The Need for TLC for TLM

When a young child, I can still recall pinning a tissue over my head before entering a Catholic Church when I had forgotten a hat or scarf.  In my earliest years, the Mass was in Latin and could be a Low or High Mass, the latter sung.  The scent of incense often filled one’s nostrils. A prominent Crucifix hung over the altar, and the space was filled with statues of Mother Mary, St. Joseph, and other saints.  Often nooks with wax candles flickered along the nave for special intercessory prayer.    

 
The exception was when my father was stationed overseas, and Catholics and other religions often shared the same Sunday worship space in more barren military chapels.  The grim difference on base was palpable even to a young Catholic.   Fortunately, our travels brought us to some of the most beautiful and historic churches and cathedrals in the world.

 
Then in the latter 1960’s, Catholic churches’ sacred space became increasingly community space.  Some parishes ultimately moved the Tabernacle away from the central altar to the back or side, along with replacing the Crucifix with a representation of the Resurrected Jesus.  At the very least thousands of churches no longer displayed statues.  Gone were loft choirs as side ensembles of mini bands replaced them.  Guitars and drums accented lively communal oriented music.  

 
After Vatican II—though having reviewed documents, I personally do not fault the Council itself— Pope Paul VI introduced the Novus Order of the Mass (New Order of the Mass) in 1969.  Priests then faced the congregation and pew participation in the liturgy increased.  Although the essential two parts:  Liturgy of the Word and Liturgy of the Eucharist remained, prayers were revised.  Mass was most often celebrated in the common language of the country.  Not commonly acknowledged is that Pope Pius VI considered the normative language of the Novus Order was to be in Latin—although— for pastoral reasons it could be said in the vernacular.  

 
This was the greatest impact on the Liturgy since Pope St. Pius V established the Tridentine Latin Mass (currently referred to as the Traditional Latin Mass) on July 14, 1570.  The dramatic shift in the 20th Century was somewhat tempered in 2007 with Pope Benedict XVI’s  proprio “Summorum Pontificum” that restored the Traditional Latin Mass  (TLM) as one of two approved forms of the Mass.  Regardless, the Traditional Latin Mass was increasingly discouraged and then forbidden in some areas.  Based on recent news, the pendulum may be swinging back again in favor of TLM, but the foolishly—in my opinion—previous imbalance has done damage.

 
The major concern is the moral looseness that corresponded to these changes, but it may be difficult to know which came first, or did each erode the other?  Relaxed reverential practice, at the least, mirrored the deterioration of conscience and awareness of sin and obliterated the awe of God’s Real Presence.   Increasing laity involvement, yet sensitive to gender, often led to competitiveness or excessive self awareness.   

 
For instance, more than one person has “confessed” to a form of pride  about being a Eucharistic minister or reader. The inclusion of altar girls rested on “equality” rather than just responsibility and spiritual purpose.  Until the feminist overlay, young males were expected to serve, and such proximity to the Mass led some to the vocation of priesthood.  

 
Today, how many boys are all too happy to let their sisters process towards the altar, while they may well drift in a pew with thoughts of the Sunday soccer game dancing in their imagination?  Then obliterated was the exceptional symbolic imagery distinctly corresponding to the altar with The Groom, Jesus Christ,  lovingly facing His Bride, the Church. People gravitate to such visible orderliness. 

 
All also benefit by authentic hierarchy.  Mass should never divert from God to human ego.  Of course, a great choir director may enhance adoration, but when he or she starts “telling” the pastor what hymns should be played, or how, something is amiss.  A powerful Gospel choir can stir devotion, but if momentary ecstasy leads to criticizing a dull presider, or turns heads away from the altar, proper focus suffers.   When the Faith “director” or school principal misguides youth to improper positions on the altar or fails to consult with a priest about their intersection with the Mass, disrespect may well replace due subservience. 

Foremost, the Mass is the “remembrance” of what Jesus enacted at the Last Supper.  We often refer to Mass as a celebration, but today that overshadows the substantive nature of the Mass—The Holy Sacrifice—recalling Jesus’s Passion and Crucifixion—His death for our sins.  I have considered that the Last Supper could well have taken place after the Resurrection—a triumphant First Banquet—IF God had so chosen to do so.  No, it occurred before His Death, and Jesus Christ was explicit about the occasion to be memorialized.  

 
Also, does not the public at large recognize that the Mass has become a self imposed Tower of Babel whereby hundreds of different languages are employed?  Latin was our common language!  When I accompanied a German friend to a German Church in the 1960’s, I did not understand a word of the homily.  However, I could follow the Mass because of the universality of Latin.  That is lost today, and I often witness persons straying in attention during a Mass when the language is foreign to them.  There seeps in also a sense of false division and even cultural estrangement.  

 
Returning to the start of this article, head coverings for females used to be expected; it was disrespectful not to cover our heads.  Another area in which the contemporary Mass has diminished holiness is in how the laity dresses…too often…literally…barely.  There is something quite exquisite in seeing more women of all cultures modestly wearing veils and more devoutly concentrated.  Well suited men (husbands) add to proper deference. Candidly, such a congregation is unifying in worship.  It also reminds us that when we get so tangled up in being contemporary, we destroy the beauty, goodness, and truth of the Holy Mass and of our Faith, overall.

 
Finally, while critics of the Traditional Latin Mass often assume that its proponents are rigid, judgmental, ritualistic, and political extremists, there is nary a word when counter liberal liturgists scorn or label the “trads” or incorporate their own off kilter habits and rituals before and into the Mass.  Early attendees may consider it proper socialization to chit chat before Mass even while some around them are striving for prayerful silence.  It may seem “unifying” to sing before and after Communion, but that may overwhelm Catholics needing quiet to communicate with Jesus. A sense of superiority by any ideological stripe is still arrogant and uncharitable.

 
The bottom line:  An impactful Mass extols objective Truth and Mercy, in the presence of Heaven, on Earth, simpatico with our neighbors, leading us, individually and together, to humility, as well as obedience, yet also charity and all the other soul strengthening virtues.  In the relative awesomeness of the Mass we should experience contrition, reconciliation, gratitude, instruction, adoration, union with Jesus Christ, and peace of soul.  (Then we may joyfully congregate in the portico or parish hall.)

 
The Traditional Latin Mass leads us there and warrants our tender loving care, universally.