"Now of all God's creatures Mary is the most conformed to Jesus. It therefore follows that, of all devotions, devotion to her makes for the most effective consecration and conformity to him. The more one is consecrated to Mary, the more one is consecrated to Jesus."
-St Louis de Montfort
I myself would like to attend the true mass. Not only today but always. I currently attend the society of St. Peter here in Phoenix Arizona.
Currently with the society of St. Peter, I see the Vatican II practices and teachings slowly creeping in, and I am concerned. Not alarmed but concerned. I know our priests here in Phoenix must also be struggling, with the new pope Francis. Of course there is nothing said from the pulpit to indicate a struggle, yet there is a vague feeling that we must be cautious and prudent, guarded perhaps.
With Pope Benedict it was clear we were reforming the mass, reforming the reforms of Vatican II. With Pope Francis now it becomes murky and I wonder if we're slipping into some kind of a highbred mass. For that reason I think it is imperative for the Mass to be the Mass of all time with no additions or improvisation.
Strangely as it sounds some of the things that Pope Francis has said resonate with me. They resonate with me in a way in which I don't think he intended. In the recent interview he did on the airplane, he mentioned that Catholics the traditional Catholics are too concerned with things like abortion gay marriage and homosexuality, and as strange as it sounds I agree with him. I don't think you can rank sins according to their degree of evil. Abortion the terrible evil, is a terrible evil among many. And it is certainly an evil but not the source of all evil. A mortal sin, is a mortal sin. Its disconnects us from the flow of God's grace especially the sacraments. So to mention abortion in connection to the Mass the Mass of all time is itself an improvisation that I believe we should do without. I am speaking here of the prayer for life which is said after the Leoline prayers at the society of St. Peter Latin mass as it is said here in Phoenix Arizona.
Of course it would be absurd to speak of Roe versus Wade at Mass in France, or a Mass in Argentina or any other country so to speak. Yet at the end of the Leonine prayers is inserted this petition to end abortion. Clearly this goes beyond the 1962 missal. So in a sense rather than the mass of all time we are having an American mass. We have an American mass rather than the mass of all time, by inserting this petition prayer which is a local American situation. This of course is the type of thing that you have in the Vatican 2 mass that is said throughout the world. You have a local mass rather than a mass of all time.
When I go to mass with the Society of St. peters, one of the things that I am concerned with has to do with. Of the mass actually when the mass is ended. The leonine prayers that we say after the mass has technically ended, have been altered by the Society of St. Peter here in America. They have inserted a prayer to end abortion. A noble cause yet none the less not something that should be added to the mass. They mention specifically the roe versus Wade decision. Now I am no fan or supporter of abortion or birth control. Yet I don't think it is appropriate to insert this fixation on abortion as the primary sin, and connected somehow with the leonine prayers originated by Pope Leo. Although the mass has ended at this point, I don't think it appropriate to make this addition. I don't see how this reference to the roe versus Wade decision is appropriate at that point. Even though the mass has ended it is still somehow connected to the mass and therefore to make this addition, is to alter the basic liturgy of the 1962 missal.
To me the various prayers and petitions that are said during the Vatican 2 mass have nothing to do with the mass. while it is certainly noble to enter some prayer petition for disaster victims or some cause of some kind for world peace or what have you, yet it is not appropriate to insert this into the mass. If you want to have a prayer service or something after the mass fine but all these petitions and prayers and so on have no place in the mass. And although the intention is good I do not see the purpose in the society of St. Peter inserting this petition into the liturgy.
Although I support and attend the St. Peter society mass here in Phoenix Arizona I am now leaning more towards the society of Pius the 10th,( I am also strongly considering attending a retreat here in Phoenix run by the SSPX), I am praying very strongly, praying for a way to reconcile myself to the Latin mass and the choice I must make. Although I support & bless and in every way support our new Pope Francis, I feel that he may not be the pope that we need now in relationship to the changes that Pope Benedict was making with the liturgy, of course only time will tell. With Pope Benedict I felt a visceral gut connection to our holy father the pope and his dedication to healing the wounds of Vatican II. With Pope Francis I don't get this connection, knowing however that many Catholics do feel a stronger connection with Pope Francis then they did with Pope Benedict. So I have this dilemma which is connected with my own salvation. I have this heartfelt dilemma and crisis in my faith. It's something that I cannot deny or change. Sadly I want so much the mass of all time as the good Archbishop Marcel Lefebre so heartily stated. I do not want to fight or argue or take anything away from anyone anywhere, I only want to pray I only want to experience the grace of God through the holy mass.
I continue to heartily be drawn to our virgin mother Mary, and the message of Fatima. I firmly believe in my heart through the grace of God that an emphasis on Mary the mother of God, our Lady of Mount Carmel, our Lady of Guadalupe , is the only solution that can work for me. And although this is the height of you Breese and arrogance, I also feel that this is the only way that the church can come out of its crisis that our liturgy of the holy Roman Latin mass can be sustained and fulfilled. As we all know one of the primary elements of Vatican II was to reach out to the lost sheep, to reach out to the Protestants to the Lutherans to all the various sects, to the Anglicans to the church of England to the Methodists in general reach out to the Protestants. Now as we all know one of the primary stumbling blocks of the Protestants is the Catholics connection and love and fascination with the virgin Mary, the mother of God. The aftermath of Vatican II besides all the changes in the liturgy the promotion of the vernacular, was a deconstruction of Mary.. Although it was not stated in any of the Vatican 2 documents, although there was no mention to somehow eliminate Mary, it was done. Mary was in practice removed from her pedestal. In practice Mary was deemphasized. So that the Catholic faith could be more attractive to a Protestant Mary was deemphasized.
For me the renewal of the Latin mass, the promotion of the Latin mass, must go hand in hand with the promotion of Mary the mother of God the Virgin, the immaculate conception, the immaculate heart of Mary. This of course flies in the face of ecumenism of the reaching out to Protestants, because you cannot reach out to the Protestants if you focus on Mary. The Protestants have a stumbling block with Mary. So the Vatican II practical application was to remove Mary all references to Mary and focus on Jesus.
Anyway, I pray for the grace of God to get through this personal crisis and work instead on my salvation and the goal of eternal life, in Jesus and Mary blessings always
