FATIMA AND THE LATIN MASS

Transcription

1 FATIMA AND THE LATIN MASS Understanding the Spirituality and the Glory of the Mass of All Time The Tridentine Mass David Rodriguez gives us a simple, yet profound explanation of what Holy Mass is about. Christ taught the Apostles: Do this in memory of Me. Through this Holy Sacrifice we are chosen, privileged, as Catholics, to participate in this glorious adoration, thanksgiving and sacrifice of reparation to Jesus Christ for His love, mercy and treasure of graces that we most ardently need to save our soul. Read each explanation carefully, then close your eyes and envision the glory of Christ our Savior standing there before us. How could we not bow down on bended knee in complete adoration and give thanks for the great grace, the sacrifice and the mercy He has given us? Below are excerpts from David Rodriguez s speech at Our Lady s Army of Advocates conference in Cleveland, Ohio. See page 54 of this magazine to order his full speech. by David Rodriguez Thank you all. It s very good to be here. My topic today will be The Message of Fatima and the Latin Mass. To begin with, please join me in prayer: My God, I believe, I adore I hope and I love Thee. I ask pardon for all those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love Thee. Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us. As many of you know, this was the prayer that was taught by the Angel of Peace at Fatima. Experts tell us that was Saint Michael. When he first appeared to the children in the Spring of 1916, it is important to note that Saint Michael laid prostrate so that his forehead touched the ground and then he repeated this prayer and called the children Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco to do the same. He told them: 56 The Fatima Crusader Summer 2017 CR119 Book.indb 56

2 Pray thus; the Hearts of Jesus and Mary are attentive to the voice of your supplications. And I would certainly invite each one of you to take the words of Saint Michael to heart. He s telling us each one of us to pray thus, these words, these prayers, because God is very attentive to them. The Angel s Prayer Is Linked to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass I take this prayer as our starting point because it links us very beautifully between Fatima and the traditional Latin Mass. It also links us very beautifully with what it truly means to be Catholic. This is a quintessentially Catholic prayer. Not only that, but I would go further and say this is a quintessentially human prayer. This is what it means to be human. This is why God has created us to believe in Him, to love Him, to adore Him, to hope in Him. That is why each one of you exists! And that is why this prayer is so essential to the Message of Fatima, to the Mass of All Time, to what it means to be Catholic and, ultimately, to what it means to be human. And so that s how we re going to break up this talk today into four main parts: I believe we re going to be talking about faith. I adore we re going to be talking about worship. I hope we re going to talk about our final end Heaven. I love we have to love God and really hate sin. Father Rodriguez told us earlier at this conference about the interior life, the spiritual life, the life of grace, union with God, and faith, hope and charity. And you see all that in this prayer faith, hope and charity. The Angel s prayer is, as I said, intimately related to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The Mass is the source and the summit of our life. It should be the source of our life individually, as a family, as a community, as a nation, and as a human race. This IS the source of our life; meaning everything that fuels us comes from the Mass. And then it s the summit; meaning everything in our life is directed towards the Mass. It is a very important and necessary part of our faith to understand how central the Mass is. It s not just the source and summit of our life but it is the source and summit of being, of existence for us here in this world. The Fatima Crusader Summer CR119 Book.indb 57

3 It casts into very sharp relief the crisis in the Church today. That s what the second part of the prayer is about: for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope, and do not love. To the extent that we are not believing, adoring, hoping and loving correctly as God is calling us to do we re going to have a serious crisis in the world. And so if there are serious problems in this world, then our Catholic faith informs us that we must necessarily also have serious problems in how Holy Mass is being offered. This is because the Mass is the source and summit of life, of all existence. If everything is right with the source and summit, then the path can be followed. But if a source is tainted and one is confused as to the summit, then the path will necessarily be disoriented and one will be lost. In a nutshell, what goes on in the Mass controls what goes on in the world. When there is a grave crisis in the world, there is a grave crisis in the Mass as well. (See text box on next page.) The Latin Mass is a massive topic. And really, I think that if all the saints could talk to us about the Mass and all we did was to think about the Mass all we could see is the proverbial tip of the iceberg. If I were to tell you everything I know about the Latin Mass, it would probably just be a little flake on that iceberg. And in this hour, I ll probably only address a pinpoint of that flake. So, there is much, much more to be said. And I hope that you spend a lot of time after this conference learning a lot more about the Latin Mass. You can spend your life studying this Mystery and it will still be inexhaustible, always taking you ever deeper into love and union with God. What Is the Mass? I m going to try to give a very brief orientation. It is directed to those who are unfamiliar with the Latin Mass. But hopefully, even if you know the Traditional Mass, you can glean a few spiritual nuggets. I m also going to presume that most of you are familiar with the basics of the Message of Fatima. If there are things I mention about Fatima that you are not familiar with, please do familiarize yourself with them. They re important. And that s obviously what this conference is about. So, the very first question we should always ask ourselves is, (Continued on page 60) 58 The Fatima Crusader Summer 2017 CR119 Book.indb 58

4 Above, Father Michael Rodriguez offering the Tridentine Mass at the altar which holds the incorrupt body of St. John Marie Vianney in Ars, France. Excerpts from Christopher Ferrara s Fatima Perspectives No at fatima.org, explaining the serious state the Mass, the Church and the world are in today. Quotes are from Antonio Socci, renowned Italian Catholic journalist and author of The Fourth Secret of Fatima. Socci: [T]he tombstone for Catholicism is already prepared with the unified Mass for Catholics and Protestants [concerning which] technical trials have already been held ten days ago in Spain Yet... the Church cannot be destroyed completely, given the promises of Christ. As it was during the Arian crisis so it is today the Faith will be kept alive by a persevering minority of clergy and laity driven into exile. Socci: There is nothing left... but to keep the Tradition that has been handed down to us, reminding ourselves that it will never be diminished... This does not mean a rebellion against the hierarchy, but on the contrary obeying the hierarchy by not hiding its shortcomings because the truth will make you free (Jn 8:32). And that same Truth will be vindicated most gloriously with the inevitable Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The Fatima Crusader Summer CR119 Book.indb 59

5 What is the Mass? As I said, this is a big topic so there is no simple answer. But hopefully, every single Catholic has an answer to What is the Mass?, even if it s basic, even if it s rudimentary. I think that many times a lot of Catholics don t have an answer to that or their answer might be rather odd, even un-catholic. First, let me mention though, one beautiful thing that Saint Padre Pio stated: It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do so without the Holy Mass. Hopefully we all are convinced of this and understand this and could at least say that about the Mass. Nothing is more important. Again source and summit of our life the greatest thing we have. What the Council of Trent Says About the Mass We ll turn to the Council of Trent very quickly and briefly to find out a little bit about the Mass. This is from the 22nd session (1562 AD): And for as much as in this Divine Sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ is contained and immolated in an unbloody manner Who once offered Himself in a bloody manner on the altar of the Cross; the Holy Synod teaches, that this sacrifice is truly propitiatory and that by this means thereof this is effected, that we obtain mercy, find grace in seasonable aid, if we draw nigh unto God, contrite and penitent, with a sincere heart and upright faith, with fear and reverence. For the Lord, appeased by the oblation thereof, and granting the grace and gift of penitence, forgives even heinous crimes and sins. For the Victim is One and the Same; the Same now offering by the ministry of priests, Who then offered Himself on the Cross, the manner alone of offering being different. There s a lot there and there s a lot to unpack and so, hopefully, one thing you get very clearly from this is that Mass is a sacrifice. In fact, if you could only give a one-word answer to what the Mass is; I hope you say, It s a Sacrifice. And if you can give a phrase, I hope you say. It s the Sacrifice of Christ. We would be doing a lot better if every single Catholic could just say that and truly believe it! The Mass Is the Sacrifice of Christ I took what is in the Council of Trent and just condensed it into this one sentence here. We ll 60 The Fatima Crusader Summer 2017 CR119 Book.indb 60

6 spend a lot of time with this What is the Mass? The Mass is One, it is the Same, and it is Eternal, for it is Christ s Sacrifice. It is Christ sacrificed, but it is One and the Same, and it s Eternal. That is Christ s Sacrifice. It is offered in an unbloody manner. He offered His One, Same Sacrifice on Calvary 2000 years ago in a bloody manner. He continues to offer His One, Same Sacrifice not a different one, not a new one, the same but in an unbloody manner at the altar of the Holy Mass through the ministry of His ordained priests. So, we need a priest to offer the Mass on behalf of this Mystical Body. Who is the Mystical Body? All those who have been baptized in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost into His Church. And why is it offered? It is to render unto the Triune God the perfect worship. And see, we humans cannot offer a fitting worship to God. So God the Son takes on a human body, a human nature, becomes one with us and then, in His humanity, offers to God, the Triune God, a fitting and perfect sacrifice of worship, which is ultimately our obligation. All of us have to worship God but we are deficient. We cannot do it on our own, especially on account of Original Sin. But God, in His mercy descends, becomes one of us and on our behalf offers this perfect sacrifice to the Triune God a worship of adoration, of thanks, of impetration. That is just a fancy word for when we ask God for things, to supplicate, to beg: Dear Lord, please help me with this, please help me with that. And of reparation for man s sins obviously to repair the damage that sins have done, thereby pouring forth into souls His divine grace. All Graces Flow from the Mass So, that is what goes on at the Mass. All grace flows from the Mass. It is Christ s sacrifice. He s offering Himself, rendering perfect worship to God of adoration, of thanks of impetration, of reparation on our behalf, so that all grace can flow down into this world. And so it s the source and summit of our life. Looking at that definition, how many people, how many Catholics even if they ve received a lot of Catholic education could explain that to us about the Mass? Right away, you see that the Mass is wholly theocentric. It is completely focused on God. First, it is the sacrifice of Christ. The Fatima Crusader Summer CR119 Book.indb 61

7 Second, Christ is, ultimately, offering it to the Triune God. In many ways, we could say it has very little to do with us. By God s grace and mercy we re invited to participate, but we re not the primary actors. We are not necessary. It s not as if the Mass is the work of the community which some people go around saying these days. That is not what it is. It is the work of Christ. It s all about God, centered on Him. You can also see how the four acts of worship relate to the Angel s prayer. Hope, believe, adore, love all of that is what the Mass is about and that is what we ll go through right now. It is also because it s the action of Christ that it needs to be governed by objective principles. What do we mean by objective principles? We mean that they are independent of us. They don t depend on one s personal feelings, experience, or opinion they are supposed to be objective principles; you could say universal. We could also go more in depth on how they need to be eternal and unchanging and stable and don t depend on you or me or the priest, or the country or century. Why must objective principles guide the Mass? Well, because it s the work of Christ. It s the work of God, ultimately, and it s centered on God. So, if you just know that part that it s got to be theocentric you will quickly realize that all this subjectivism, all this changing from place to place, is not right. Something is gravely amiss there. How can it really be about God and focused on God and be the action of God if every man can change or adapt it? Objective unchanging principles are necessary for man to believe it is Christ s work. But let s stick with our connection of the Mass to Fatima. That first part, I adore. So, at Mass we have to render to God due worship, that is, latria. Please make sure that every time you go to Mass you adore God. Spend some time praying: God, I adore Thee. I adore Thee because Thou art my God, because I came from Thee and must return to Thee. If you re going to Mass and you re not spending time adoring Him, something is really wrong. So, please make sure that you do adore Him. We ve got to adore God! And, of course, the Mass itself should be very conducive to our adoring Him. Order David Rodriguez s entire catechetical workshop on the Mass of All Time. See page The Fatima Crusader Summer 2017 CR119 Book.indb 62