Just a few unexpected phenomena (including videos I came across) that have been schooling me to check that long-held arrogance about the New Mass. And those (hideous or dull) modern church buildings.
Specifically, regarding the new liturgical form being less valuable spiritually than my much-preferred Traditional Latin Mass (TLM, aka ‘Tridentine Mass’).
It is true that the TLM is an objectively more beautiful and solemn Mass than the much more common, simplified rite—the New Mass, or Novus Ordo Missae (NOM), introduced by Pope Paul VI in 1969.
And yet—do we dismiss the NOM out of hand and dare assert that Jesus Christ cannot be present as often (if at all) in the NOM as opposed to the TLM?
VIDEO 1
The video is set to start at the point where Wiccan-to-Catholic convert Nora Jensen describes her first experience of a Catholic Mass with her then-boyfriend (now-husband), Dane.
Of note is that particular part of the New Mass that she talks about at time stamp 23:40.
I will confess that I’ve disliked this part of the NOM for the longest time, feeling it disruptive to the flow of the Mass. I have even wished it were gone already from all forms of the liturgical rite … but I’ve now softened my stance against it, having felt in a kind of spiritual epiphany its value while assisting at a recent Mass.
And then, I hear this testimony from Nora.
Very “odd timing,” I’d say! (God’s timing.)
(Of course, it’s nothing earthshaking—I know.)
VIDEO 2
And then, there was this other video, too, that I stumbled upon over a month ago during Lent.
It’s the testimony of an anti-Catholic woman whose conversion begins with an unusual experience during her very first Catholic Mass—a New Mass that is held in a thoroughly modern (read: unbeautiful, barren) Catholic church structure (she shares pics of the actual building in the video).
And then it happens again in yet another, different Catholic church she visits after that first one on that same Sunday.
(Note that I cannot argue with her unflattering comments about the dress and behavior of some of the Mass attendees, though.)
The video is set to start playing at the point in which the poster recalls her first visit to a (dreaded) Catholic church.
“There’s NO WAY I’m going to become Catholic!”
By the way, I’ve heard this feeling of “a strong presence” in a Catholic church mentioned by many converts in their journey across the Tiber to Rome.
So, just another humbling series of discoveries for this sinner….
Thanks as always for your intrepid reporting. Unfortunately, my enthusiasm is such that I have decided to comment ahead of watching these videos as I am concerned to chime-in before too much time elapses and I fear that I won't get to the videos in a timely manner.
While the New Order mass may have been well-intentioned, and may have made the mass accessible to more people, it also may have diluted, or in other ways altered, its intention.
Among differences between the New Order mass and that of the traditional rites (the Tridentine (Roman or Latin rite) and other rites (the Dominican and Ambrosian are two that come to mind)), is that the New Order mass reconfigures the relationship of the priests to the laity and also, potentially, to God. One of the deleterious effects of this reform is that the priest (and by extension, his Parrish) is no longer focused on issuing a sacrifice to God.
With back turned to the tabernacle, the priest commemorates the last supper. This memorial is different from making an oblation to God at the altar. It strikes at the heart of a matter that your friend who is devoted to adoration would understand: the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. This is a pivotal issue, one that is essential to and that distinguishes the Catholic faith from Protestant sects.
It may be less a question of whether the mass is valid than of whether it is undermining faith in the real presence of God.
There is no doubt about transubstantiation and no place for Eucharistic ministers in traditional Catholicism. The priests hands are sanctified expressly to touch the host and to confer other sacraments and blessings (and exorcisms, as you mentioned in another commentary).
Yet even in Novus Ordo churches in which the communion host is received by hand, there can be found deep faith. On Divine Mercy Sunday I saw some people awkwardly walking backwards out of a New Order church lest they turn their backs on Christ. That was lovely. For every act of reverence such as that, one wonders how many people walk past the tabernacle without genuflecting.
The New Order mass is considered by some as part of a broader program to redistribute the power and authority once held by the clergy and to render the laity nearly on par with the priests. This is not the design of Christ the King and High Priest, nor that of the apostles, the first Bishops.
Last week, we acknowledged the martyrdom of St. Hermenegild. He was killed for refusing to receive communion from an Arian priest. Today, there are Catholic priests who openly portray Christ not as the God--Man that He was but merely as a man: a prophet or social worker (social justice worker). Even the conception of Christ as our loving and merciful brother is misguided insofar as it strips Him of His majesty. While we may love Him (and He us), it is a mistake to conceive of Christ as our pal; He is our Lord...