mention how the work of redemption is carried out. As we said in the introduction, what kind of liturgy, faithful Catholic, do you want? A liturgy that gives us the pure and unadulterated Catholic faith or that which only gives you half? The Choice my dear reader, is simple. These last few weeks of my columns shall only further reinforce that belief.
Kevin Tierney
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January 16, 2005
The Wine of Truth 