(LifeSiteNews) — On the second Sunday in Advent, television stations around the world broadcast two Catholic services: the Holy Mass for the reopening of Notre Dame de Paris and the papal mass at the end of the consistory.
What connected the two Masses, however, was by no means the unity of the celebration of the Mass according to Paul VI’s new missal; instead, it was noticeable that both Masses deviated from the prescriptions of his missal in an idiosyncratic way, thus demonstrating to the whole world that there is no such thing as the “new Mass.”
What was even more striking was that both Masses were characterized by a clear rejection of tradition: Vestments, gestures, central rites, and even parts of the Eucharistic prayer no longer gave any indication of how the Mass had been celebrated for 1,600 years. Instead, the connection with tradition seemed to have been cut with a knife, and both Masses appeared to float in an empty liturgical space.
However, tradition in the Church is a tricky thing. Anyone who sees it merely as a “custom” that can be maintained or abolished does not understand the significance of Church tradition. For the Church, tradition always means legitimacy, and nobody could claim legitimacy contrary to tradition, neither for themselves nor for their actions. This, of course, applies to the doctrine of faith as well as to the celebration of Holy Mass, and this binds the Pope as well as every bishop.
Against this background, the following seems significant to me: we Catholics have prescribed for ourselves an authoritarian, pope-oriented way of thinking. This worked as long as the popes represented the teachings of the Church. The current Pope, however, does not do this, and this also applies to the celebration of the traditional Mass. As we know, Francis persecutes this Mass wherever he can. His actions are not legitimate because they contradict tradition, but he and his followers do not care about that.
At the same time, however, he puts those Catholics who cling to the traditional Mass in a dilemma. They see themselves forced into “illegitimacy” by the Pope and believe they have to justify their legitimacy. But this is precisely not the case! The traditional Mass is fully part of the Church’s tradition, and the entire tradition is reflected in it. No one can shake its legitimacy, not even a pope who is an enemy of tradition and the traditional Mass.
Conversely, the proponents of the “new” Mass must ask themselves what their liturgical legitimacy is. All the more so if they do not adhere to the current rules and deliberately avoid any connection to tradition. Do these Masses still reflect the Catholic faith, or are they not just the reflection of a false neo-Catholicism that is half Protestant and half what is now called “synodal”?
I would like to encourage all those who are attached to the traditional Mass: don’t be intimidated and don’t get caught up in the game of being pushed into illegitimacy, imposed with bans, or otherwise harassed.
Instead, rest assured: only the traditional Mass is in the full tradition of the Church, and for that reason alone every priest has the right to celebrate it, and every believer has the right to attend it. Francis cannot change this and no one else can! So be self-confident and be self-confidently Catholic!
The synodal neo-Catholics, on the other hand, have no connection with tradition, and even if they – like the Arians of old – are in the majority today, they are not Catholic, or at least not truly Catholic.
The Pope’s Mass and the Mass at Notre Dame have strikingly demonstrated this. And they illustrated the dramatic rupture in the Church that has arisen with the “new Mass,” something that Francis has reinforced.
The whole thing had a bit of a French Revolution feel to it: at that time, a people of plebeians had devastated Notre Dame and installed a new faith and a new “goddess” there. They literally trampled on the traditional faith, and anyone who follows the traditional Mass is acting in the revolutionary spirit of these people. With the pride of the plebeians, they adopted new rites of their own and made themselves masters of the liturgy; ultimately a diabolical act.
The celebration of the Holy Mass, on the other hand, requires something else: humble entry into the stream of tradition and immersion in the traditional form of the Mass. That is truly Catholic, legitimate, and nothing else. Please remain faithful to the Catholic faith and the traditional Mass.