February 2008 Print

Last year, we launched a Rosary Crusade to obtain from God that He give sufficient strength to the Pope to free, at long last, the Traditional Mass. The result was overwhelming. We would never have expected, in the circumstances we were in, that the Pope give as much as he did. The essential is found in a very short sentence: the Mass has never been abrogated.

Consequently, the traditional Mass has continued in existence. It has remained Church law in spite of the liturgical upheaval which took place after the Council and changed everything from top to bottom to impose a new rite. And God knows how strongly we opposed that rite! The reform, despite its extent and Paul VI's statements to the effect that the Mass of all time was forbidden, was never able to take the traditional Mass away from the Church. This is what the Pope tells us today. This Mass has never been abrogated, this means that it has remained, and remains a universal law of the Church.

Obviously, this raises all sorts of problems, because normally there is only one rite. Now in fact, the official Church finds itself with two rites, and two universal laws concerning the manner of worshipping God. So, the Roman authorities came up with a strange explanation. Obviously, we do not agree with this explanation, for we can see clearly that it does not hold water. They had to find a way out, and so they speak of an ordinary and an extraordinary mode of the same rite. But this does not hold up.

Whosoever observes the two modes carefully, can see that it is not the same rite. It is obvious. We can guess that after having affirmed and maintained the principle that the traditional Mass had not been abrogated, Rome is now trying to explain away the fact that there are now two Masses.

Contrary to what is being said, the motu proprio does not contain any condition for the celebration of the Tridentine Mass. After stating that the rite is universal, the document can only conclude that every priest may celebrate it. There are, it is true, some practical conditions because of the present concrete situation which causes the Pope to make arrangements in view of the circumstances. Thus there is a restriction for Sundays, which says that only one traditional Mass may be celebrated in a parish.

The restrictions, properly speaking, are to be found in the Letter which accompanied the motu proprio.

We have two documents: the motu proprio and a Letter accompanying it; obviously both do not have the same value. It would be playing the bishops' game to consider both documents of equal value. As a matter of fact, bishops do all they can to stop, and to prevent the implementation of the motu proprio. So if the situation has been re-established from a juridical viewpoint by the affirmation that the traditional Mass is a universal law, the concrete situation–in practice, because of the bishops' behavior and even because of the accompanying letter–is hardly different from that of the Mass with the 1988 Indult.

The Indult Mass was allowed, but the permission was limited by conditions. The current situation of the Tridentine Mass has not changed much in reality compared to what it was before, even if its right has been re-affirmed. But this right is of capital importance. If the supreme authority maintains and guarantees the right now acknowledged, we can be certain that at some point–but it will take much time, at least a generation or two–the traditional Mass will be re-established in fact. The mere fact of placing the two Masses on par from a juridical point of view will lead one to supplant the other, because one of them cannot stand against the other. It will take time because bishops and, for the most part, priests are not inclined towards a return to the old Mass. And there we have a delicate part to play.

The situation brought about by the motu proprio is delicate. It calls for much prudence and no inconsiderate actions on our part. Thus, do not go and ask your parish priest to say the Mass so that there may be more traditional Masses. Do not think that since the bishops say that there are no requests for the old Mass, let us ask for it. Do not do this or you will find yourself in an impossible situation. On the other hand, if you personally know a priest who has a real desire to say the Mass of all time, then do support him, invite him, and if you know other faithful who could be interested, urge them and support them. Do this without placing yourself in impossible situations.

Let us make no mistake; it will take much time. We must not think that it is all over now, and that this time we have won the day. No, we want a forest of oaks; what we have so far is the seed, an acorn. The acorn must grow. Next we will have an oak tree. The forest will come afterwards; but, certainly, if the acorn had not been planted there would be neither tree nor forest later on. It is a first step, and a decisive step, in the right direction.

However, we must not allow ourselves to be deceived. Concretely, we must carry on and continue to pray. It is indubitable that there is a power in this Mass. We have testimonies from priests who come close to the old Mass, who celebrate it. Their testimonies are magnificent. A priest who has celebrated the new Mass all his life suddenly comes into contact with the traditional Mass and he thinks to himself: it is two different worlds; it is altogether different to celebrate facing God! It is a sacrifice! It no longer is a sharing but a sacrifice! I am speaking to God about the welfare of my parishioners' souls! In this holy Sacrifice I am obtaining grace for them! When I celebrate this Mass, I understand what the priest is!

This does not mean that before he had no idea of what a priest is about, but he has discovered a dimension of the priesthood which had never been taught or revealed to him. He thought himself the president of an assembly and suddenly discovers that he is another Christ, alter Christus, a mediator together with Our Lord. This is something different. Gradually, he discovers the consequences it implies in faith and morals. The whole Catholic world is coming back, and this cannot happen in one day.

We could imagine that God could suddenly shake the world and convert it in one second. He is almighty. He can do it just as He appeased the storm with one word. But when we study the history of the Church, we observe that this is not His usual way of acting. The Church came slowly out of her various crises. There are long periods of time when we find the wheat and the cockle together in the same field. And Our Lord told the over-zealous workers who wanted to eradicate the weed to allow it to grow.

We must abide by this teaching of Our Lord and follow it in this our new and difficult situation. We can say, my dear brethren, that the motu proprio places us in a more delicate situation than before. It is a fact! And I strongly invite you to persevere in praying the rosary (which has already obtained the stupendous affirmation that the Mass had never been abrogated) to obtain what we are asking for: not only the withdrawal of the decree of excommunication, but of course the victory, the return of the full Catholic way of life in the Church, of the whole doctrine, and of this consistency with all the demands of the Faith. We ask that the spirit of faith inspires once more the authorities, the bishops, and the faithful. Evidently, this is beyond our reach, but it is not beyond God's reach! And confident prayer obtains all things from Him. Let us pray and sacrifice for our sake and for the sake of the Church!

I really invite you to continue assiduously this rosary crusade. Last year, we asked for three months of prayer; now we set no time limit. May this rosary be a perpetual prayer that God shorten these terrible times. We do not always realize that the crisis the Church is going through is of an unheard of depth and seriousness.

I wish to share with you another thought connected with the Blessed Virgin and the Rosary. It concerns Russia. We know that in Fatima, Our Lady has asked quite specifically that the pope, in union with all the bishops, consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart. We also know perfectly well that up to now this act has not been made according to all the conditions set by the Blessed Virgin. We also learned from Sister Lucia that, once this act is accomplished, its effect will be radical, immediate, as it were, overnight. There we will have something akin to the tempest appeased. We must also ask for it.

But, closer to us, we are witnessing this battle for the Blessed Virgin in the East, with the very concrete fight for Tradition in the Ukraine. For some years now, we have been in contact with a group of priests of the Eastern Rite who fight for the same cause as we. They do not fight for the same Mass, because they do not know the new Mass of the Latin Rite. But they are aware of the bitter fruits of the Council.

They can also notice some change in their own liturgy. These priests came to us and requested our support. We founded for them a priestly society in many ways similar to ours. For them we stand for, as it were, the ecclesiastical authority. This enraged the local Church authorities and they excommunicated the superior and his priests. For several years they have subjected them to a very severe persecution. Now these Ukrainian priests have a seminary and several parishes, numbering in all tens of thousands of faithful. In a few days, I will ordain seven new priests for them.

I entrust to your prayers the battle waged in a country dear to the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, so that it may work towards the consecration to and triumph of the Immaculate Heart. It will happen. These priests wage the same war as we. It is touching and deeply moving to see that throughout the world, even in different Rites, we find souls who share with us the same hardships. These souls desire to remain faithful to God, to His saints, and to the Church. And, in the present crisis–a crisis brought about by the very authorities of the Church, something unbelievable!–they persevere, come what may, and despite all oppositions. In spite of harsh authorities who try to ruin the good they have done, their works are making progress. These priests and faithful are now going through what we endured some twenty years ago. They are even going through fire, since their churches are destroyed by arson. Indeed, their opponents did not hesitate to set fire to a wooden 17th-century church because they were occupying it.

Eastern Rite Christians do not know the rosary, but we find the devotion to the rosary in the Eastern Rite in the Ukraine. Immediately after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the reconquest of Russia started from the Ukraine. The bishops who had been forced to live underground because of Communist persecution came out in the open and launched an operation to send missionaries into Russia to convert it. Who stopped them? Who broke their impetus? The Vatican! Two Russian bishops went to Rome to make their abjuration, and the Roman authorities refused them and sent them back to the Orthodox Church in Russia.

Such is the plight of the Church! It is not merely a matter of the Mass or of a motu proprio; there are a whole lot of problems. And the battle goes on. So, my dear faithful, keep praying the rosary; love this prayer. If we do not love it enough, we must beg God to make us love it still more! This prayer is so pleasing to Our Lady. The popes have invited families to say the rosary and assured them of a very special protection. Every day, the Church grants a plenary indulgence to family members who pray the rosary together, and she also grants a plenary indulgence to those who pray it in a church. We can discern in this a very clear intention. This is the spirit of the Church. On this feast of the Holy Rosary, let us ask for love and zeal for this prayer which will lead us to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and will procure for us an intimate relationship with her and Our Lord. The rosary is for our souls a protection and at the same time a praise pleasing to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

 

Reprinted from Christendom, No. 14, Nov.-Dec. 2007. Christendom is a publication of DICI, the press bureau of the Society of Saint Pius X (www.dici.org).