Disorientation

Why does the priest turn his back on the people at the Latin Mass in the old form?

Your frame of reference is wrong. The action of the liturgy is neither "toward the people" nor "away from the people" because the people are not the focus, God is. The Mass is, essentially, the supreme act of praise and worship of God. It is not, essentially, the gathering of the people of God. Thus, the liturgical action is directed to God. The priest, and all the people, traditionally faced God. This great drawing, courtesy of Christopher's Apologies, sums this up perfectly

But the Mass was instituted by Christ at the Last Supper where He and the apostles would have faced each other across the table. Shouldn't we do the same at Mass?

Seating arrangements were quite different in the ancient world, with the guests seated all together on the same side of the table leaving the other side open for the servers to take and bring the dishes. In all likelyhood Jesus and the apostles were all facing the same direction, just like the traditional arrangement of the Mass.

What is the significance of facing east?

The entire assembled people, including the priest, face east for a few ver significant reasons. First, the sun rises in the east. Since antiquity, Christians have seen the rising sun as a symbol for the Risen Son, Jesus Christ. Facing toward the east, and remember Mass traditionally was said in the morning, means facing the rising sun, the Rising Son. Second, again since antiquity, the Church's tradition tells us Christ will come, at the end of time, from the east, thus we face the direction of the parousia, of the second coming. Thus, ad orientem worship is not dissimilar to Muslims facing Mecca, in that all Catholics turn and face the same direction to worship God.

What of Churches that are not constructed in such a way that the altar faces the east?

Ideally a Catholic church ought to be properly oriented so that the congregation, including the priest, can face east together, but this isn't always the case. This isn't a new problem, either. Nor is it one the Church doesn't have a solution for. When a congregation cannot face directional east, they may face "liturgical east" - that is they can all face the crucifix together.

Are there any negative side-effects when the priest celebrates versus populum?

There can be. Turning the priest around makes it seem like he is the center of the rite. That puts pressure on him to let his personality carry the weight of the Mass. The Mass quickly can become a form of religious entertainment complete with jokes and applause from the "audience." Each priest then impacts the Mass in an undo way. I've heard Mass in the old rite from several different priests and notice no difference expect when he turns around and preaches the sermon. In the new rite, each proest's personality dramatically effect the Mass. This isn't all attributable to the versus populum posture, but such a stance leads to a mentality that tends toward a corrupt understanding of the Mass.

Wouldn't changing the direction the priest faces confuse the people?

Not if it is done correctly and with proper catechesis. A great example of how not to institute this kind of change can be found by looking back at how liturgical changes were implemented following the Council. Changing the direction of the priest with little or no explanation at all caused a great amount of confusion that still hangs over many parishes. An example to emulate is the implementation of the new translation of the Mass. If the priest takes the time to explain why something familiar is changing, Catholics are bright enough to understand.

Hasn't versus populum worship become traditional? It has been half a century!

In a Church that has existed for 20 centuries, a mere 50 years is a fleeting moment. Think of it like this, some Catholics today can still remember what worship was like before the innovations. 

Didn't the Second Vatican Council call for this? How can you go against the Council?

This is a common myth. The sixteen documents produced by the Second Vatican Council mention turning the priest around not at all.

Still, isn't it more ecumenical for us to do the same?

The best approach to ecumenism is for both Protestants and Catholics to be honest about what separates us. Papering over the deep differences between what Protestants and Catholics are doing on Sunday mornings by making the Catholic and Protestant worship look similar will not, and indeed has not, ended the sad divisions within Christendom.

This still sounds very pre-Vatican Two. Have any recent popes supported ad orientem worship?

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, wrote, in The Spirit of the Liturgy, "The common turning towards the east was not a "celebration towards the wall"; it did not mean that the priest "had his back to the people": the priest himself was not regarded as so important. For just as the congregation in the synagogue looked together toward Jerusalem, so in the Christian liturgy the congregation looked "toward The Lord."

But surely Pope Francis would never turn his back on the people!

Ummm...

Does all this mean versus populum worship is bad (or at least worse than ad orientem)?
Not at all. Both are valid ways of celebrating the Mass and both have advantages and disadvantages compared to the other style. The focus here has been on ad orientem because it is the more maligned or misunderstood posture. Whichever your parish uses or you prefer, remember the maxim quoted by Pope St. John XXIII in Ad Petri Cathedram (frequently ascribed to St. Augustine),

In necessariis, unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas

Unity in necessary things; liberty in doubtful things; charity in all things.

Jesus versus Christ

Do you tend to refer to Our Lord as "Jesus" or as "Christ?" Have you ever thought that it might be significant? For centuries the common Catholic usage was "Christ", but, over the last 50 years, "Jesus" has come to predominate. Does this change reflect a transformation in the way many Catholics view their Lord or is it just an insignificant change of style?

In 1982, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, spoke of the wide ranging significance of this shift in an address he gave on Christology (emphasis mine).

"In contemporary writing, the title "Christ" has largely given way to the personal name "Jesus". This linguistic change reveals a spiritual process with wide implications, namely, the attempt to get behind the Church's confession of faith and reach the purely historical figure of Jesus. He is no longer to be understood through this confession, but, as it were, in and through himself alone; and thus his achievement and his challenge are to be reinterpreted from scratch. Consequently people no longer speak of following Christ but of following Jesus: for "discipleship of Christ" implies the Church's confession that Jesus is Christ, and hence it involves a basic acknowledgement of the Church as the primary form of discipleship. "Discipleship of Jesus", however, concentrates on the man Jesus who opposes all forms of authority; one of its features is a basically critical attitude to the Church, seen as a sign of its faithfulness to Jesus."

Is going to Mass all we need to do on Sunday?

As a Catholic you probably know that you are obligated, under pain of mortal sin, to attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass each and every Sunday (or on its vigil). This is one of the "Five Precepts of the Church" and is mentioned explicitly in the Cathecism of the Catholic Church:

The Sunday Eucharist is the foundation and confirmation of all Christian practice. For this reason the faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on days of obligation, unless excused for a serious reason (for example, illness, the care of infants) or dispensed by their own pastor.¹¹⁹ Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin.(2181)

 However, once we've fulfilled this obligation can we treat Sunday as just another day? Must Catholics rest of Sundays? Or is that just a matter for Fundamentalists and Pentecostals? It is important to note that our obligation isn't just to attend Mass, but to sanctify the entire day by using it as a time of rest, relaxation, and worship.

Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical dedicated to Sunday, Dies Domini, reminds us that:

"the link between the Lord's Day and the day of rest in civil society has a meaning and importance which go beyond the distinctly Christian point of view. The alternation between work and rest, built into human nature, is willed by God himself, as appears in the creation story in the Book of Genesis (cf. 2:2-3; Ex 20:8-11): rest is something "sacred", because it is man's way of withdrawing from the sometimes excessively demanding cycle of earthly tasks in order to renew his awareness that everything is the work of God." (65)

 Nor is this just recent teaching of the Church. Leo XIII in Rerum Novarum (from 1891) teaches that we have an

"obligation of the cessation from work and labor on Sundays and certain holy days. The rest from labor is not to be understood as mere giving way to idleness; much less must it be an occasion for spending money and for vicious indulgence, as many would have it to be; but it should be rest from labor, hallowed by religion." (41)

Which reflects the ancient teaching of the Church, stretching back to the Fathers and the regional Council of Laodicea, held in 362.

"Christians must not Judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honoring the Lord's day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians."(Canon 29).

And in the Code of Canon Law we find this requirement expressed.

"On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are obliged to participate in the Mass.

Moreover, they are to abstain from those works and affairs which hinder the worship to be rendered to God, the joy proper to the Lord’s day, or the suitable relaxation of mind and body." (1247)

As you can see, Sunday rest is not just a matter for Fundementalists, but is a deep part of our Catholic heritage. 

This Sunday allow the Mass to be the centerpiece of the day. Plan everything else around it. Allow yourself to rest. Don't work. Don't even think about work. Spend extra time with God in prayer. Spend extra time with your family. Prefigure the rest which we all strive to enter into when this life draws to a close.

Could Hitler be in Heaven?

 Today we ask a provactive question, could Adolf Hitler, widely considered to be one of the most evil men in history, be among the saved? Let's take a look.

Why does someone go to Hell?

The only thing that lands someone in Hell is dying outside the state of grace, i.e. dying in a state of mortal sin. 

Was Hitler ever outside the state of grace?

Hitler, and everyone else but Christ and Mary, is born outside the state of grace thanks to original sin. So he definitely spent at least sometime in a state of mortal sin and could, thus, theoretically have died in such a state.

Is there anyway to have original sin forgiven?

The ordinary way to have original sin removed is baptism (water, fire, or desire). So, the question is was Hitler baptized? Yes. Therefore, he also would have spent at least some of his life in a state of grace and could, thus, theoretically have died in such a state.

Did Hitler ever sin after his baptism?

Hitler was baptized as an infant, so the answer here also is yes because we are all sinners (cf. 1 Jn 1:8). Furthermore, Hitler was a notorious public sinner, we all know his many crimes. The idea that he never committed a mortal sin, is laughable at best.

Can Hitler have been forgiven these sins?

The only way to have a post-bapismal mortal sin forgiven is to either 

1) go to sacramental confession 

or 

2) make an act of perfect contrition. 

Hitler wasn't a practicing Catholic and he didn't have access to a priest while he was in the bunker under Berlin for the last several months of his life, so we can pretty much cross option 1 off. That leaves option 2 - sorrow for his sins, not out of fear of Hell, but because Hitler loved God (perfect contrition). He would have to be sorry for all of his sins, including killing innocent Jews, which he seemed unrepentant of until the last.

But Hitler's sins were so terrible, how could confession or an act of perfect contrition save him? Surely some sins can never be forgiven.

We are all forgiven, not through any merits of our own, but though the saving Passion and Death of Our Lord. Christ's Holy Sacrifice on Good Friday is of limitless worth, there is nothing anyone (even Hitler) could do that would be so bad as to outweigh Calvary, therefore all sins (even Hitler's) can be forgiven through the means Christ established - sacramental confession or an act of perfect contrition.

Didn't Hitler commit suicide? Isn't that mortally sinful?

Suicide is grave matter and, under normal circumstances, is a mortal sin (one which leaves the sinner no time to repent). This could be grounds for his damnation, but Hitler seems to have been out of his mind by the time he killed himself, which would remove one of the three conditions necessary for mortal sin - consent. So the suicide might not be enough to damn him, although it might have been - we can't say.

If Hitler was insane could he sin at all?
The insane, if emptied of their ability to make rational choices, cannot commit a mortal sin. However, even if Hitler was out of his mind for some extended period toward the end of his life, out of his mind enough to not be culpable for his sins, he still would have had to of made an act of perfect contrition or sought sacramental confession before going insane for his pre-insanity mortal sins to be forgiven.

  

Hitler wasn't even Catholic, why would he seek confession?
This brings up an interesting point, Hitler was "outside the Church" and of course we all know extra ecclesiam nulla salus, outside the Church there is no salvation. Thus, Hitler would have to meet additional requirements (so to speak) to avoid damnation. According to Vatican Council 2, people outside the visible confines of the Catholic Church "also can attain to salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, yet sincerely seek God and moved by grace strive by their deeds to do His will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience." (LG16). 

So Hitler would have to have:

1) not known about the Church and Jesus (if he wasn't Christian)

2) not been at fault for his not knowing, i.e. been invincibly ignorant

3) sincerely strove to seek God and do His will by his deeds.

So does that mean that we know that Hitler is in Hell?
It looks pretty bad for Hitler. Not because what he did was so evil (again, Christ's sacrifice is enough to blot out any and every sin any of us can commit) but because the likelihood of true contrition seems to be almost nil. All that being said, because we don't know for sure if Hitler died contrite, we can't answer definitively. Ultimately, we just don't know.

Doesn't the Church have a list of the damned, like she does of the Saints?

No. Unlike her power to canonize saints, to certainly discern which souls are in Heaven, the Church does not have the power to damn, to certainly discern which souls are in Hell. Only God knows this.

Should Catholics pray for Hitler's soul?

Because we ultimately don't know Hitler's final destination, we ought to pray for the man and all others who choose to sin against the All Holy One, although we might cautiously say the chances of such prayers being effectious might be very slim. Praying for the deceased is a spiritual work of mercy.

Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine
et lux perpetua luceat eis
Requiescant in Pace.
Amen.

What do you think? Is there hope for Hitler? Can we know that he is in Hell?

The Gettysburg Address

150 years ago this very day, Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth President of the United States, right here in Pennsylvania, gave his famous Gettysburg Address.

Filmmaker Ken Burns has collected a variety of famous and not so famous Americans reciting the Address. You can view them online at LearntheAddress.org. One of my favorites is the recording by Timothy Cardinal Dolan which you can watch HERE.

Do you know the Address? Sadly, with the disappearance of memorization in schools, many Americans do not.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that this nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

A Hell of a Conversation with a Kindergartener

Being a transcript of a brief conversation I had after driving my kindergartener home from CCD:

Kindergartener: Daddy, what is Original Sin?

Me: Well, buddy, when God created Adam and Eve He created them in friendship with Himself, that's called sanctifying grace. We were all meant to be born and live our entire lives in this state of friendship with God, this state of grace. But Satan tricked Adam and Eve into committing the first sin. When they sinned they betrayed God and were no longer His friends. Ever since, everyone has been born outside the state of grace, this is called Original Sin. Do you know how we have Original Sin washed off us?

K: Baptism!

Me: Very good, buddy! When we are baptized Original Sin is washed away and we are made friends with God again, in fact we are made His sons and daughters. Do you know how we can fall back out of a state of grace after baptism?

K: When we sin.

Me: Right. But not all sins put us outside of friendship with God, only really bad sins, like sins that break the 10 Commandments. These we call mortal sins, because they kill our relationship with God. If we die while in mortal sin we won't go to Heaven. Do you know how we can be forgiven these sins?

K: Go to confession.

Me: Right, when we commit a mortal sin we should go to confession as soon as possible.

K: What if you want to go to confession, but you can't and you die.

Me: If you mean to go to confession, but you couldn't, God will forgive you. As long as you were sorry and were trying to get to confession, you're still forgiven. God knows what is in our hearts.

K: What happens if we die with small sins. Do we have to go to confession for these?

Me: While it's good to confess all our sins, we only have to confess mortal sins. Small sins, we call them venial sins, are sins that do not kill our friendship with God and will not keep us out of Heaven. Purgatory will cleanse us from all venial sins. Which is why Purgatory is a great blessing. Everyone in Purgatory will someday be in Heaven. The only bad place to go is Hell. What is your favorite place to go to?

K: Grandpap's house...no the park...no Dunkin Donuts...

Me: Imagine Heaven is eating donuts in the park.

K: Okay.

Me: Purgatory is like driving in the car. It's not fun, but you have to do it to get to the park!

K: Are mortal sins taken away in Purgatory?

Me: No. Only smaller sins.

K: Why not?

Me: Mortal sins make us enemies of God, but everyone in Heaven is God's friend, so we have to die without mortal sin on our souls to be with God in Heaven. 

K: So everybody who loves God goes to Heaven?

Me: Everybody in Heaven loves God and everybody who doesn't love God isn't in Heaven, but some people who love God still end up in Hell.

K: Why?

Me: No sins can be in Heaven. You have to leave all your sins behind. Some people love God, but they love their sins even more, these people would rather be in Hell with their sins than in Heaven with God. Purgatory will burn up all the sins that enter it. Some people love their sins so much they would rather burn up with them than let them go. To let our sins go we have to be sorry for them. As long as we are truly sorry for our sins, we can go to Heaven

K: Okay. So to go to Heaven I have to love God and be sorry for my sins?

Me: Right. If you stay close to Jesus you'll want to be sorry for your sins. The more we love Him the more we will hate sin because He hates sin. Do you know who helps God decide who goes to Heaven and who goes to Hell?

K: SAINT MICHAEL! He weighs the souls. (K is a big fan of St. Michael and is wearing a St. Michael t-shirt)

Me: The saints help us to love God, to live good lives, and to be sorry for our sins. But you don't have to worry about all this right now, you are too young to sin or go to confession.

K: When can I go to confession?

Me: Second grade.

K: That's when I can receive the Eucharist!!

Me: Right, buddy. Now, let's go inside.

Gloria Patri A prayer of thanksgiving (pt 4)

In honor of Thanksgiving over the last few days we've been looking at prayers of thanksgiving and praise. You can read PART ONE, PART TWO, and PART THREE if you missed them.

Today, we're ending our series by examining another ancient prayer, one we're all familiar with from the Mass, the Gloria Patri. This is a short and simple prayer and can be said with or without accompanying it with the Signo Crucis, the Sign of the Cross.

Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto

Sicut in principo et nunc et semper 

Et in secula seculorum. Amen.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit

As it was in the beginning is now and will be forever

World without end. Amen.

This prayer dates back to the earliest days of the Church and has been said with the wording we use today since the seventh century. It is used both at extraordinary form of the Mass and in the liturgy of the hours and we use it to end each decade of the Holy Rosary, so it is a prayer most Catholics are familiar with. 

This short prayer addresses each member of the Trinity and is a great way to end prayers, to use at the end of the day before we fall asleep, to say first thing in the morning, or to offer up praise to the Lord for being good to you. It is a prayer every Catholic should be familiar with (in their vernacular and in Latin).

This prayer, along with the others we covered this week, will arm you with a wealth of prayers to offer our Lord each and every day. Remember, we are called to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess 5:17). One way to fulfill this command, and to sanctify our days, is to use these short prayers.

God bless.