Practically speaking, it is easy to forget that the Church's doctrine is nothing other than a description of an independently existing, objective reality exterior to our own thought processes. But, in order to understand the importance of adhering to the Church's teaching and the way that doctrine has manifested itself in the Church's historical practice, we simply must bring this idea to mind regularly. Considering the current assault on objectivity both inside and outside the Church, opportunities should be taken to make clear the relationship of doctrine to Truth as an exact correspondence. Otherwise, in the minds of many, doctrine becomes nothing more than the window dressing to a nicely cultivated, logical system that might be pleasant to consider but without relevance due to a lack of correlation to our usual experiences in the world. It should be clear from the preceding posts that the inversion of this thought process is largely to blame for most of the problems in the Church and the world today as there is no "doctrine" other than our own relative, individualistic experience.
With a proper understanding of the place of doctrine, let us take the example of the liturgy and our obligations to participate therein as the starting point for our practical response to the crisis in the Church today.
The purpose of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is to offer fitting worship to God the Father in the only way we know how -- by offering "unto [His] most excellent Majesty of [His] own gifts, bestowed upon us . . ." as the Canon of the Mass says. We know from the very beginning of the Old Testament that our obligation to God in worship is to offer the very best from the fruits that He has so graciously bestowed upon us.
It is, furthermore, clear from the Canon of the Holy Mass that two sacrifices are being offered: firstly, the representation of the Sacrifice of Our Blessed Lord at Calvary; and secondly, our personal sacrifice of our very selves, sanctified by the unification of our personal sacrifices alongside that of Our Lord, whose Mystical Body is, in fact, the Church of which we are members.
Necessarily, then, in order for the Holy Mass to be a fitting sacrifice to God the Father, sacramental validity is very important. Without a validly ordained priest saying the proper words over the proper matter, there is no Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Obviously, without sacramental validity, we are offering simply bread and wine, which is not the "most excellent gift."
In addition to sacramental validity, though, we must offer our own first fruits -- our most excellent worldly gifts, to use crude terms. We should, in all instances and circumstances, seek to offer worship that is the best we can possibly muster. And this is true both of ourselves individually and as a Church collectively.
So, is the Novus Ordo the best we can muster from our gifts? I will assume for present purposes that there is no question about the sacramental validity of the Novus Ordo. In fact, we are often told that we should attend the Novus Ordo even when it is suspect to fulfill our obligation to God in the First Commandment as expressed by the laws of the Church. When bizarre things happen there or when we are scandalized by the banality of the event or when heretical hymns are sung, we are told that we should "offer it up."
Is this really the proper disposition for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass? Should we truly participate in less than perfect worship of God and "offer up" the suffering of that experience?
Because we have an obligation to God as individuals to offer him the best worship possible, when we fail to meet that obligation, we are committing a sin. When we deliberately place ourselves in a near occasion of sin, we are committing a sin. Knowing what we know, then, how can we participate in the Novus Ordo Mass. The fact that it has sacramental validity should not console us -- far from it! The fact that our Lord is truly and substantially present should cause us to be all the more horrified and scandalized if we are in attendance!
Far be it from me, Lord, to participate in imperfect worship of you! Far be it from me, Lord, to abuse your Glorious Condescension by being complicit in any event that takes the focus from You!
The Church's doctrine is clearly presented in the Holy Mass celebrated according to the Missal of St. Pius V. In the Church's historical worship, the activity of the Holy Sacrifice is clearly manifested for all to understand -- in other words, it is clear that a Holy Exchange of gifts is taking place. Further, reality is brought before our eyes when we see the lowly place of our gifts in relation to the Majesty of God. And the Majesty of God is revealed to us in the beauty of the words and actions, as well as in the connection that we have with the communion of saints by virtue of our participating in the same worship that nourished them.
The dilemma is often presented to so-called traditionalists about whether to participate in the Novus Ordo or to attend at all, usually to meet an obligation. Let those of us who have been given the gift of grace to see this matter clearly reject such a question. Instead, let us ask of those who attend the Novus Ordo how it is that they are meeting their obligations toward God by attendance at such a Rite. After all, we have an obligation to offer to God our very best and not to abuse the Blessed Sacrament, which is our greatest treasure on Earth.
We know our obligations toward God, let us act accordingly. May our actions correspond to reality and our worship correspond to our doctrine.
No comments:
Post a Comment