Is the Latin Mass, when celebrated not in Full Communion with Rome, not pleasing & acceptable to God?

Upvote:1

Is the Latin Mass, when celebrated not in Full Communion with Rome, not pleasing & acceptable to God?

There are three cases in which the Holy Mass validity will be question assuming that Trads priest were all validly ordained;

Valid Mass 1) the matter (wheat bread and grape wine), 2) the essential form (This is My Body; This My Blood), and 3) the intention of the celebrant to do what the Church does (even if poorly formed, held with doubts, but at least not contradicted) is present.http://www.ewtn.com/v/experts/showmessage.asp?number=317276

In the three conditions, it is noteworthy to mentioned Cardinal Oulette addressed to Ab.Vigano questioning how he celebrate Mass.

Dear brother, how much I wish that I could help you return to communion with him who is the visible guarantor of communion in the Catholic Church. I understand that deceptions and sufferings have marked your path in the service to the Holy See, but you should not finish your priestly life involved in an open and scandalous rebellion that inflicts a very painful wound to the Bride of Christ, whom you pretend to serve better, while causing further division and confusion among the People of God. How could I answer your call except by saying: stop living clandestinely, repent of your rebelliousness, and come back to better feelings towards the Holy Father, instead of fostering hostility against him. How can you celebrate Mass and mention his name in the Eucharistic Prayer? How can you pray the Holy Rosary, or pray to Saint Michael the Archangel, or to the Mother of God, while condemning the one Our Lady protects and accompanies every day in his burdensome and courageous mission?

Cardinal Oulette question two important points on Ab.Vigano, his communion with the Universal Church and the Pope and the manner he pronounced the Name of Pope Francis in the Eucharistic Prayers which is an important part in the Canon of the Mass;**

  1. How much I wish that I could help you return to communion with him who is the visible guarantor of communion in the Catholic Church.

  2. How can you celebrate Mass and mention his name in the Eucharistic Prayer?

Note : This two questions legitimately applies both to all Traditionalist Priest and the Novus Ordo ordained Priest.

http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/cardinal-ouellet-writes-open-letter-to-archbishop-vigano

Since one of the major conditions on the validity of the Holy Mass is the "intention of the Mass celebrant must be in Full Communion with what the Universal Church does", the Traditionalist who are well known dissenters or openly expresses their resistance and opposition to the Pope is questionable.

Traditionalist group known to celebrate Latin Masses particularly a Traditionalist priest identified as openly expressing resistance & opposition is violating the condition on the validity of the Holy Mass which is "Full Communion with the Universal Church and the Pope".Obviously the identified Traditionallist Priest if he is the Mass celebrant, the question of Cardinal Oulette applies How can you celebrate Mass and mention his name in the Eucharistic Prayer?

Now, to addressed the question is it pleasing & acceptable to God?

All the Latin Mass Eucharistic prayer of intercession have the same formula from Apostolic Tradition up to Vatican I and even up to Vatican II.

Let's check on the Eucharistic prayer of intercession pertaining to the offering of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, to whom the prayers is addressed;

1354 *In the anamnesis that follows, the Church calls to mind the Passion, resurrection, and glorious return of Christ Jesus; she presents to the Father the offering of his Son which reconciles us with him.*

In the intercessions, *the Church indicates that the Eucharist is celebrated in communion with the whole Church in heaven and on earth, the living and the dead, and in communion with the pastors of the Church, the Pope, the diocesan bishop, his presbyterium and his deacons, and all the bishops of the whole world together with their Churches.

Also, it is noteworthy to noticed the important of offering the Eucharistc Sacrifice in unity starting with the Pope...in CCC1369

1369 The whole Church is united with the offering and intercession of Christ. Since he has the ministry of Peter in the Church, the Pope is associated with every celebration of the Eucharist, wherein he is named as the sign and servant of the unity of the universal Church.

The bishop of the place is always responsible for the Eucharist, even when a priest presides; the bishop's name is mentioned to signify his presidency over the particular Church, in the midst of his presbyterium and with the assistance of deacons. The community intercedes also for all ministers who, for it and with it, offer the Eucharistic sacrifice:

Let only that Eucharist be regarded as legitimate, which is celebrated under [the presidency of] the bishop or him to whom he has entrusted it.191 (191 St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Smyrn. 8:1;SCh 10,138.)

Through the ministry of priests the spiritual sacrifice of the faithful is completed in union with the sacrifice of Christ the only Mediator, which in the Eucharist is offered through the priests' hands in the name of the whole Church in an unbloody and sacramental manner until the Lord himself comes.192 (192 PO 2 § 4.)

Now the CCC mentioned the unity of the universal church, the question is what is the definition of the church?

According to Church Fathers who is the Church?

Lay believers are in the front line of Church life; for them the Church is the animating principle of human society.

Therefore, they in particular ought to have an ever-clearer consciousness not only of belonging to the Church, but of being the Church, that is to say, the community of the faithful on earth under the leadership of the Pope, the common Head, and of the bishops in communion with him. They are the Church.432

432 Pius XII, Discourse, February 20, 1946:AAS 38 (1946) 149; quoted by John Paul II, CL 9.

So the Church established by Jesus Christ is headed by the Pope in communion with the bishop and with all the faithfuls/believers in all parts of the world..

If we omit the name of the Pope in celebrating the Latin Mass.St. Ambrose a Traditionalist, Church Father & Doctor of the Church said;

"Ubi Petrus, Ibi Ecclesia, Ibi Deus".

*And if we omit the name of Bishop who have jurisdiction in the diocese,*St.Ignatius of Antioch has said the following;

“See that ye all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father, and the presbytery as ye would the apostles; and reverence the deacons, as being the institution of God. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. […] Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. […] Whatsoever [the bishop] shall approve of, that is also pleasing to God, so that everything that is done may be secure and valid.” (St. Ignatius: Letter to the Smyrnaeans; Ch 8)

“Let all things therefore be done by you with good order in Christ. Let the laity be subject to the deacons; the deacons to the presbyters; the presbyters to the bishop; the bishop to Christ, even as He is to the Father.” (St. Ignatius: Letter to the Smyrnaeans; Ch 9)

“Let all things therefore be done by you with good order in Christ. Let the laity be subject to the deacons; the deacons to the presbyters; the presbyters to the bishop; the bishop to Christ, even as He is to the Father.” (St. Ignatius: Letter to the Smyrnaeans; Ch 9)

Also in the reference articles the author writes the following;

From these words, we recognize the great emphasis which St. Ignatius places on the authority of the bishop and the obligation of all (including both the laity and the clergy) to be subjected to the bishop. “Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop.” How strong and direct are our Saint’s words! How wrong are those who reject their bishop’s authority and strive forward in pride to do their own will!

Who can dare to judge his bishop? Whither comes such authority? No, there is none in the Church who is over the bishop (excepting, of course the Pope), therefore whosoever judges and condemns his bishop judges against Christ and against the Father. To reject the authority of the bishop is to reject the authority of Christ – persons who do such are “not possessed of a good conscience.”

Wherever the bishop is, there is the people of God; just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.

http://newtheologicalmovement.blogspot.com/2011/10/on-authority-of-bishops-from-st.html

Therefore, based on Catechism of the Catholic Church, Church Father's teaching (St.Ignatius of Antioch, St.Ambrose also St.Pius XII) and from biblical passages in John17:22. The Will of the Father as Jesus said is an offering of "One united sacrifice". Not following the desire of the Abba Father clearly expressed in Jesus words in John17:22 the offering is "not pleasing & acceptable" as it contradict the desire of God the Father.

Jesus Prays for All Believers 20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.(John17:20-23)

The Church teaches that “it is Christ himself, the eternal high priest of the New Covenant who, acting though the ministry of the priests, offers the Eucharistic sacrifice."http://catholicsay.com/aacan-a-holy-mass-be-invalid-condition/

In closing, Full Communion to the Universal Church in the form of submission to Church Hierarchy most especially to the Pope. Jesus said "apart from me you can do nothing", likewise the Canon Law stated that "apart from the Vicar of Christ" all priest & bishops have no faculties to offer a Holy Mass.

Upvote:2

The first prayer in the canon of the traditional Latin mass, called the "Te igitur" after its first words, says explicitly that the sacrifice is offered "in primis ... pro ecclesia tua sancta catholica, ..., una cum famulo tuo Papa nostro N., et antistite nostro N., et omnibus orthodoxis atque catholicae et apostolocae fidei cultoribus." [in the first place ... for Thy holy Catholic church ... together with Thy servant N. our pope, N. our bishop, and all true believers and professors of the Catholic and Apostolic Faith --- translation from St. Andrew Daily Missal] Of course, the part about the pope is omitted when there is no pope, and the part about the bishop is omitted when the local see is vacant, but even without those two parts, the prayer clearly puts the holy sacrifice of the mass in communion with the Catholic Church.

More post

Search Posts

Related post