Sermon for the 19th Sunday after Pentecost, October 3rd, 2021 – Holy Mass (3)

 

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

My dearly beloved in Our Lord,

Today we shall have a look at the last doctrinal chapters in which the Holy Council of Trent teaches about the Sacrifice of the Mass. Next Sunday we will then look at the Canons or condemnations by which the Council condemns the errors opposed to the true doctrine and to divine revelation.

CHAPTER VII.

On the water that is to be mixed with the wine to be offered in the chalice.

The holy Synod notices, in the next place, that it has been enjoined by the Church on priests, to mix water with the wine that is to be offered in the chalice; as well because it is believed that Christ the Lord did this, as also because from His side there came out blood and water; the memory of which mystery is renewed by this commixture; and, whereas in the apocalypse of blessed John, the peoples are called waters, the union of that faithful people with Christ their head is hereby represented.

Usually the faithful will simply overlook this action by which the priest adds a small quantity of water to the wine at the Offertory. The altar servers notice it, but probably have little idea about the importance and meaning of this ceremony.

It is entirely certain that Our Lord has prepared the chalice by adding water to the wine. There is a simple natural reason for this. In ancient times wine needed to have a strong alcohol content in order to be able to be stored in warmer countries. To drink that wine, it was always diluted with water!

The coming forth of blood and water from Christ’s pierced side has always been interpreted by the Church in several ways. Foremost it signifies the supernatural efficacy of the Church.

The priest pours wine into the chalice without a prayer. But he blesses the water before adding a few drops of it to the wine. While he does this, he says an old Christmas collect:

“O God, who, in creating human nature, didst wonderfully dignify it, and still more wonderfully restore it, grant that, by the Mystery of this water and wine, we may be made partakers of His divine nature, who vouchsafed to be made partaker of our human nature, even Jesus Christ our Lord, Thy Son…”

Thus the Council teaches that the mixing of wine and water represents the union of the faithful people to Christ, the head.

Human nature had been wonderfully dignified when created by God. But through its fall into sin, man has lost his God-given dignity. The restoration of man’s dignity through the grace of Redemption, though, is more wonderful still than the original grace given to Adam. This dignity only exists in those who are indeed united with Christ through the effective participation in the Redemption. Only then can we speak of human dignity in a meaningful way!

The ultimate doctrinal chapter deals with the question of the use of the vernacular language.

CHAPTER VIII.

On not celebrating the Mass every where in the vulgar tongue; the mysteries of the Mass

to be explained to the people.

Although the mass contains great instruction for the faithful people, nevertheless, it has not seemed expedient to the Fathers, that it should be every where celebrated in the vulgar tongue. Wherefore, the ancient usage of each church, and the rite approved of by the holy Roman Church, the mother and mistress of all churches, being in each place retained; and, that the sheep of Christ may not suffer hunger, nor the little ones ask for bread, and there be none to break it unto them, the holy Synod charges pastors, and all who have the cure of souls, that they frequently, during the celebration of mass, expound either by themselves, or others, some portion of those things which are read at mass, and that, amongst the rest, they explain some mystery of this most holy sacrifice, especially on the Lord's days and festivals.

The Church’s magisterium rejects all false and artificial opposition which is so dear to modern dialectics. In ch. VI it was taught that while the faithful attending Mass ought to fully participate by receiving Holy Communion; nevertheless a Mass where only the priest communicates is not to be condemned. Here the Council says that the Mass also serves the purpose of teaching the Christian people; nevertheless this does not mean that the Mass needs to be celebrated in the vernacular tongue.

The Council insists, though, that the faithful be taught about the meaning and the sense of the Sacrifice of Mass, its prayers and ceremonies. St Pius X. has taken up this point, as I have said at the beginning of this series of sermons.

We have an indirect confirmation of the prudence of this teaching when we look at the schismatic and heretical eastern rites, the “Orthodox”. There, just as among the Protestants and the modernists, but for different reasons, the divine service has degraded into sentimentality. The “Orthodox” do not teach about the meaning of the holy rites.

Thus the ones are living in an unhealthy and ignorant mysticism, while the others have “de-mystified” the sacred things.

Sts Cyril and Methodius had to defend themselves twice in Rome because they were using the vernacular in their mission among the Slavic peoples. The first time they convinced the Pope that this was necessary for these savage peoples’ successful conversion. The second time the Pope confirmed their usage and custom. - Meanwhile the vernacular of those times has become the old Slavic sacred language, while different and divergent Slavic languages have developed from it.

In the Latin Rite it had been similar, a few centuries earlier. At first Greek, then Latin have been both vernacular and liturgical languages at the time of the Apostles. Then Latin has developed into different languages and dialects. In the Christian liturgy Latin has remained unchanged and is still used as the sacred language.

In the “modern age” Holy Church judges, at the Council of Trent, that there is no good reason to start using the vernacular in the liturgy. There are a good number of reasons for this which we need not develop here and now. Over 50 years after the use of the vernacular in the Latin liturgy it is easy to see that this has by no means led to a better level of instruction of the laity. It has brought about the profanation of the liturgy, on the contrary.

The brief exposition of the doctrine of Trent on the Holy Sacrifice of Mass should have made it clear to everyone that there is a lot to know and to consider about the Mass and the liturgy. The nine Canons or Anathemata which we shall expose coming Sunday, will make this clearer still.

The authors of the preface to the “Short critical examination of the novus ordo missae”, Cardinals Ottaviani and Bacci, write that “the Novus Ordo represents, both as a whole and in its details, a striking departure from the Catholic theology of the Mass as it was formulated in Session XXII of the Council of Trent”.

The spirit of the “new Mass”, which is but the often invoked spirit of Vatican2, threatens even the Traditionalists. J. Ratzinger-Benedict XVI’ and Bergoglio-Francis’ motu proprios about the celebration of the “old” Mass make this abundantly clear. They insist on the mixing of both rites. But every mixing of good and evil is something evil, any addition of error to the truth constitutes a new error. Every one of you needs to know the enemy reasonably well in order not to be defeated by him!

Let us ask Our Blessed Lady, Mary ever Virgin, that she may obtain for us and preserve in us, a great love for the truth and for the true Holy Sacrifice of Mass!

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