Sermon for the 22ndSunday after Pentecost, October 24th, 2021 – true restoration (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 tried to establish the lines along which the true restoration of all things in Christ can and must happen.

(1) We always need to have before our eyes the end for which we have been created.

(2) God is in charge, not we ourselves. Our human pride and self-will are obstacles, not adequate means of bringing all things back to Christ. God will do His work, with or without us. He can raise children of Abraham from stones…

 

The Greek word which St Paul uses for “restoring” all things in Christ is “anakephalaiosasthai”. It means “to sum up”, “to bring back to the head” which is Christ.

Right away, then, we see the idea and the implications of the hierarchical order. There is no order without hierarchy. That which is higher needs to be placedat the top, that which is lower needs to be below. Christ is the head, we are the members of his mystical body.

We find this idea or principle of order and hierarchy very difficult. It means that our inborn pride makes us choose the first place, the noblest seat at the banquet. But God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. You can be of very humble origins and destined for the highest charges – like Joseph Sarto who ended up being Pope St Pius X. Or it can be the other way round, think of St Aloysius of Gonzaga who was destined by birth to be a princely ruler, but who gave up his birth-right, went to the Jesuits and died even before he was ordained to the priesthood.

God’s ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. In the present situation of the Church where she has been without a visible head, a Pope, formally speaking, since several decades, the speed with which all order falls to pieces is becoming greater and greater. The same principles which are playing out in the politico-sanitary chaos these days, make it that chaos and anarchy seem to be our lot now as members of the Church militant.

We have said last Sunday that a true restoration therefore does not consist in the attempt to re-establish some kind of Catholic life, ancient or recent. Most “traditionalists” have been, and are misled by this kind of concept or idea.

It is not enough to produce priests who distribute the Sacraments and blessings indiscriminately! Exchanging quality for quantity is never a good idea. “But we cannot survive without the Mass, without Confession…” [Believe me: Most of those who have regular and easy access to the priest, to the Sacraments, live very poorly! “Quotidiana vilescunt – daily things become vile.” Humans are creatures of habits, as we say (“Der Mensch ist ein Gewohnheitstier.”). Therefore it takes a constant effort not to succumb to the devastating effects of routine.] The Church has given clear rules, based on her teaching, practice and experience, with regards to the training of priests. They cannot be laid aside or forgone without serious consequences. In all other aspects of the life of the Church it is the same. Before we seek to know what to do, we need to scrutinize what the Church thinks and teaches.

Here also it is true that there should be no panic, but for the general “traditionalist” crowd this has no importance. The Church and the salvation of souls is God’s work primarily, not ours. We need to co-operate, and not to pretend to be the principal actors. Those who think they have to solve the crisis in the Church, and who are skipping stages to get there, are doing themselves and others no good.

The simple reason for this is: This situation is unprecedented, and God has not, so far, given us the means to solve such a problem.

There is a consistent theological explanation of what this situation means and what it entails, the Cassiciacum thesis of Bp Guérard des Lauriers. But since most people cannot read or think, they jump to conclusions and believe that Bp Guérard is pretending to give a solution which in their eyes is wrong. He explicitly states and writes otherwise! But they insist that the thesis says and means that the occupant of the See of Peter will convert, that then he will be ipso facto the Pope, and that this is the only solution possible. Nothing is further from the truth.

Those who pretended and pretend that a conclave is the solution have been proven wrong many times. They are wrong in principle because how would they even justify that those gathering – be they bishops of the sacramental order – have a valid legal title to be electors? Let them show a divinely signed patent or brief! They have been proven wrong in fact because their attempts have resulted in a good dozen of pretended “popes” over four decades. They have accidentally done a lot to discredit the position which holds that there is no Pope. But since they do not worry about theology, but rather about distributing Sacraments indiscriminately, they do not even realize that they torpedo the foundations of their own house. There is some distance between survivalism and trying to survive in difficult circumstances.

Those who act as if it were enough to ordain priests without having given them ground solid training and formation, are wrong in principle because the Church has clearly indicated the way to be followed. The Council of Trent in particular has established a framework which has allowed the Church to operate well throughout the troubled “modern” times. To pretend that the era of Trent is now revolved (I can give you the name and address of a priest who has affirmed this to me repeatedly…) means that you are half-way at least into modernism. They are wrong in practice because such priests can only cause pity. Often enough they act like the French “working priests” of the 1950s and 1960s who pretended that by living and working among the godless crowd, they would be able to convince souls of the truth. I am not saying that they are working priests – although such ones do exist – but that they lack the basic insight and understanding of what the priest is and always will be, and what he has to do. That our times are more deeply disturbed than before does not, and cannot change the order which God has laid down for the Church, the ark of salvation!

So where is the solution? Who will operate a true restoration of all things in Christ?

Only Christ is able to do so, as has been the case all throughout the history of the Church. He uses the means he chooses. They are human instruments, like the Emperor Sigismund who through prudent diplomacy and sometimes with pressure opened the way for the election of one Pope replacing the three existing claimants, thus ending the great western schism. At other times Christ used miraculous or quasi-miraculous events to restore peace and order in the Church. He made known to St Catherine of Sienna a secret vow which the Pope in Avignon had made to return to Rome. She therefore pressured the Pope to fulfill his vow, and thus the scandal of the Popes residing outside Rome for decades ended.

We should have no doubt that Christ knows what he is doing. “He hath chastised us for our iniquities: and he will save us for his own mercy.” (Tob 13:5) “Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous…” “Be not therefore solicitous for tomorrow; for the morrow will be solicitous for itself. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.” (Mt 6:25.34) Our solicitude stems from the little trust we have in Christ’s promise. The Church founded by him is the New and everlasting Alliance in His Precious Blood. It is very simple. And it is very stupid of us not to believe wholeheartedly in this extraordinary divine promise!

Today is the “Mission Sunday”. The Church prays that the divine Master may send more workers for bringing in his harvest. Let us humbly make our contribution towards this unchanging goal and necessity.

Next Sunday, which will be the feast of Christ the King, we shall make a few concluding remarks to this brief series of sermons on true restoration of all things in Christ.

 

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 21st Sunday after Pentecost, October 17th, 2021 – true restoration

 

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

 

My dearly beloved in Our Lord,

 

In today’s Gospel we have heard the terrible story, a parable of a servant whose huge debt is canceled. That same servant is unwilling to cancel his fellow servant’s small debt.

Today we also commemorate Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque. She has been the instrument chosen by Our Lord to establish devotion to his Sacred Heart in the Church, firmly and universally. She has had to pay a dire price for obeying Our Lord. Her life was similar to that of all Saints, and also to that of true mystics to whom Our Lord grants great favors. To Bernadette Soubirous, the seer of Lourdes, Our Lady said: “I do not promise you a happy life on earth, but I promise you eternal glory in Heaven.”

During these last Sundays of the liturgical year, the Church directs our thoughts, prayers and meditations to the last things, the last ends: death, judgment, Hell, Purgatory and Heaven.

“In all thy works remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin.” (Sir 7:40) The consideration of the end of our life also means that we must consider its goal. Either we accomplish that for which God has made and created us, or we fail. If we succeed, we will spend eternity participating in divine bliss, seeing God face to face. If we fail, we will continue to exist, but in the most miserable of conditions, being definitely excluded from seeing God and even from any possibility of ever seeing Him.

The consideration of the goal of our life also means that we must draw conclusions for how we lead our life here on earth, “in this valley of tears” (Salve, Regina). The tears are many, necessarily, because the earthly paradise, the garden of Eden with the tree of life has been lost and will not come back. With it the ease and facility to make our way to Heaven have been lost. We are left, luckily not to our own devices, but to an arduous and tearful journey.

St Paul speaks of re-establishing all things in Christ (Eph 1:10), and the last canonized Pope, Pius X, had chosen these words for his episcopal motto: “Omnia instaurare in Christo”.

True Catholics today must busy themselves with participating in this true restoration of all things in Christ. Certainly the restoration of all things in Christ will only be definitively accomplished with and after Christ’s last coming to judge the living and the dead. Still, we are not meant to sit back and relax while waiting for it to happen – be it only because it just might not happen while we are alive. “Man liegt, wie man sich bettet.” – “You sleep according to how you have made your bed.” One dies as one has lived. We need to practice the “ars moriendi – the art of dying”, as the Christian ages have put it. We must live virtuously, imitating Our Lord and living from his redeeming grace.

True restoration therefore does not consist in the attempt to re-establish some kind of Catholic life, ancient or recent. Most “traditionalists” have been, and are misled by this kind of concept or idea.

“We must live like the Apostles, or the early Christians.” Well – start breeding lions for the arena…

“I would have liked to live in the Middle Ages.” Fine – get rid of electricity, of your car, of the 100.000 other things which you find so pleasant, then we shall talk about it…

“All was well in the Church under Pope Pius XII.” He himself would have told you otherwise… Vatican2 did not fall out of the sky on a blue morning (except maybe in the mind of Roncalli).

Only last Sunday St Paul has told us: “See therefore, brethren, how you walk circumspectly: not as unwise, but as wise: redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” (Eph 5:15-16) He was not speaking about the coronavirus and the great reset, to be sure. He knew and wrote that “the days are evil”. They are evil because the evil of sin, of disobeying God, is in us as a consequence of sin, both original and personal. That evil does not go away for as long as we live. In another place the same Apostle writes: “I so fight, not as one beating the air” (1Cor 9:26). St Paul certainly was not a day-dreamer or someone thinking he was born into the wrong epoch or century. He knew that time is one of God’s precious gifts to us, His creatures. We have to redeem the time, “re-emere – to buy back”. If we do not make good use of our time, if we do not make all efforts possible to restore all things in Christ in the time and age where God has put us – then we shall certainly miss out on God’s promise of timeless, unending happiness.

Why do I put these thoughts to you? Because there are many “traditionalists” who have some vague idea of how necessary it is to restore all things in Christ. But they do not get their starting point right because they fail to properly assess and understand the nature of the times we are living in. There is a broad spectrum of errors. It reaches from those who believe that things are just slightly off their “normal” course, to those who are convinced that the end of times must be imminent. Both are right and wrong, depending on what point of view we consider. The problem is that even in whatever they are right, they are right for the wrong reason!

It is true that the state of the Church is abnormal, in just one point. But they get that point wrong, believing that “the authorities” are malfunctioning or permitting abuses to happen. They do not understand that the Church is deprived of her Authority because there is no Pope, formally speaking. The practical consequences of what they do, and of what we do, could not be greater.

It is true that we are approaching the end of times. But they get that point wrong because they believe that the coming of Christ must be imminent. The Thessalonians believed the same thing at the time of St Paul who set them right (cf. 2Thes 2:2). Each one of us gets closer to his grave at a ratio of 24 hours per day. The same is true for the end of times and the General Judgment. It is getting closer one day at a time. This is self-evident. Christ, at the same time as he invites us to discern the signs of the times, clearly tells us, though, that no-one knows the moment of the end of times. We may think that the world will end soon – but we cannot be sure about it. Therefore it is certainly wrong and perverse to act upon such an assumption.

There is no Catholic panic-button! I have mentioned this several times, and I think it is very important. As Catholics we should not panic, not even in our greatest trials, particularly not in our last agony; but recommend ourselves to God who is in charge in a sovereign manner, at all times and everywhere. This is the necessary consequence of our belief in divine Providence. Too many have convinced themselves that “they” - the Freemasons… the enemies of the Church… Klaus Schwab… or whoever or whatever - are in charge. This erroneous stance reflects the deep-seated ignorance and pride of the fallen human nature: I amin charge, I need to control my life, and if possible also the lives of those around me.

Poor them! Poor us! How difficult it is for us to acquire the spirit of Our Lord, the spirit of the Beatitudes. “See therefore, brethren, how you walk circumspectly: not as unwise, but as wise.“

At the same time as the devil’s helpers, the enemies of Christ’s Cross, do according to their diminished intelligence and sick will, God does His work, mostly ignored by the world and undetected. Again and again we witness today how Our Lord really means what he says: “And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham for our father. For I tell you that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” (Mt 3:9) Persons of all walks of life are coming to the true faith. Again, remember what Our Lord told the Jews when the Roman centurion humbly asked him to heal his servant, but that he was not worthy that Jesus enter under his roof: “And I say to you that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 8:11)

We need to convince ourselves that God does not need our goods: “I have said to the Lord, thou art my God, for thou hast no need of my goods.” (Ps 15:2) God does not need us! But He honors us if He wants to make use of us for His glory and for the coming of His kingdom – “Thy kingdom come…” If we forfeit our place and role in the divine plan, God has no trouble finding a replacement. God has nothing to gain, nothing to lose. In His infinite bounty He desires to let us participate in His eternal and unalterable glory and bliss. We have everything to gain if we act according to our demand: “Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven”. If we act otherwise, if we do as we will, we lose everything.

Let us therefore learn to discern that which essential or formal in all things. Let us learn to remit the other one’s debt because we also have been forgiven a lot, by fellow human beings, and above all by God! “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who have trespassed against us.” Let us learn to serve God here and now, and not in a mirage of the past or of the future! Only if we detach ourselves from the world and from our own self-will and self-love, can we be fit and apt instruments for the true restoration of all things in Christ. This is the example given to us by Our Lady, the Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, the Mother of God.

 

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 20thSunday after Pentecost, October 10th, 2021 – Holy Mass (4)

 

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 take a look at the dogmata or anathemata published by the Holy Council of Trent. The ecclesiastical magisterium (teaching authority) proposes a doctrine. Then it sums up and condenses this doctrine into dogmatic formulas which are usually proclaimed in a negative form: Whoever thinks or teaches this or that, or denies that truth, let him be anathema, ie. excluded from the community of those who believe what the Church believes.

 

CHAPTER IX.

Preliminary Remark on the following Canons.

“And because that many errors are at this time disseminated and many things are taught and maintained by divers persons, in opposition to this ancient faith, which is based on the sacred Gospel, the traditions of the Apostles, and the doctrine of the holy Fathers; the sacred and holy Synod, after many and grave deliberations maturely had touching these matters, has resolved, with the unanimous consent of all the Fathers, to condemn, and to eliminate from holy Church, by means of the canons subjoined, whatsoever is opposed to this most pure faith and sacred doctrine.”

 

The Church does not simply make up, or wildly throw around condemnations. She formulates them in reaction to errors or heresies which have occurred.

Not all disputes concern the revealed Faith directly, and thus the Church has not settled all disputes or controversies authoritatively. But whenever the purity and integrity of the Faith is concerned or in danger, then she can and must clean out her stable.

 

ON THE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS.

CANON I.--If any one saith, that in the mass a true and proper sacrifice is not offered to God; or, that to be offered is nothing else but that Christ is given us to eat; let him be anathema.

The Mass is a true and proper sacrifice, not a sacrifice in a spiritual or figurative sense.

The Sacrifice of the Mass does not consist in the consuming of Christ’s body and blood. Holy Communion – that of the celebrating priest – is the consummation of the sacrifice. It is an integral part of the Sacrifice, together with the Offertory and the Canon. If the Offertory or Communion were omitted, the Sacrifice would still be really offered, but it would be incomplete.

 

CANON II.--If any one saith, that by those words, Do this for the commemoration of me, Christ did not institute the apostles priests; or, did not ordain that they, and other priests should offer His own body and blood; let him be anathema.

Every authority, and principally the divine authority, cannot possibly give an order or a mandate without giving or indicating also the appropriate means for its completion or execution. The priest pronounces the words “Do this for the commemoration of me” (Lk 22:19) right after the words of Consecration over the chalice, just as Christ has done. Christ has necessarily communicated to his Apostles the power of Consecration, he has ordained and consecrated them to be priests. All other priestly powers are but a consequence of this capacity and power which Christ communicates to the priest, the power over the true and sacramental Body and Blood of Our Lord.

 

CANON III.--If any one saith, that the sacrifice of the mass is only a sacrifice of praise and of thanksgiving; or, that it is a bare commemoration of the sacrifice consummated on the cross, but not a propitiatory sacrifice; or, that it profits him only who receives; and that it ought not to be offered for the living and the dead for sins, pains, satisfactions, and other necessities; let him be anathema.

The first part is directed against a Protestant error which the Montini-mass has adopted. Sacrifice – yes: but only a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, not a propitiatory sacrifice.

The next part “it profits him only who receives” excludes the modernist doctrine which says that the Mass is a meal. This view had become very dear to the “liturgical movement”. Communion is not primarily a meal, but, as we have said, an integral part necessary for the sacrifice to be completed. Holy Communion is the fruit of Christ’s sacrifice which is consumed under the form of nourishment, but it is not the sacrifice itself, as Canon I has made clear.

 

CANON IV.--If any one saith, that, by the sacrifice of the mass, a blasphemy is cast upon the most holy sacrifice of Christ consummated on the cross; or, that it is thereby derogated from; let him be anathema.

Just like other would-be “reformers”, Luther has drawn many and far-reaching conclusions from his false theological assumptions. He went extremely far, and was very violent also in his statements on the Papacy and the Mass. He called them a work of Satan and worse.

As we have seen already, the Council of Trent has taught very clearly how the sacrifice of the Mass is the same, and how it is different from the Sacrifice of the Cross.

 

CANON V.--If any one saith, that it is an imposture to celebrate masses in honour of the saints, and for obtaining their intercession with God, as the Church intends; let him be anathema.

This error is opposed to the doctrine taught in ch. III which we have explained already.

 

CANON VI.--If any one saith, that the canon of the mass contains errors, and is therefore to be abrogated; let him be anathema.

This error of the “reformers” also concerns the Montini-mass, at least indirectly. The “new mass” has done away de facto with the old and venerable Roman Canon, mainly by introducing alternative prayers which usually make the race because they are significantly shorter.

 

CANON VII.--If any one saith, that the ceremonies, vestments, and outward signs, which the Catholic Church makes use of in the celebration of masses, are incentives to impiety, rather than offices of piety; let him be anathema.

We have to remember the teaching of chapter V. This is all the more important because now the notion of human nature and of the nature of things in general is entirely dissolved. Precisely human nature, composed of a spiritual element, the soul, and of a physical element, the body, makes the use of sensible signs and objects in the liturgy indispensable. The rejection of such bodily elements is always based on the error of manicheism. It considers the spiritual things as good, but the physical things as evil.

 

CANON VIII.--If any one saith, that masses, wherein the priest alone communicates sacramentally, are unlawful, and are, therefore, to be abrogated; let him be anathema.

This corresponds to the teaching of chapter VI. Since the priest is the only one who performs the sacrifice in the name of the Church and in the person of Christ, a Mass where only the priest communicates sacramentally are complete and worthy.

 

CANON IX.--If any one saith, that the rite of the Roman Church, according to which a part of the canon and the words of consecration are pronounced in a low tone, is to be condemned; or, that the mass ought to be celebrated in the vulgar tongue only; or, that water ought not to be mixed with the wine that is to be offered in the chalice, for that it is contrary to the institution of Christ; let him be anathema.

Just an anecdote about the loud and low tone used by the priest at Mass. In SSPX there is a great confusion about what is to be said in what kind of tone. This is partly because they have not learned to look at the proper sources, partly because they have chosen the 1962 Mass rite which is already some way towards the “new mass”. The 1960 rubrics have indeed intended to do away with the intermediate tone, even though this was not implemented consistently. At “Nobis quoque peccatoribus” in the Canon there is still the indication that the priest says these words with a slightly elevated voice. Since a little confusion never remains little, there are even priests who say the words of Consecration in a loud voice!

As far as the use of the vernacular is concerned, Francis/Bergoglio demands in his recent motu proprio through which he wants to do away with the Latin rite, that the readings be said in the vernacular language (art.3 §3). This, too, is being practiced in SSPX in many countries with the permission of Msgr Lefebvre.

 

Let us give thanks to God that we know and profess the true Faith! Let us take the resolution to study the Faith more deeply, as much as the circumstances of our life allow or call for it. Instead of running after the daily news, let us busy ourselves with the unchanging truths which prepare us for eternity!

 

 

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 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