What do you think of when you experience the liturgy? Do you consider yourself as an individual Catholic in a body of Catholics? Do you consider that this is a liturgy that was attended by this particular saint? Do you consider that the saints celebrated in a very similar fashion? Or do you not consider yourself tied to their past tradition at all? I always tell people to look to the saints for guidance. Let those who dwell in Heaven be your guides. Of course, this is difficult considering the modern canonization process has benefited liberal Popes who have abandoned Church tradition, so I'll be more specific. Look to the past before the Church tradition was vehemently changed. Before Vatican II, look to those saints. Before the 20th century, look to those saints. Before the first millennium, look to those saints. As Eastern Catholics, the Synod of St. Petersburg in 1917 countered much of the damage caused by the Synod of Zamość in 1720. Vatican II did to the West what the Synod of Zamość did to the East. It ridded the Catholic World of most of the cult of saints, it changed dates and times, and it altered and corrupted the Divine Liturgy of All Ages. When this happened to the Eastern Catholics in 1720, it was spiritually damaging to them. While some Latin adoptions proved beneficial, there must be a place and time for all of them. Our Rite is not the Western Rite, after all. Likewise, the West must value the purity of its own traditions.
Bp. Athanasius Schneider mentioned in Christus Vincit how John XXIII threw out St. Philomena from the Roman Martyrology. St. Philomena was a martyr whose tomb was discovered in the 19th century. When her tomb was discovered, a cultus immediately was formed around her name. St. Philomena was soon canonized upon the discovery of her tomb. But this matters not for the Novus Ordo Mass. In many ways, the Novus Ordo has decided that it can determine who is and who is not a saint and then enforce it upon the whole Church. Not only this but the Novus Ordo has decided for itself when it can celebrate Feast Days. Certain saints have seen their Feast Days combined with other saints. While some saints do have combined Feast Days with other saints, these are often due to the eminent standing of the saints and because they also have their own unique Feast Day. Peter Kwasniewski contends that this is a way in which the Novus Ordo has sought to dampen the emphasis that the saints have.
One stand-out thing about the Novus Ordo is how it frequently moves and altars the Feast Days of the saints during Lent. One prominent example is with the Feast Day of the Annunciation. There is an inherent symbolism in the Feast Day of the Annunciation being on March 25. This is the Feast Day that celebrates Our Lord's beginning and Our Lady's humble acceptance to be the vessel through whom Our Lord is to be born. December 25 is Our Lord's Nativity. Nine months is a perfect gestation period for a human being. But if this Feast Day is moved outside of Lent when it falls on Good Friday, Palm Sunday, or Easter, as the West has been doing so since Vatican II, then you would logically have to change the date of Christmas for how can Our Lord, being perfect human and perfect God, have a less-than-perfect gestation?
The remembrance of the saints calls us to two things. It calls us to the historic tradition which we celebrate when we attend Church and it calls us to remember their penitence and to join them in penance. To move the saints out of Lenten services as the Novus Ordo does is to undermine what Lent is about. In fact, Lent is a preparation season for Pascha. It prepares us to join into the communion of the saints. How can we be preparing to join in communion with the saints if we aren't remembering them during our Lenten services? Further, we see their asceticism and their penance on display for us in their lives and we are called to emulation of them. The Novus Ordo has given us a broken tradition by booting them out. Rather, the Novus Ordo has broken tradition by booting the saints out, from Thomas Aquinas to Our Lady!
Finally, the Church as a whole is a communion of the saints! We are in full communion with the saints of the past as much as we are in full communion with the saints of today. Part of that communion is to recall what liturgy those saints attended. It was not the Novus Ordo. If anything, we shouldn't focus on building up a "New Mass" but rather re-establishing old rites. The West was diverse in its rites much like the East. The saints attended all sorts of rites such as Coptic rites, Byzantine rites, Mozarabic rites, Gallican rites, and Celtic rites. If we say the Tridentine must change, then we open the door to allowing other rites to change. To say the Tridentine rite is to be done away with, altered, or changed, is heresy. When this is the liturgy that so many Western saints attended, Thomas Aquinas, Anselm, Rita of Cascia, Thomas à Kempis, etc., to do away with it is to declare oneself out of communion with those saints and out of communion with the courts of God. Part of the Tradition we inherit from the saints is their Liturgy. This is why it is important for Easterners to reflect on the lives of Eastern saints and why Westerners have to reflect on the lives of Western saints. Together, we reflect on the lives of all saints. We are a Church of all saints and the Divine Liturgy is the Feast of All Saints. All the time, every day.
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