The debates are getting hotter but more between the followers of Novus Ordo and the Traditional Latin Mass. Hints are thrown around that one is a Catholic Mass while the other is not. If I recall the sign of Catholicity is One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic and not the way Mass is celebrated. If the priest and congregation are One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic then they are Catholic. If they don’t show the four visible signs whatever Mass they are celebrating they are not Catholic. And these 4 visible signs are the state of the souls of the members of the Church and has nothing to do with the rubrics.
This is a tragedy because both sides seem to miss the whole point. So the arguments are getting more emotional than ascetical. One complain raised is that a priest was using a glass Lalique cross for Mass when it should be a Christ figure crucified on a wooden cross because Christ died on a wooden cross and not in a glass cross. Aren’t most crosses made of metal or plastic? We can also raise the issue of the chasuble used by St. Phillip Neri (on the picture on the left) as neither being Traditional nor Novus.
The issue should be an ascetical one. The question is which will bring souls better to heaven, the Novus Ordo or the Traditional Mass. After all this is what Catholic truths and practices all about. And we raise two points here. If ‘ex opere operato’ both will bring us to heaven. Because the Vatican explicitly said that both are valid. The question is in the ‘ex opere operantis.
Which mass will more effectively bring us to heaven: the Novus Ordo or the Traditional Mass. We have no proof for either. We cannot say that St. Therese went to heaven because she attended the Traditional Mass and mother Teresa of Calcutta is probably not in heaven because she attended the Novus Ordo. Both are in heaven being canonized saints. So which Mass mattered more?
In my puerile efforts to encourage my bishop and priest friends to celebrate the Pope’s version of the Mass, I have noticed that all agree that the Latin-laden Pope Benedict Mass encouraged more piety in the celebration than the Novus Ordo. As one priest noticed he had just begun his Novus Ordo Mass and before he knew it it was over. He felt he whisked through the Mass before he was even conscious of celebrating Mass. The conclusion is: if the Mass is being celebrated by one with Faith the kind of Mass is immaterial. He will celebrate any Mass with great piety because of the state of his spiritual life and not because of the kind of Mass. But for priests and congregations whose piety and Faith need to be increased the Traditional Latin Mass is more helpful.
Has the Church decreed that the requirement to enter heaven is to attend one Mass and not the other. None that I remember. What I know is that the requisite to enter heaven is to have the infused virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity. Which makes me wonder. Which Mass would be more pleasing to God: the Novus Ordo celebrated by a priest with Faith and attended by a congregation with Faith or a Traditional Mass celebrated by a priest and attended by a congregation without Faith. Or vice versa. Obviously, the presence of Faith in the priest and congregation is more important than the Mass being Novus or Traditional.
The debate has become petty and emotional thus causing more gall than wisdom. The sainted Padre Pio used to celebrate the Traditional Mass and his mass was most edifying. When he was obliged to celebrate the Novus Ordo because of Vat. II his Mass was no less edifying. So the kind of Mass celebrated has absolutely no effect on the piety of those concern. It is the holiness of the celebrant and the piety of the congregation that count.
Earlier we mentioned the fact which everybody will agree that a priest celebrating with great Faith, no matter what kind of Mass, will edify the congregation more and is more pleasing to God. A faithful priest reciting the Angelus is more edifying than a faithless priest celebrating a Novus or Traditional Mass.
But what would be a sign of Faith? From the Catechism……If a priest celebrates according to the tradition of the Church and as interpreted by the Magisterium in the person of the Pope. That is a faithful priest. And the Pope had declared that a combination of the two Masses is all right. The man of Faith, therefore, is the one who celebrates the Mass according to the instruction or example of the Holy Father. All sides if they are children of the Church should rest their case.