Sermon for the 18th Sunday after Pentecost, September 26th, 2021 – Holy Mass, bis (2)

 

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen

My dearly beloved in Our Lord,

Last Sunday we have started to meditate on the teachings of the Holy Council of Trent about the Sacrifice of the Mass. We have gone over the chapters on the institution of the Mass and its propitiatory end.

In the following chapter it is explained how the Mass is offered in honor of the Saints:

„CHAPTER III.

On Masses in honour of the Saints.

And although the Church has been accustomed at times to celebrate, certain masses in honour and memory of the saints; not therefore, however, doth she teach that sacrifice is offered unto them, but unto God alone, who crowned them; whence neither is the priest wont to say, "I offer sacrifice to thee, Peter, or Paul;" but, giving thanks to God for their victories, he implores their patronage, that they may vouchsafe to intercede for us in heaven, whose memory we celebrate upon earth.“

It is stated very clearly that the Mass can only be offered to God because He is the allmighty Creator to whom alone adoration is due. This is the constant teaching of the Church. It does not exclude, though, that the Holy Sacrifice be offered in honor of the Saints, who are our intercessors with Christ. Christ alone is the mediator with the Father.

The next chapter is short and very important.

„CHAPTER IV

On the Canon of the Mass.

And whereas it beseemeth, that holy things be administered in a holy manner, and of all holy things this sacrifice is the most holy; to the end that it might be worthily and reverently offered and received, the Catholic Church instituted, many years ago, the sacred Canon, so pure from every error, that nothing is contained therein which does not in the highest degree savour of a certain holiness and piety, and raise up unto God the minds of those that offer. For it is composed, out of the very words of the Lord, the traditions of the apostles, and the pious institutions also of holy pontiffs.“

Not only, then, is the Canon – the part of Mass between Sanctus and Communion – of the Roman rite free from error; it also reflects in a particular manner the sanctity and piety of the Church. Here we find a most striking difference with the “new Mass” which is entirely centered on man’s earthly existence. It has no power and no intention to “raise up unto God the minds of those that offer”.

“CHAPTER V

On the solemn ceremonies of the Sacrifice of the Mass.

And whereas such is the nature of man, that, without external helps, he cannot easily be raised to the meditation of divine things; therefore has holy Mother Church instituted certain rites, to wit that certain things be pronounced in the mass in a low, and others in a louder, tone. She has likewise employed ceremonies, such as mystic benedictions, lights, incense, vestments, and many other things of this kind, derived from an apostolical discipline and tradition, whereby both the majesty of so great a sacrifice might be recommended, and the minds of the faithful be excited, by those visible signs of religion and piety, to the contemplation of those most sublime things which are hidden in this

sacrifice.”

The use of sensible objects, ceremonies and customs in the liturgy of the Church militant are grounded in human nature. What do we mean by that? Man is a composite of body and soul. The God-given and individually created spiritual soul is the essential form of the human being. The body without the soul is a corpse or a carcass, not a living or functioning human being, its essential form being that of a corpse separated from the spiritual soul.

The material, bodily element of human nature requires the use of sensible objects and gestures, as the Council explains and teaches.

It should be remarked here that during the Council two books were laid out for consultation: Holy Scripture, i.e. the Vulgate edition; and the Theological Sum by St Thomas Aquinas. The Angelic or Common Doctor, as the Church calls him, embodies the flourishing of Catholic Philosophy and Theology. One of the fundamental insights is that of hylemorphism, the fact that all things created are composed of materia and form.

The following chapter shows again how the makers of the Montini Mass have followed in the footsteps of the “Reformators”.

“CHAPTER VI.

On Mass wherein the priest alone communicates.

The sacred and holy Synod would fain indeed that, at each mass, the faithful who are present should communicate, not only in spiritual desire, but also by the sacramental participation of the Eucharist, that thereby a more abundant fruit might be derived to them from this most holy sacrifice: but not therefore, if this be not always done, does It condemn, as private and unlawful, but approves of and therefore commends, those masses in which the priest alone communicates sacramentally; since those masses also ought to be considered as truly common; partly because the people communicate spiritually thereat; partly also because they are celebrated by a public minister of the Church, not for himself only, but for all the faithful, who belong to the body of Christ.”

Very early the Popes have ordered that the faithful should receive Holy Communion at Mass, and many Councils have repeated this order and wish. The Council of Trent insists that the faithful who for some reason are kept from receiving Our Lord sacramentally, make a spiritual communion. It also declares that, and how the Mass is always public, official worship, even if the priest celebrates Mass behind closed doors.

When the “missa normativa” drafted by Bugnini was performed in front of the competent body of prelates on October 24, 1967, the Superior of a monastic Order asked how such a celebration could be imagined in the case of low Masses in a monastery. The answer was astonishing and bewildering: They had not thought about it… The nonsensual concelebration has indeed for the greater part done away with the individual celebration of Mass. It needs to be said that theologically it is not even clear whether a concelebration is one single Mass, or as many Masses as concelebrating priests! But this question is of no interst to the “moderns” because their understanding of Mass has totally changed.

Again I ask you to re-read the texts of the Council of Trent carefully so that you understand them well. They should give you many points for reflection and prayer: “Doctrina cum pietate”.

May Our Blessed Lady obtain for us, and preserve in us fidelity to the true, unchanged Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Altough not a priest, she offered Christ, her Son, in a very special manner to the Father. May she bring forth in us the right attitude towards the Mass so that we may participate in its fruit more and more.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

P. Arnold Trauner (paterarnold@hotmail.com), njemački i engleski

Sermon for the 17thSunday after Pentecost, September 19th, 2021 – Holy Mass, bis

 

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen

 

My dearly beloved in Our Lord,

 

Pope St Pius X, whose feast we have celebrated at the beginning of September, said that if the liturgy, the cult through which God is officially honored by, the Church, is not understood by the faithful, it will become fruitless sentimentality.

This is unfortunately the state of affairs which we now find ourselves in. The doctrinal and ascetic content of the liturgy, foremost of the Holy Mass, has become a book with seven seals for most.

Therefore I want to start giving you not only the sentiment of the Church about what is most sacred to her, but the doctrine in her own words, with just minimal comments.

The Holy Council of Trent issued its decree on the doctrine of the Sacrifice of the Mass on September 17, 1562, shortly before the closing of the Council after 17 years:

“The sacred and holy, ecumenical and general Synod of Trent – lawfully assembled in the Holy Ghost, the same Legates of the Apostolic Sec presiding therein – to the end that the ancient, complete, and in every part perfect faith and doctrine touching the great mystery of the Eucharist may be retained in the holy Catholic Church; and may, all errors and heresies being repelled, be preserved in its own purity; (the Synod) instructed by the illumination of the Holy Ghost, teaches, declares; and decrees what follows, to be preached to the faithful, on the subject of the Eucharist, considered as being a true and singular sacrifice.”

Just as the “pastoral” and wish-washy language of “Vatican2” is soul-emptying, the language of the Catholic magisterium is solemn and enlightening in the true sense of the term! The authority of the Council is established, and its purpose clearly defined. Where there is no hatred for heresy and error, there is no love of the Truth! Roncalli’s (John XXIII) and Montini’s (Paul VI) declared intention of Vatican2 not condemning anyone or anything, would have made them suspect of heresy if they had not already been classified as such by the Holy Office earlier on, long before they occupied the See of Peter…

 

“CHAPTER I.

On the institution of the most holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

 

Forasmuch as, under the former Testament, according to the testimony of the Apostle

Paul, there was no perfection, because of the weakness of the Levitical priesthood; there

was need, God, the Father of mercies, so ordaining, that another priest should rise,

according to the order of Melchisedech, our Lord Jesus Christ, who might consummate,

and lead to what is perfect, as many as were to be sanctified. He, therefore, our God and

Lord, though He was about to offer Himself once on the altar of the cross unto God the

Father, by means of his death, there to operate an eternal redemption; nevertheless,

because that His priesthood was not to be extinguished by His death, in the last supper,

on the night in which He was betrayed, - that He might leave, to His own beloved Spouse the

Church, a visible sacrifice, such as the nature of man requires, whereby that bloody

sacrifice, once to be accomplished on the cross, might be represented, and the memory

thereof remain even unto the end of the world, and its salutary virtue be applied to the

remission of those sins which we daily commit, - declaring Himself constituted a priest for

ever, according to the order of Melchisedech, He offered up to God the Father His own

body and blood under the species of bread and wine; and, under the symbols of those

same things, He delivered (His own body and blood) to be received by His apostles,

whom He then constituted priests of the New Testament; and by those words, Do this in

commemoration of me, He commanded them and their successors in the priesthood, to

offer (them); even as the Catholic Church has always understood and taught. For, having

celebrated the ancient Passover, which the multitude of the children of Israel immolated

in memory of their going out of Egypt, He instituted the new Passover, (to

wit) Himself to be immolated, under visible signs, by the Church through (the ministry of)

priests, in memory of His own passage from this world unto the Father, when by the

effusion of His own blood He redeemed us, and delivered us from the power of darkness,

and translated us into his kingdom. And this is indeed that clean oblation, which cannot

be defiled by any unworthiness, or malice of those that offer (it); which the Lord foretold

by Malachias was to be offered in every place, clean to his name, which was to be great

amongst the Gentiles; and which the apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthians, has not

obscurely indicated, when he says, that they who are defiled by the participation of the

table of devils, cannot be partakers of the table of the Lord; by the table, meaning in both

places the altar. This, in fine, is that oblation which was prefigured by various types of

sacrifices, during the period of nature, and of the law; in as much as it comprises all the

good things signified by those sacrifices, as being the consummation and perfection of

them all.”

Many points of the doctrine here exposed, are further illustrated and explained either in the teaching of the same Council about the Holy Eucharist (Session XIII, Oct. 11, 1551) and about Communion under both species, and for little children (Session XXI, July 16, 1562) and a little later in the Roman Catechism, the Catechism of the Council of Trent, published under Pope St Pius V in 1566.

It is very much worth going through this magisterial text, passage by passage, in order to interiorize it and to make sure that you properly understand what the Church teaches! It is also worth procuring yourself a “good, old” book edition which contains the many scriptural references in the doctrinal text.

 

“CHAPTER II.

That the Sacrifice of the Mass is propitiatory both for the living and the dead.

 

And forasmuch as, in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the mass, that 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 means thereof this is effected, that we obtain mercy, and 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. The fruits indeed of which oblation, of that bloody one to wit, are

received most plentifully through this unbloody one; so far is this (latter) from derogating

in any way from that (former oblation). Wherefore, not only for the sins, punishments,

satisfactions, and other necessities of the faithful who are living, but also for those who

are departed in Christ, and who are not as yet fully purified, is it rightly offered, agreeably

to a tradition of the apostles.”

This chapter is eminently important, therefore you should try to read and understand it very well.

The identity of the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross and of Holy Mass is clearly established: “the victim is one and the same (…) the manner alone of offering being different”, ie. the one bloody offering on the Cross, and the offering in an unbloody manner at Mass.

And the propitiatory purpose of the Mass is clearly taught against Luther and all those who follow him, including the Montini rite of Mass which has purged practically all passages to that effect; and which supports heterodox views about Purgatory because it refuses to use the term “soul” when speaking of the dead!

Let us be “careful to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace”, as the Church exhorts us with the words of St Paul (Epistle). Let us be certain that we understand that this unity in charity must be founded on the rock of the one and only Truth: “One Lord, one faith, one baptism” (ibid.). Let us not tempt Our Lord by inquiring out of vain curiosity, as a doctor of the law does in today’s Gospel, but let us “do the truth in charity”, as St Paul exhorts us in the same chapter (Eph 4:15)

 

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

P. Arnold Trauner (paterarnold@hotmail.com), njemački i engleski

Sermon for the 16thSunday after Pentecost, September 12th, 2021 – Holy Mass

 

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen

 

My dearly beloved in Our Lord,

 

Bergoglio’s recent Motu proprio “Traditionis custodes” is giving ample occasion to conservatives and traditionalists to defend the “old Mass”.

In doing so they are playing Bergoglio’s game, which is that of typical modern dialectics. (From conflicting or even contradictory premises a new reality shall emanate: thesis vs antithesis → synthesis.)We find the same plan in Ratzinger’s “Summorum Pontificum” (2007) and the accompanying letter, where he states that the two legitimate forms of the Roman rite should fertilize each other. Ratzinger’s brainchild has always been “the reform of the reform”, which corresponds to another modern idea, that of permanent change, struggle and revolution, postulated to be identical with “progress”.

Conservatives, including SSPX, are like army generals who are busy with an eternal discussion about which part of the enemy army to attack: the infantry or the artillery? Which part of their own army to utilize or to strengthen: tanks, ships, missiles, bows and arrows…? While doing so they do not realize that they are losing the war because they cannot make up their minds as to what is what and as to what to do.

The battle line is not to know or decide whether one rite or the other is better, nicer, more appealing; whether or not to openly attack the other rite or to push on with you own agenda. The battle line is the decision whether or not the rite approved by Montini is a Catholic rite, a rite of the Church, or not; whether it is valid or not.

By all standards of Catholic Sacramental theology, Montini’s rite is not valid, intrinsically. I have explained this and will explain it often still – but not here and now.

Conservatives and traditionalists who have no clear stance on the question of the invalidity of the “new” Mass promulgated by Montini (Paul VI) on April 3^rd, 1969, are now being dealt with by Bergoglio in the most cynical manner possible (in an astounding parallel to what is happening in politics and society). He declares that the local ordinaries, the diocesan bishops, are the custodians of Tradition. Take that, “traditionalists”! The cynicism resides in the fact that in ordinary circumstances this is absolutely true: You are a Catholic because, among other criteria, you are in communion with your local ordinary and through him with the Pope. Only: the Church is not living and operating in normal circumstances because she is deprived of her visible head, a true Vicar of Christ, a Pope (formally speaking) and also of her jurisdictional hierarchy altogether (but not of her sacramental hierarchy of bishops, priests etc.).

Based on his true/false premise, Bergoglio decides, contrary to his predecessor Ratzinger (the deus ex machina for many conservatives, a pope-to-the-rescue), that the utmost restrictions must be placed on the celebration of the “old” rite. As some analysts have put it, he is turning the Tridentine Mass into a museum piece.

Those who have no clear cut stance on the question of the Authority in the Church in the present day, have no real means to fight off Bergoglio’s logic. SSPX in particular are writing and screaming; while making it clear to anyone who has eyes to see, that they are in full communion with Bergoglio, minus the official signature and stamp. (Here in Austria they have acquired one of the oldest churches in the heart of Vienna in May. It has been purportedly donated to them by the Italian congregation which used that church. Small presents maintain a friendship, as we say: “Kleine Geschenke erhalten die Freundschaft.”)

 

Let us let the dead bury their dead, as Our Lord says (cf Mt 8:22; Lk 9:60), and follow him instead of exhausting our little forces in entrenched battles that hold no promise of success!

Our situation is precarious because our numbers are small; the number of priests offering the true and unchanged Mass is even smaller; the number of such priests refusing any compromise with adulterated and viciated celebrations, especially through the “una cum”, the mentioning of Bergoglio/Francis in the Canon of the Mass, is even smaller. The greater number of traditionalist priests fool themselves and the faithful by a laxist pastoral attitude in this regard, and in many other regards.

Again, parallel to the disintegration of society which demands a constant inner effort of vigilance and refocusing on that which is essential, the noxious environment in many traditionalist circles is a constant threat to the integrity of our mind, and of our Faith. As in the body gangrene mostly starts from something small and unimportant, but which has been neglected, so in the spiritual life unnoticeable decline or degradation precedes total demise! “Nemo repente fit pessimus. - No one becomes all-bad suddenly.”

In the congregations which demand my priestly assistance, there are small but clear signs of decline and deterioration:

The priest does not look at the congregation during Holy Mass; this is very strictly forbidden by the rubrics of the Missal. But sounds remain perceptible, and thus I notice that regularly people sit themselves right after having received Holy Communion. There is no reasonable logic or explanation for this since they will be back on their knees as soon as the priest says the Communio and Postcommunio! So why on earth would anyone even contemplate sitting down right after having received Our Lord’s Body in the Holy Eucharist? If you are that tired, you should be in your bed, not in the chapel! Objectively it is an outrage; subjectively a total lack of comprehension of the reality of communion. It is like saying: “Ah, Jesus, you are there? That’s nice. Have a good time! I’m resting… I’m tired. Hope you understand.”

Those who have come from the “new” Mass are easier to excuse; but still, they need to catch up quickly with the realities and exigencies of the Catholic life. They do not realize how important it is to kneel and to objectivate their attitude and behavior. Again and again there are people who stand during parts of a low Mass, and even during the priest’s blessing.

Another alarming fact which I have witnessed in different locations over the past months, is the fact that there is a good number of young men who start attending Mass. But it does not come to their mind that they could and should learn how to serve Mass. Even if you do not regularly serve Mass (because there are altar boys already), as a Catholic teenager or young man you should know at least the basics of serving: giving the responses, ringing the bell, assisting the priest at the Offertory and after Communion. It is not normal that the priest needs to give the responses and serve himself at the altar. He can do it; but it should be the last resort. Not practicing the “dialogue Mass” does not mean that you cannot or should not learn to give the responses, and know how to accurately ring the bell – even the girls and ladies. Sometimes there is no one else at Mass, and then you are called to represent the Church during this particular celebration of Mass.

St Pius X said that in his day and age, the greater number of Catholics must be numbered among the ignorant with regards to the truths of the Faith. What would he say or write now?… Certainly you do not need to know everything, or become an erudite scholar of Mass or its rubrics. But it remains true that one cannot love what he does not know! Making the effort of knowing at least the basics of the inner works of Holy Mass will open wide your horizon of praying at Mass, instead of just enduring it… which is the great danger and menace, at least for the next generation.

Let us ask Our Lady, whose most holy Name we celebrate today. She has snatched us from the peril of muslim invasion on that day (Vienna, 1683)! May she also protect our Faith, and guide us through the perils of the present exhausting battles!

 

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

 

P. Arnold Trauner (paterarnold@hotmail.com), njemački i engleski