Time doesn't change substance

The Tridentine Mass had been around for well over a thousand years, probably more than 1,500, when it began to be discontinued in the Latin Rite in 1967 by Paul VI. It was the Mass of St Anselm, St Dominic, St Francis, St. Thomas Aquinas, Dante, St Joan of Arc, St Thomas Moore, St Ignatius, St Francis Xavier, St Isaac Jogues, St Theresa. Then, suddenly, it was not good enough. As a matter of fact it was disallowed in a majority of Churches. Those who loved this Mass were scoffed at and, eventually, pushed out of the church doors.

I came into the Tridentine Masses after I had been slowed down in my desire to convert from the Episcopal Church, which according to a Catholic priest, 'was very close to the Catholic Church'. Later this same priest, whom I was taking catechism from, apologized for blessing a lady's Rosary with Holy Water, but, he said, 'It made her feel better.' God led me to a man who had been a convert and had remained true to the Tridentine Mass and Catholic doctrine, regardless of what the Novus Ordo church was preaching. He instructed me in Catholic doctrine and explained the Mass to me. Then I found a priest who had been forced out of his parish because he wanted the Tridentine Mass and he said the Tridentine Mass. He took early retirement and abuse from parishioners over the Mass, over the Catholic school dress code, over the Baltimore catechism, etc.

Now the Tridentine Mass is being allowed back into the Church after 40 years of the Novus Ordo. There was a conflict. There is a conflict between the two and this conflict will not go away. It will continue to cause a division which will eventually be a gulf. We are meant to seek God's Guidance. I have to stand with the Mass which St Pius V tried to preserve until the End of Time.

Dale Ahlquist writes in his edition of GK Chesterton's 'Lepanto': 'The Sultan and the writer both smile. Cervantes, however, smiles 'not as Sultans smile' because the Sultan's smile is a sneer, and the writer's smile is a laugh, which for Chesterton sums up the whole difference between fate and free will. Chesterton, the jolly journalist, is never far from laughter.' This, to my mind, is the difference between the consecration of the Wine in the Novus Ordo and in the Tridentine Mass. The Novus Ordo promotes fate, the Tridentine Mass promotes free will.

The Council of Trent expressed clearly why 'for you and for many' was used in the Consecration. It was for the Apostles and for all others who accepted this Sacrifice, for the many who used their free will to accept God's Sacrifice. The Novus Ordo uses 'for all' which takes out free will and means that we are all to be saved. Will is not involved here. It is just Man's fate to be saved. How convenient. How unCatholic.

This, to my mind, is enough to make the Novus Ordo invalid, no Mass. The Consecration is the Heart of the Sacrament of the Mass and the Novus Ordo has it just wrong. It is invalid. I go with the many Saints who received Christ in the Tridentine Mass and with St Pius V who has protected it. I hope with free will to be able to laugh with Chesterton. I hope to be able to fight like St Pius V. Laus tibi Christe.