On my drive to adoration yesterday, the thought occurred to me that the New Springtime Bl. John Paul II predicted, most likely is the restoration of the Traditional Latin Mass and all of the other reforms we are seeing unfold today because of it - 'and persecutions besides.' [Mark 10:30]
Just a thought.
Hmmmmmmmmmm
ReplyDeleteInteresting observation. I think you're onto something, Ter.
ReplyDeleteYou may be right. That's much better than the sarcastic thoughts I come up with whenever I hear "new Springtime".
ReplyDeleteI think if that is the case then it is only a foreshadowing of the gloriious springtime to come. Unfortunately, I don't think the winter is anywhere near being finished. Not by a long shot.
ReplyDeleteI had been thinking about all the little new communities of benedictines and hermits which have risen up all about the U.S. and Europe which have embraced the traditional liturgy in anticipation of, or as a result of the Summorum Pontificum of Benedict XVI - I think these new communities are major signs that the springtime is underway. With persecutions besides.
ReplyDeleteif i may suggest you refer to the link regarding Blessed John Paul II's New Springtime:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2009/04/the-springtime-of-john-paul-ii
it has little to do with liturgy and more to do with the human spirit
Wait, you mean it doesn't have anything to do with the "Gather" or "Glory and Praise" hymnal?
ReplyDeleteThe human spirit is fed by the liturgy - it cannot subsist without the liturgy.
ReplyDeleteno one is saying the human spirit is not fed by the liturgy...
ReplyDeletetake time and read the article...
the traditional liturgy everyone speaks of was in use less than 500 years of the Church's history. the europena church began in earnest liturgical studies and renewal in the middle of the 19th century BECAUSE they wirnessed a people who di not PARTICIPATE in the liturgy.
look at Acts 2:42ff, read the Didache, read Igantius of Antioch...the ordinary form we pray today resembles more closely the ancient liturgies of the Church
Terry,
ReplyDeleteI agree that these new communities are definately Heralds of a glorious springtime in the Church to come. I view them as seedlings for Church of the future. I think there will be a lot of 'persecutions besides' to come before the Church will realise a glorious springtime. I don't think it will be in my lifetime.
I liken the present situation to looking at the beautiful photos of flowers, trees, shrubs in the seed catalog in early January or watching the seedlings sprout in egg cartons on the kitchen table in late winter.
Nevertheless, I do see them as heralds of what is to come....
If the Latin mass is the "new springtime," I'll happily freeze my ass off in winter.
ReplyDeleteI see nothing wrong with the TLM, I just wish I could understand the Latin more. One thing that's great about it, is that it tells me that no matter what I think or feel, I have zero control or effect over what's going on at the Altar. It teaches me my own insignificance (which is not a bad thing), and paradoxically my importance because what IS happening up there is all about Him, doing something for me. And you. Praise God.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I NEVER sense that at your garden variety novus ordo Mass. That said, I wish there were more priests who would celebrate the Novus Ordo including more Latin and/or chant vs. the gather garbage.
I too think you may be on to something as well .
ReplyDeleteI think we are in the New Springtime. What so many people seem to forget is that a part of Sporing is cleaning up all the junk & garbage that accumulated during Winter as well as preparing the ground for the seed. We are going through that cleaning. As for the persecution, that is the preparing the ground.
ReplyDeleteThe “new springtime” reference by JPII appeared in his apostolic letter “Tertio Millennio Adveniente”, dated November 10, released November 14, 2000.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, the Medjugorje message for the preceding month, October 25, 2000 read as follows:
“Dear children! Today I desire to open my motherly heart to you and to call you all to pray for my intentions. I desire to renew prayer with you and to call you to fast which I desire to offer to my Son Jesus for the coming of a new time - a time of spring. In this Jubilee year many hearts have opened to me and the Church is being renewed in the Spirit. I rejoice with you and I thank God for this gift; and you, little children, I call to pray, pray, pray - until prayer becomes a joy for you. Thank you for having responded to my call. ”
While I accept the Missal of 1969 of Paul VI as valid. I do not think that it is an organic liturgical development. And from what I've read neither does Benedict XVI who describes the Novus Ordo as this:
ReplyDelete“in the place of liturgy as the fruit of development came fabricated liturgy. We abandoned the organic, living process of growth and development over the centuries and replaced it — as in a manufacturing process — with a fabrication, a banal on-the-spot product.”
Read Sacrosanctum Concilium Constitution on the sacred liturgy then ask yourself if the garden variety liturgy you witness in your parish churches bears any semblence to what the Council Fathers envisioned?
In fact here is a handy check list:
1. the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites.
2. Nevertheless steps should be taken so that the faithful may also be able to say or to sing together in Latin those parts of the Ordinary of the Mass which pertain to them.
3. The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services.
4. But other kinds of sacred music, especially polyphony, are by no means excluded from liturgical celebrations, so long as they accord with the spirit of the liturgical action, as laid down in Art. 3
His Holiness Pius XII warned against seeking to recreate ancient use in liturgy in his encyclical Mediator Dei:
But it is neither wise nor laudable to reduce everything to antiquity by every possible device. Thus, to cite some instances, one would be straying from the straight path were he to wish the altar restored to its primitive tableform; were he to want black excluded as a color for the liturgical vestments; were he to forbid the use of sacred images and statues in Churches; were he to order the crucifix so designed that the divine Redeemer's body shows no trace of His cruel sufferings; and lastly were he to disdain and reject polyphonic music or singing in parts, even where it conforms to regulations issued by the Holy See.[9]
A highly respected liturgical scholar Monsignor Klaus Gamber of Regensburg, Germany has written extensively on this subject. Our Holy Father is a great supporter of Msgr Gamber.
Vatican II was not GROUND ZERO...everything that existed before was not erased to begin anew. There is this mistaken notion that to participate fully in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass one need be busy with lectoring, serving at the altar, cantoring, LEMing etc but I believe this misses the point altogether about what true actuosa participatio is all about. It is uniting ones self in heart and mind with the priest at the altar quite simply put and that requires neither a fluency in Latin nor an ability to perform some liturgical ministry.
Many scholars believe that the ORDO MISSAE of 1965 was more than sufficient in itself as an organic development to fulfill the directives of Vatican II and I would agree with this.
Liturgy is not fabricated it develops organically from what existed before and I would argue very strongly that the Novus Ordo (at least in the form it is celebrated in 99% of places in the world) is not what the council fathers intended. It is for the most part a rupture from tradition and that needs to be remedied ASAP.
FYI - I go to Mass in the ordinary form at my local parish.
ReplyDelete