… elke spesifieke Kerk moet in ooreenstemming wees met die universele Kerk
nie net oor die geloofsleer en sakramentele tekens nie,
maar ook oor die gebruike wat universeel uit apostoliese en ononderbroke tradisie ontvang word.
Dit moet nagekom word nie net sodat foute vermy kan word nie,
maar ook dat die geloof in sy integriteit oorgelewer kan word,
sedert die kerk se reël van gebed (lex orandi) stem ooreen
na haar geloofsreël (lex credendi).
—General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 3de uitgawe, 2002, 397
IT mag dalk vreemd lyk dat ek oor die ontvouende krisis oor die Latynse Mis skryf. Die rede is dat ek nog nooit in my lewe 'n gereelde Tridentynse liturgie bygewoon het nie.[1]Ek het wel 'n Tridentynse rituele troue bygewoon, maar die priester het blykbaar nie geweet wat hy doen nie en die hele liturgie was verspreid en vreemd. Maar dit is presies hoekom ek 'n neutrale waarnemer is met hopelik iets nuttigs om by die gesprek by te voeg ...
For those who are not up to speed, here is the short of it. In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI issued the Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum in which he made the celebration of the traditional Latin Mass much more easily available for the faithful. He stated that permission to celebrate both the current revised Mass (Ordo Missae) and/or the Latin liturgy was in no way divisive.
These two expressions of the Church’s lex orandi will in no way lead to a division in the Church’s lex credendi (rule of faith); for they are two usages of the one Roman rite. —Art. 1, Summorum Pontificum
However, Pope Francis has expressed a decidedly different view. He has been steadily reversing Benedict’s Motu Proprio ‘in an effort to ensure that liturgical reform is “irreversible”.'[2]ncronline.com On July 16th, 2021, Francis issued his own document, Traditionis Custodes, in order to quell what he perceives as a divisive movement in the Church. Now, priests and bishops must once again seek permission from the Holy See itself to celebrate the ancient rite — a Holy See increasingly and rigidly against it.
Francis said he was “saddened” that the use of the old Mass “is often characterized by a rejection not only of the liturgical reform, but of the Vatican Council II itself, claiming, with unfounded and unsustainable assertions, that it betrayed the Tradition and the ‘true Church.'” -National Catholic Reporter, Julie 16th, 2021
Perspektiewe
When I began my music ministry in the mid-90’s, one of the first things I did was review Second Vatican Council documents on the Church’s vision for music during the Mass. I was surprised to find that much of what we were doing at the liturgy was never stated in the documents — quite the opposite. Vatican II actually called for the preservation of sacred music, chant, and the use of Latin during the Mass. Neither could I find any decree suggesting that the priest could not face the altar ad orientum, that Communion rails should cease, or that the Eucharist should not be received on the tongue. Why were our parishes ignoring this, I wondered?
I was also dismayed to see how our Roman churches were increasingly built with little beauty compared to the ornate churches I occasionally attended in the eastern rites (when visiting my Baba, we would attend the Ukrainian Catholic Church). I would later hear priests tell me how in some parishes, after Vatican II, 
statues were smashed, icons removed, high altars chainsawed, Communion rails yanked, incense snuffed out, ornate vestments mothballed, and sacred music secularized. “What the Communists did in our churches by force,” some immigrants from Russia and Poland observed, “is what you’re doing yourselves!” Several priests also recounted to me how rampant homosexuality in their seminaries, liberal theology, and hostility toward traditional teaching caused many zealous young men to lose their faith altogether. In a word, everything surrounding, and including the liturgy, was being undermined. I repeat, if this was the “liturgical reform” intended by the Church, it certainly wasn’t in Vatican II documents.
Scholar, Louis Bouyer, was one of the orthodox leaders of the liturgical movement before the Second Vatican Council. In the wake of an explosion of liturgical abuses after the council, he gave this stark appraisal:
Ons moet reguit praat: daar is in die Katolieke Kerk vandag feitlik geen liturgie wat die naam waardig is nie ... Miskien is daar in geen ander gebied 'n groter afstand (en selfs formele opposisie) tussen wat die Raad uitgewerk het en wat ons eintlik het nie ... -van Die verlate stad, rewolusie in die Katolieke Kerk, Anne Roche Muggeridge, p. 126
Summarizing the thought of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict, Cardinal Avery Dulles notes that, at first, Ratzinger was very positive about ‘the efforts to overcome the isolation of the priest celebrant and to foster active participation by the congregation. He agrees with the constitution on the need to attach greater importance to the word of God in Scripture and in proclamation. He is pleased by the constitution’s provision for Holy Communion to be distributed under both species [like the eastern rites] and… the use of the vernacular. “The wall of Latinity,” he wrote, “had to be breached if the liturgy were again to function either as proclamation or as invitation to prayer.” He also approved of the council’s call to recover the simplicity of the early liturgies and remove superfluous medieval accretions.'[3]“From Ratzinger to Benedict”, Eerste Dinge, Februarie 2002
In a nutshell, that too, is why I believe the hersiening of the Mass in the twentieth century was not without warrant in a world increasingly assaulted by the “word” of mass media and that was hostile to the Gospel. It was also a generation with a decidedly shortening attention-span with the advent of the cinema,
television and, soon, the Internet. However, continues Cardinal Dulles, “In subsequent writings as a cardinal, Ratzinger seeks to dispel current misinterpretations. The council fathers, he insists, had no intention of initiating a liturgical revolution. They intended to introduce a moderate use of the vernacular alongside of the Latin, but had no thought of eliminating Latin, which remains the official language of the Roman rite. In calling for active participation, the council did not mean incessant commotion of speaking, singing, reading, and shaking hands; prayerful silence could be an especially deep manner of personal participation. He particularly regrets the disappearance of traditional sacred music, contrary to the intention of the council. Nor did the council wish to initiate a period of feverish liturgical experimentation and creativity. It strictly forbade both priests and laity to change the rubrics on their own authority.’
At this point, I simply want to cry. Because I feel that our generation has been robbed of the beauty of the Sacred Liturgy — and many don’t even know it. This is why I totally sympathize with friends, readers, and family who love the Latin Mass. I don’t attend the Tridentine liturgy for the simple reason that it’s never been available where I live (though, again, I have taken in the Ukrainian and Byzantine liturgies at times over the years, which are more ancient rites and just as sublime. And of course, I don’t live in a vacuum: I have read the prayers of the Latin Mass, the changes that have been made, and seen numerous videos, etc. of this rite). But I know intuitively that it is good, holy, and as Benedict XVI affirmed, part of our Sacred Tradition and the “one Roman missal.”
Part of the inspired genius of the Catholic Church over the centuries has been its keen sense of art and, really, high theatre: incense, candles, robes, vaulted ceilings, stained-glass windows, and transcendent music. To this very day, the 
world remains drawn to our ancient churches for their extraordinary beauty presies because this sacred display is, itself, a mystical language. Case in point: my former music producer, not a particularly religious man and who has since passed on, visited Notre Dame in Paris some years ago. When he returned, he told me: “When we walked into the church, I knew something was going on here.” That “something” is a sacred language that points to God, a language that has been horribly deformed over the past fifty years by a true and insidious rewolusie rather than a revision of the Holy Mass to make it a more suitable “invitation to prayer.”
It’s precisely this damage to the Mass, however, that has created a response at times that truly het been divisive. For whatever reason, I have been on the receiving end of the most radical element of so-called “traditionalists” who have been damaging in their own right. I wrote about this in Oor die wapen van die mis. While these individuals do not represent the authentic and noble movement of those who want to recover and restore what should never have been lost, they have done immense damage by completely rejecting Vatican II, mocking faithful priests and laity who pray the Ordo Missae, and in the extreme, casting doubt on the legitimacy of the papacy. No doubt, Pope Francis is attuned primarily to these dangerous sects that are indeed divisive and who inadvertently have caused damage to their cause and the Latin liturgy.
Ironically, while Francis is fully within his right to steer the liturgical reform of the Church, his wholesale grouping of radicals with sincere worshipers, and now, the suppression of the Latin Mass, is creating new and painful divisions in itself since many have come to love and grow in the ancient Mass since Benedict’s Motu Proprio.
A Surprise Mass
In that light, I want to humbly suggest a possible compromise to this dilemma. Since I am neither a priest nor a bishop, I can only share an experience with you that, hopefully, will inspire.
Two years ago, I was invited to a Mass in Saskatoon, Canada that, in my opinion, was precisely the fulfillment of the authentic vision of Vatican II’s reform. It 
was die novus Ordae Missae being said, but the priest prayed it alternatively in English and Latin. He was facing the altar as incense billowed nearby, its smoke passing through the light of numerous candles. The music and Mass parts were all sung in Latin by a beautiful choir sitting in the balcony above us. The readings were in the vernacular, as was the moving homily given by our bishop.
I can’t explain it, but I was overcome with emotion from the very first moments of the opening hymn. The Holy Spirit was so present, so powerful… it was a profoundly reverent and beautiful liturgy… and tears ran down my cheek the entire time. It was, I believe, exactly what the Council Fathers intended — at least some of them.
Now, it is impossible at this point for priests to oppose the Holy Father on this matter regarding the Tridentine rite. It is within Francis’s purview to set the guidelines on the celebration of the liturgy as the Supreme Pontiff. It is also clear that he is doing so in order to continue the work of the Second Vatican Council. So, join this work! As you just read above, there is nothing in the rubrics of the Mass saying that a priest cannot face the altar, cannot use Latin, cannot use an altar rail, incense, chant, etc.. Indeed, Vatican II’s documents explicitly demand this and the rubrics support it. A bishop is on very shaky ground to oppose this — even if “collegiality” is pressuring him to. But here, priests have to be “shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.”[4]Die Matt 10: 16 I know several clergymen who are quietly re-implementing the authentic vision of Vatican II — and creating truly beautiful liturgies in the process.
Persecution is already here
Finally, I know that many of you are living in communities where the Mass is currently a shipwreck and that attending the Latin rite has been a lifeline for you. To lose this is very painful. The temptation to let this fester into a bitter division against the Pope and bishops is no doubt present for some. But there is another way to understand what is happening. We are in the midst of growing persecution by our perennial foe, Satan. We are watching the spectre of Communism spread across the entire planet in a new and even more deceptive form. See this persecution for what it is and that, sometimes, it comes from within the Church itself as a fruit of sonder.
The suffering of the church also comes from within the church, because sin exists in the church. This too has always been known, but today we see it in a really terrifying way. The greatest persecution of the church doesn’t come from enemies on the outside, but is born in sin within the church. The church thus has a deep need to re-learn penance, to accept purification, to learn on one hand forgiveness but also the necessity of justice. —POPE BENEDICT XVI, May 12th, 2021; papal interview on flight
In fact, I want to close again with a “now word” that came to me several years ago while driving one day to Confession. As a result of the spirit of compromise that has entered the Church, a persecution will swallow up the Church’s temporal glory. I was overcome with incredible sadness that all the beauty of the Church—her art, her chants, her ornamentation, her incense, her candles, etc.—must all go down into the tomb; that persecution is coming that will take all this away so that we will have nothing left, but Jesus.[5]vgl Profesie in Rome I came home and wrote this short poem:
HUIL, O mensekinders! Huil oor alles wat goed, waar en mooi is. Huil oor alles wat moet afkom na die graf, u ikone en gesange, u mure en torings.
Ween, o mensekinders! Vir alles wat goed en waar en mooi is. Huil oor alles wat moet afgaan na die Graf, u leerstellings en waarhede, u sout en u lig.
Ween, o mensekinders! Vir alles wat goed en waar en mooi is. Huil oor almal wat die nag moet ingaan, u priesters en biskoppe, u pous en vorste.
Ween, o mensekinders! Vir alles wat goed en waar en mooi is. Huil oor almal wat die verhoor moet betree, die toets van geloof, die vuur van die raffinadery.
... maar ween nie vir ewig nie!
Want dagbreek sal kom, lig sal oorwin, 'n nuwe son sal opkom. En alles wat goed en waar en mooi was, sal nuwe asem blaas en weer aan seuns gegee word.
Today, many Catholics in parts of Finland, Canada and elsewhere are no longer permitted to attend Mass without a “vaccine passport”. And of course in other 
places, the Latin Mass is now completely forbidden. We are beginning to see the realization of this “now word” little by little. We must prepare ourselves for Masses to be said in hiding once again. In April, 2008, the French Saint Thérèse de Lisieux appeared in a dream to an American priest I know who sees the souls in purgatory each night. She was wearing a dress for her first Communion and led him toward the church. However, upon reaching the door, he was barred from entering. She turned to him and said:
Net soos my land [Frankryk], wat die oudste dogter van die kerk was, het haar priesters en getroues vermoor, so sal die vervolging van die kerk in u eie land plaasvind. Oor 'n kort tydjie gaan die geestelikes in ballingskap en kan hulle nie die kerke openlik binnegaan nie. Hulle sal die gelowiges in klandestiene plekke bedien. Die getroues sal die “soen van Jesus” [Nagmaal] ontneem word. Die leke sal Jesus na hulle toe bring in die afwesigheid van die priesters.
Onmiddellik het vr. verstaan dat sy na die Franse Revolusie en die skielike persecution of the Church which burst out. He saw in his heart that priests will be forced into offering secret Masses in homes, barns, and remote areas. And then again, in January 2009, he audibly heard St. Thérèse repeat her message with more urgency:
In 'n kort tydjie sal dit wat in my geboorteland plaasgevind het, in u eie plaasvind. Die vervolging van die kerk is op hande. Berei jouself voor.
Back then, I had not heard of the “Fourth Industrial Revolution”. But this is the term evoked now by world leaders and the architect of Die Groot Reset, Professor Klaus Schwab. The instruments of this revolution, he has openly said, are “COVID-19” and “climate change”.[6]vgl Jesaja se visie van wêreldwye kommunisme Brothers and sisters, mark my words: this revolution does not intend to leave a place for the Catholic Church, at least, not as you and I know it. In a prophetic speech in 2009, former Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson said:
Die les van die negentiende eeu is dat die mag om strukture op te lê wat gesag van kerkleiers na goeddunke en wil van regeringsamptenare verleen of wegneem, niks minder is as die mag om te intimideer en die mag om te vernietig nie. —Hoogste ridder Carl A. Anderson, tydren by die Connectitcut State Capitol, 11 Maart 2009
Vooruitgang en wetenskap het ons die mag gegee om die natuurkragte te oorheers, die elemente te manipuleer, lewende dinge te reproduseer, amper tot op die punt dat hulle mense self vervaardig. In hierdie situasie blyk dit dat gebed tot God verouderd, nutteloos is, want ons kan bou en skep wat ons wil. Ons besef nie dat ons dieselfde ervaring as Babel herleef nie. —POPE BENEDICT XVI, Pinksterfees, 27 Mei 2102
Hold fast to your faith. Remain in communion with the Vicar of Christ, even if you disagree with him.[7]vgl Daar is net een bark But don’t be a coward. Don’t sit on your hands. As laity, begin to organize yourselves to help your priest implement the waar vision of Vatican II, which was never intended to be a breach of Sacred Tradition but a further development of it. Be the face of the Teenrevolusie that will restore truth, beauty, and goodness to the Church once again… even if it is in the next era.
Verwante leeswerk
Jesaja se visie van wêreldwye kommunisme
Die hart van die nuwe rewolusie
Luister na die volgende:
Volg Markus en die daaglikse “tekens van die tye” op MeWe:
Volg Mark se geskrifte hier:
Om saam met Mark in te reis Die Nou Word,
klik op die onderstaande vaandel om skryf.
Jou e-pos sal met niemand gedeel word nie.
voetnote
| ↑1 | Ek het wel 'n Tridentynse rituele troue bygewoon, maar die priester het blykbaar nie geweet wat hy doen nie en die hele liturgie was verspreid en vreemd. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | ncronline.com |
| ↑3 | “From Ratzinger to Benedict”, Eerste Dinge, Februarie 2002 |
| ↑4 | Die Matt 10: 16 |
| ↑5 | vgl Profesie in Rome |
| ↑6 | vgl Jesaja se visie van wêreldwye kommunisme |
| ↑7 | vgl Daar is net een bark |