I just got this book and boy have I missed out. This is an excellent book to understand the mass in greater detail. I am learning so much more from this. For example: We all know that sacrifice has been a part of our entire history. Even in Genesis, Able offers up a sacrifice to God (Gen 4:4). What I did not know is that there are 2 sacrifices in the old Testament that Jesus combined at the Last Supper. There is a blood sacrifice, which is the most common form and has always been around not just by the Jews, but most societies (it was the Jewish people though where God gave them the direct rules for sacrifice since all other societies of people were abusing the sacrifice and not doing it properly for God to be pleased). Then there is the sacrifice of the fruits of our labors which the line of Melchizedek priests performed which was in the form of bread and wine. When Jesus held up the bread saying this is my body and the wine saying this is my blood, both forms of sacrifice became one for ever. Jesus played the roles of priest and victim at the Last Supper. What is also very awesome is the bread and wine we give is but the meekest of gifts we can offer up to our Lord to then become His Body and Blood. Further more, you can't say this then was the end of all sacrifices needed to please the traditional offerings to God the Father as our Protestant brothers and sisters declare because the bible clearly states in Malachis prophecy (Mal 1:11) [11] For from the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for my name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts. Jesus only was sacrificed in one place and few if any Gentiles knew of him. The daily Mass is the continued practice of sacrifice offerings to God but blood and fruits of our labors sacrifices are no longer needed in the traditional sense because now Jesus has done both for us in the mass. Every time mass is said, in that particular moment we are joined to the one true sacrifice at Calvary. It only happened once! We as Catholics are not sacrificing Jesus again and again but joining outside of time and space (hard to wrap head around that one) and are sharing in that one true sacrifice. How beautiful and wonderful to further understand this. Can't wait to keep learning more from this wonderful book! https://www.amazon.com/Latin-Mass-Explained-George-Moorman/dp/0895557649
Fitting to this topic: The Heresy of Formlessness is already a modern classic, unique for its melding of poetic shimmer and keen observation https://www.angelicopress.org/the-heresy-of-formlessness-mosebach
Can purgatory souls stay close to the altar (albeit temporarily) when their names are mentioned at Mass?
Great question. I assume they see the heavenly alter much greater than we could ever imagine but don't know for certain.
One time at Mass I happened to glance over at St Josephs altar and saw, to my delight, the Holy Souls clustered, many, many many of them like so many little birds excited and happy, ready to fly off to heaven. Then a s the Consecration rolled round I saw them all take flight like rising stars towards heaven over the the Statue of St Josephs head. Such a joy to watch. Going home.
It was the New 1960's Mass. The 1960's Mass can be quite beautiful when done right. The problem is it very often isn't.
Pius XII prophecy: "The day the Church abandon's her universal tongue (Latin) is the day before she returns to the Catacombs" In his Apostolic Letter Ecclesia Dei, Pope John Paul II said that, "Respect must everywhere be shown for the feelings of all those who are attached to the Latin liturgical tradition...for the use of the Roman Missal according to the 1962 edition." And, in his book "Salt of the Earth," Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger said, "I am of the opinion, to be sure, that the old rite should be granted much more generously to all those who desire it. It's impossible to see what could be dangerous or unacceptable about that. A community is calling its very being into question when it suddenly declares that what until now was its holiest and highest possession is strictly forbidden and when it makes the longing for it seem downright indecent." The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium) No. 36 states clearly that, "Particular law remaining in force, the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites." (Second Vatican Council) Padre Pio: “Every holy Mass, heard with devotion, produces in our souls marvelous effects, abundant spiritual and material graces which we, ourselves, do not know. It is easier for the earth to exist without the sun than without the holy Sacrifice of the Mass.”
Pope Francis lamented on the feast of Epiphany about those whose religion he said was self-referential and encased in a “suit of armour”, “Have we been stuck all too long, nestled inside a conventional, external and formal religiosity that no longer warms our hearts and changes our lives?” And, “Do our words and our liturgies ignite in people's hearts a desire to move towards God, or are they a 'dead language' that speaks only of itself and to itself?” St. Cardinal John Henry Newmann: “I thank God that I live in a day when the enemy is outside the Church, and I know where he is, and what he is up to. But, I foresee a day when the enemy will be both outside and inside the Church … and, I pray for the poor faithful who will be caught in the crossfire.”
