Who Cares About the Latin Mass?

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By Ariel Hobbs, The Catholic University of America

Why attend a Mass people appreciated hundreds of years ago? After all, it’s part of history and has no place in modern forms of worshipping. Why worship with boring, tedious Gregorian chant when you can belt out some crazy cool praise and worship tunes? Such questions are often asked by the growing divide in Catholic youth between those who embrace modern forms of worship and traditionalists. I’d like to shed some light on the historical importance, relevance and personal significance to me of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. (N.B. The Mass in the Extraordinary Form will be referred to casually in this article as the Latin Mass by the author). 

Let’s ask ourselves an important question. What matters more: the way we want to worship God or the way that God wants to be worshipped? From the beginning of time, God dictated how he wanted to be worshipped by us. When Cain and Abel brought their offerings to God, God told the brothers which offering was pleasing to him and thus brought forth favor upon that brother. After the Exodus from Egypt when Moses was leading the Israelites in the desert, God frowned upon their worship of the golden calf and gave them the Ten Commandments. At the Last Supper, Christ said, “Do this in remembrance of Me,” not “Do this in whatever way most suits your personal worship needs!” 

When the Second Vatican Council made revisions to the rubrics of the liturgy, they attempted to make the liturgy more accessible and appealing to the people. With this, we lost many traditions that brought a sense of beauty and reverence to the Mass. For example, in the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, the priest faces ad orientem (to the altar), instead of versus populum (to the people). When the priest faces the people while saying the Mass, he ends up turning his back on the tabernacle and the Blessed Sacrament, compared to when he faced the altar and continuously had his full attention on God, whose worship is the very purpose of the liturgy, not the people at it. Why should God’s minister who stands in persona Christi turn his back on God himself during the liturgy? It is details like these that make the Latin Mass so beautiful and sublime with its reverent and deep tradition.

Latin is the language of the Church. Just as Aramaic was the language used for sacred texts in Christ’s time, while Hebrew was used in the vernacular, Latin is the language for the sacred in the Roman Catholic Church. Thus, it emphasizes the divine nature of the liturgy when it is used. It is also a language of power, as seen in exorcisms when it proves to be far more effective than English or other vernacular languages. For the Roman rite, Latin brought more unity to how the Mass was said around the world. It is an interesting perspective to ponder for the universal church, although cultural differences in worship help create a more passionate and personal relationship with God for many. Latin has had the effect of bringing the faithful into a sacred and prayerful mindset for millennia and as the language of the Church, I very much so believe that it should have an important place in the liturgy of the Church. 

Personally, my spiritual life was transformed by attending the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. I was struck by the reverence and awe for the Blessed Sacrament I witnessed during the liturgy. Through this reverence and awe, I was drawn into contemplation of the Eucharist and felt compelled to pray more deeply. It really inspired me in a beautiful way to know that I was experiencing my God within the context of Holy Mass in the same way as my favorite saints hundreds of years before me. 

Admittedly, if you don’t have experience with Latin or other rites of the Catholic Church, attending the Latin Mass can be very confusing for the first time. The first time one attends it I would advise just immersing yourself in prayer and focusing on the experience of the Mass itself. Perhaps, the second time, start to learn responses and focus more on the details. Yet, withhold your judgement until the third time you have attended the Latin Mass, for it is then that you have attended enough times to truly appreciate the beauty of its tradition and graces.

If you are opposed to the Latin Mass in any way, I challenge you: ask yourself why this is and perhaps attend one yourself if you haven’t already. Experience the liturgy the way the vast majority of the saints did during their lifetimes and allow your soul to rejoice in the beauty and reverence given to God during the liturgy. Most of all, I encourage you to pray with all your heart and worship God always in the most reverent way you can.

6 Responses

  1. This is a great article, though wasn’t Hebrew used for sacred worship and Aramaic for the vernacular, rather than the other way around?

    1. @Anonymous – Yes…Aramaic was the language of the people from their exile in Babylon, and is still used in the Maronite rite to this day!

  2. Would you allow your government to place a microchip in your body?

    Did you know that is the future we are approaching with RFID Microchip technology?

    Even more importantly, did you know there was a man almost 2000 years ago who prophesied of a cashless society in the last days? This mans name is Jesus.

    Did you know that this RFID Microchip matches perfectly with the Mark of the Beast in Revelation 13:16-18?

    “He(the false prophet) causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

    Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666” (Revelation 13:16-18).

    Referring to the end times, this could only be speaking of a cashless money society, which we have yet to see, but are moving towards. Otherwise we could still buy or sell without the mark among others if physical money was still currency. This mark could not be spiritual, because the word references two distinct physical locations on the body. If it was spiritual, it would just say in the forehead.

    Mr. Carl Sanders sat in seventeen New World Order meetings with heads-of-state officials such as Henry Kissinger and Bob Gates of the CIA to discuss their agenda on how to bring about this one-world system. The US government commissioned Carl Sanders to engineer a microchip for identifying and controlling the peoples of the world-a microchip that could be inserted under the skin with a hypodermic needle(a fast, convenient method that would be gradually accepted by society).

    Mr. Sanders, with a group of engineers behind him, with US grant monies supplied by tax dollars, took on this project and designed a microchip that is powered by a lithium battery, rechargeable through the temperature fluctuations in our skin. Without having knowledge of the Bible(Carl Sanders was not a follower of Christ at the time), these engineers spent one and a half million dollars doing research on the best and most convenient place to have the microchip placed under the skin.

    These researchers discovered that the forehead and the back of the hand(the two locations Revelation says the mark will go) are not only the most convenient places, but are also the only viable locations for rapid, consistent temperature fluctuations in the skin to recharge the lithium battery. The microchip is approximately seven millimeters in length, .75 millimeters in diameter, about the size of a grain of rice. It is capable of containing pages of information about you. All your general history, work history, crime record, health history, and financial data can be stored on this microchip.

    Mr. Sanders believes that this microchip, which he regretfully helped engineer, is the “mark” spoken about in Revelation 13:16-18. The original Greek word for “mark” is “charagma,” which means a “scratch or etching.” It is also interesting to note that the number 666 is a word in the original Greek language. The word is “chi xi stigma,” with the last part, “stigma,” also meaning “to stick or prick. Carl believes this is referring to the use of a hypodermic needle being poked into the human flesh to insert the microchip.”

    Mr. Sanders reached out to a doctor asking what would happen if the lithium contained within the RFID microchip leaked into the body. The doctor responded by saying a terrible sore would appear in that location. This is what the book of Revelation says:

    “And the first(Angel) went, and poured out his vial on the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore on the men which had the mark of the beast, and on them which worshipped his image” (Revelation 16:2).

    The Bible tells us we cannot buy or sell without the mark of the beast, or the number of its name. This number is identified as 666. The Bible tells us to calculate the number 666.

    In this world we are identified by numbers, whether it is our social security number, drivers license, or cards used to make payments. The number of the beast represents something like this, to identify us in a one world government system. This number will be contained within the microchip to identify each and every one of us so we may buy or sell.

    To see the hidden meaning behind calculating the number 666(6+6+6=18), and how it matches up with scipture perfectly,

    Go to: https://biblefreedom.com/rfid-mark-revealed

    The Bible warns us in the last days that a false prophet will rise up doing miracles to deceive many to take this mark. At all costs, do not take it!

    “Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name” (Revelation 14:9-11).

    Out of all the world religions, how can we be sure the Bible got it right? The scientific data has established and continues to support that the universe once had a beginning in which space, time and matter were created. This is known as the big bang.

    “The non-biblical religions tell us that god or god’s create within space and time that eternally exist. The Bible stands alone and says that time and space don’t exist until God creates the universe.” – Hugh Ross

    Did you know that the real Noah’s Ark was discovered where the Bible told us it would be with the correct dimensions? As well as hard evidence for the destruction of Sodom Gomorrah and the Exodus account of the Red Sea crossing?

    This information can all be found at https://biblefreedom.com

    “And He(Jesus) said to me(Apostle John), “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts” (Revelation 21:6).

    “Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water(the Holy Spirit) that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:13-14).

    “Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ (John 3:5-6).

    All religion is man-made. Man can create religion, but no one can create the Holy Spirit that comes from God out of Heaven. Jesus never told us to follow a religion or denomination:

    “Then He(Jesus) said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23).

    You can receive the Spirit of God right now. If you are willing to humble yourself before the Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead on the third day; call out to God and ask Him to forgive your sins, to receive His Holy Spirit. If you are genuine, He is faithful and just to forgive, and He will give you a new heart, a renewing of the mind, restoring everything the devil has stolen from you; making you like a child again, through the sanctification of the Spirit.

    When we receive the Spirit of God, we become born from above, and His seed resides within us. We no longer make a practice of sin, but rather turn away from unrighteousness and receive the righteousness of Christ.

    From that point onward, we must put all our hope and trust in Jesus, and grow to walk in His ways, not straying from the narrow path. For Jesus says,

    “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).

    “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty(One God), Who was(Jesus) and is(YHWH) and is to come(Jesus)!” (Revelation 4:8).

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