By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK
I was blessed to take part this month in a Pontifical Solemn High Mass and Lepanto conference in New York.
Joseph Cardinal Zen celebrated the Mass with assistance of young clergy and servers. Priests traveled from Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.
The pontificalia was loaned from a benefactor in St. Louis, including the cardinal’s “train which filled the temple” as he processed into perhaps the finest example of Gothic architecture in the city to begin the Mass.
Cardinal Zen humbly and joyfully took part in the Traditional rites, a marvelous example of the service to which every bishop is called in building up the Church and sanctifying souls through the splendor of Roman liturgy.
The sight of a bishop happily cooperating with the direction of MCs and assistants as he submits himself to the signs, symbols, and liturgical choreography of our previous rites handed down for the worship of God makes happy the hearts of all who are blessed to observe it.
Families are content in being united around an attentive and caring father. Our 2,000-year-old Church founded by Christ is no exception. Cardinal Zen offered just such edifying signs of love through the rite, configuring himself closely to Jesus Christ the High Priest.
The Traditional Latin Mass, celebrated with care and correctness, using only the best and finest of materials and vessels, and calling for the reverent and attentive participation of the clergy, lifts hearts and minds to Almighty
God. All of the baptized leave this world and its passing cares behind them, if only for an hour, to consider Heaven and to hasten with greater resolve by means of the journey of faith which seeks final and everlasting union with the Lord there.
The homily delivered by Fr. Richard Cipolla reaffirmed the beauty and truth of the ancient faith and the beauty and truth it brings into and by which it forms our lives. The dignity of his message was confirmed by the dignity and beauty of the actions and elements of the Mass.
I was invited to MC the conference which followed the Mass this year for the second time and honored to introduce and thank the speakers, Dr. Michael Foley and Fr. George Rutler, in addition to the cardinal, who began the series of talks.
By way of contrast I later attended a memorial Novus Ordo Mass in a different diocese. The attendees talked and visited animatedly before the Mass began while the lectors discussed their roles. The altar server walked freely throughout the church without genuflecting.
I rarely concelebrate any more, in particular if I do not know the priest. There are so many unpredictable directions in which any given priest can now take the liturgy that electing not to concelebrate is most prudent. My presence on the altar during misbehavior by a fellow priest would imply consent.
I took a pew in the back of the church alone and attempted to pray. If I sat near the others I might have been tempted to join in the less reverent version of pre-Mass behavior they were displaying. The priest wore violet vestments in a refreshing nod to the tradition of using vestments of black for funerals and memorials of the dead to reflect our belief in prayer and sacrifice for their souls.
My decision to not take official part in the rite was confirmed as the correct one by the homily. In his comments the priest lauded the deceased for loving her children “and all of their choices.” This in full view of the crucifix behind the altar, depicting our Lord dying because of some of our choices.
It was later confirmed that he was referring to a daughter’s decision to simulate marriage with a member of the same sex.
Is this a new religion dressed up by vestiges of Catholic trappings?
I was faced within the space of a period of four days by the stark contrast between these two Masses. The more recent of the two so radically different than the other, so horizontal in its signs and attitudes as to almost eclipse the prior and more necessary vertical orientation toward the action and presence of God.
The Holy Mass results directly from and perpetuates the saving action of the Lord to call us away from sinful choices and to covenantal love of a holy life with Him now so we can so do also forever.
Actions and words which are counter signs to and which attempt to deny or falsify these truths about God’s will and action amount to apostasy.
The priority of the human plane has become so dominant in some corners of the Church today as to nearly crowd out any sense of God, made all the more evident by the priest’s comments approving of mortal sin.
I abstained from Communion with the sad realization that the sacrament was being misused to confirm damning choices made more grave by those who heard the priest imply approval of sin and accepting the unworthy reception of the Lord in such a state.
I also could not decisively rule out that we are threatened with having two religions within the Catholic reality. One clings to tradition in teaching and worship and the other does not. One strives for perfect conformity with the will and plan of holiness and the other does what it pleases without regard to the damning consequences.
Many people are very pious about their choice of heresy. The only piety possible for Christians is defined by rejection of heresy and the choice instead to embrace Christ and all He revealed in founding the Church.
In the face of such widespread disobedience and resulting confusion today we must not flag in our efforts to preach and teach the truth, calling others who persist in error to recognize their salvation is jeopardized without it.
We must repeatedly reaffirm that the faith flows from and is based on Revelation. The content of faith is formed by the truth Christ revealed in Himself, in His works and His teachings. Revelation comes down to us in both Scripture and Tradition.
Faithfulness to Christ means faithfulness to the fullness of Revelation. All that is necessary for those who wish to no longer remain in darkness is to turn on the light. Those in error need only change their mind.
Thank you for reading and praised be Jesus Christ now and forever. Help get my words out to others by retweeting a link to my weekly Wanderer column published at thewandererpress.com.
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