Fr. Ripperger, in this Wonderful Article, explains the Theological Basis for the Traditional Catholic Teaching that the Traditional Mass is Objectively Superior to the New Mass, in that it gives More Glory to God, and merits More Grace for the Church, than the New Mass does. Thoughts on the Article? Article here: http://www.u.arizona.edu/~aversa/modernism/Merit of the Mass (Fr. Ripperger, F.S.S.P.).pdf "Fr. Ripperger, Merit of a Mass, Article Link Given Above: "Among the traditional faithful there appears to be a kind of intuitive sense that the old rite of Mass is more efficacious than the new rite. Many believe that they derive more spiritual gain from the old rite of Mass than from the new. However, to give a more precise expression to the intuitive sense of which is more efficacious, the new or the old rite, it is necessary to make several distinctions. Since the purpose of this article is very specific, i.e. to ascertain which ritual is more meritorious or efficacious, certain issues regarding the value or efficacy of the Mass will be avoided.1 Yet, to answer the question of whether the old rite of Mass is more efficacious than the new is of paramount importance. It is the point of departure between priests of the respective rites, since each holds that he is saying the Mass that is best for the faithful.2 Nevertheless, the question is a key one since, in the end, whichever ritual is more meritorious ought to be the one that the Roman authorities encourage. Since one of the primary obligations of those in authority in the Church is the glory of God through the salvation of souls, they have the obligation to encourage and, in some cases, require the ritual of the Mass which is most efficacious. I. Distinctions of Merit The distinctions within the different kinds of merit of the Mass are first founded on a distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic merit or value. The Catholic Encyclopedia says: We must also sharply distinguish between the intrinsic and the extrinsic value of the Mass (valor intrinsecus, extrinsecus). As for its intrinsic value, it seems beyond doubt that, in view of the infinite worth of Christ as the Victim and High Priest in one Person, the sacrifice must be regarded as of infinite value, just as the sacrifice of the Last Supper and that of the Cross. ...But when we turn to the Mass as a sacrifice of impetration and expiation, the case is different. While we must always regard its intrinsic value as infinite, since it is the sacrifice of the God-Man Himself, its extrinsic value must necessarily be finite in consequence of the limitations of man. The scope of the so-called “fruits of the Mass” is limited.3 In discussing the value of the Mass, one must make a distinction between intrinsic and the extrinsic value. The intrinsic value of any valid Mass is infinite since It is Christ, Who is infinite, Who is offered. Hence, in this respect every Mass has an infinite value.4 The new rite of Mass is just as efficacious as the old rite of Mass in this respect since they are both the same sacrifice of Christ.5 The Mass, because it is the offering of God the Son to God the Father, gives infinite glory to God.6 However, the extrinsic value or merit of the Mass is finite.7 This is so because man, a finite creature, is incapable of receiving infinite effects. In this respect, the value of the Mass is “intensive limited,”8 which means that the fruit of the Mass is limited in its measure. Normally, the liturgical writers state that, as to its impetratory and expiatory value, the Mass is finite,9 “since the operations of propitiation and impetration refer to human beings, who as creatures can receive a finite act only.”10 When one considers the actual sacrifice of the Mass, which is the sacrifice of Calvary, it is infinite, but as to its effects, other than the infinite effect of giving God glory, it is finite. In addition to man’s finitude, the liturgical writers give other reasons for the limitation of the extrinsic value of the Mass. While the Mass is infinite as to What is sacrificed, nevertheless we derive only finite fruits from the Mass. The writers say that the extrinsic merit of the Mass is based essentially upon six things. These six things are intermediaries between the infinite efficaciousness of the Mass and those who receive the actual effects from the Mass ... Conclusion It is safe to say that, objectively speaking, with respect to the ritual itself the old rite of Mass has an ability to merit more than the new rite of Mass. While this merit is accidental, since the essential or intrinsic merit of the Mass, which is the Sacrifice of Christ, is the same in both rites, it is nevertheless something serious. Since the faithful are the beneficiaries of the fruits derived from this aspect of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we have a grave obligation to consider the impact that this factor may be having on the life of the Church. While it is not our intention to denigrate the new rite, we must recognize that the ritual of Mass used in the old rite is more meritorious and therefore more beneficial for the people who assist at it and for the priests who offer it. ✠ The Merit of a Mass. Father Chad Ripperger, F.S.S.P., is a professor at St. Gregory’s diocesan minor seminary and Our Lady of Guadalupe seminary, both in Nebraska."
The Triumph of Tradition is coming, Brian. It is a beautiful work of the Holy Spirit, as His Excellency Bishop Athanasius says - truly a modern Athanasius for our times - and it can no longer be stopped. Like Gamaliel said, what is of God cannot be defeated by anyone. By God's Grace, Tradition will continue to flourish and thrive, in the Church and for the Church, and make Her Strong, Great, Prosperous, Flourishing, and restore our Holy Mother Church to Great Glory. From: https://liturgyguy.com/tag/novus-ordo-mass/ " The following guest post was written by frequent contributor Fr. Donald Kloster, parochial vicar at St. Mary’s in the Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut. I’ve been mulling over many questions lately that pertain to the families of those who enter a Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) vocation to the Priesthood and/or Religious life. A related query is how well the Traditional Latin Mass retains those children now being brought up within the Traditional Latin Mass since their early childhood or at least from the time of their earliest memories. My experience with those raised in the Latin Mass prior to the Second Vatican Council tells me that the knowledge and retention of the faith is promoted by the Vetus Ordo. My Novus Ordo observations tell me that it leaks faithful like a faulty gasket of an engine leaks oil. The Novus Ordo culture has produced a plethora of faithful who know very little about their faith despite a myriad of “new” catechetical gimmicks. The Rite of the Mass cannot but help to nourish the soul in the degrees of fidelity to the Apostolic praxis. We are the result of the Mass we pray. In the Novus Ordo, the engine still runs, but it runs at a diminished capacity because of a minimalist design. My priest friends who don’t say the TLM are almost single minded in their rebuttal of my conclusion. They insist that it’s all about the families in which people are raised. Wrong. On both sides of the argument, either one can point to families that were fairly exemplary but their children don’t practice the faith once they leave home. Or, as I’ve come across, many others whose parents did not practice the Faith regularly and now their children have chosen to do so as adults on their own. I’ve lived in 11 different US Dioceses and lived on three continents. Perhaps that speaks less in my favor as it pertains to my being bounced around as I was! Anecdotes can only be dismissed if the sample size of the given observation is small and fairly isolated. My sample size is quite large. Sometimes anecdotal occurrences are repeated so often that the conclusion should not be dismissed; that is as it pertains to reasonable thinking. I’ve been involved in TLM circles for 28 years and have said the Traditional Mass for 20 years. I am, however, a product of the Novus Ordo. I never even saw a TLM until I was 24 years old. I went to the Seminary and was ordained as a Novus Ordo priest. My first TLM was as a 3 year ordained priest in 1998. I have no dog in this fight. Really, when I began to say the TLM I thought it was just for the good of my priestly spirituality. I never thought the TLM would catch on again in any wider scope; ever. This past year, I have been doing a National Study on the TLM only parishes in the USA. Currently, there are around 70 of these but they are exploding in numbers with each passing year because the TLM priestly vocations are outpacing Novus Ordo priestly vocations by more than 7 to 1. My preliminary numbers are exceeding my initial expectations. There is a huge wave transforming the Catholic landscape and it is largely being ignored by the Catholic leadership. I can now say what I suspected last year. The Novus Ordo is dying and it will be replaced by the Vetus Ordo sooner than anyone had foreseen, but certainly by 2050 the TLM will be the dominant liturgical practice once again. My instincts tell me that 30-50% of the current vocations coming from the Traditional Latin Mass were not raised in it. Next year, I’ll try to test that feeling with the aforementioned study. A great number of the young men and women entering the TLM orders discovered it themselves; it wasn’t their family upbringing. My belief is that the Ancient Mass is the vocations catalyst and not the family per se. One can certainly find a vocation as a Novus Ordo attendee, but all of the evidence suggests that many, many more are found as a TLM attendee. One huge proof is the precipitous vocations drop off after the Council and the abandoning of the 1962 Missal. The other proof is that vocations continue to rocket up in 2018 in the TLM and have leveled off at a very much lower level in the Novus Ordo seminaries and convents using the 1970 Missal. The Novus Ordo closed convents and seminaries will never reach their previous levels because there is no upward trend; not even in the same ballpark. Remember, all Catholics live in the same society and we all have similar temptations and spiritual obstacles to overcome. “By their fruit ye shall know them” (Mt. 7:16). Finally, let’s be clear. This article is not intended to disparage anyone. Not one of us should cling to anything that is passing away. There is no reason to put your faith in something in order to win an argument or simply because at one time you thought things would improve with the Novus Ordo. Instead, things got much worse. At the dawn of the promulgation of the Novus Ordo, we bled a big majority of Mass attending Catholics. No one asked them what they preferred. No one gave them any options. If they had been asked and/or allowed to attend the Mass of the Ages, the Novus Ordo would not have supplanted the formative Mass of every canonized saint to date. Now bishops often repeat the stale quoted refrain, “almost no one wants the TLM.” Why do they suddenly care what the proverbial “people” want? They didn’t care back in 1970 when almost none of the faithful wanted a vernacular Mass. It’s true the Church is not a democracy. She is a theocracy and God will have His way! Everything is coming back full circle and I have a lot of buried relatives and friends who, if living today, would be overjoyed."
Xavier, Could you copy the six things [that] are intermediaries between the infinite efficaciousness of the Mass and those who receive the actual effects from the Mass ...When I attempt to download I'm warned of a contaminated file. The following may strike TLM Catholics as some sort of rebuttal, but my family and families we associated with as our children grew up have remained faithful; and children and grandchildren are being successfully raised as faithful Catholics apart from a direct association with the TLM. So my question is: can these six intermediaries be found and cultivated outside the context of the TLM? Perhaps the TLM excels in reinforcing these intermediaries in a way that their "success rate" is amplified. But my question remains: How come the "Sabbath Group" families also succeeded in passing a living Faith on to the next generation without the TLM playing a central role in our lives? As far as the O'Loughlin family is concerned, I have shared elsewhere how the Regnum Christi Movement also proved to be a vital catalyst. One point I agree with in the above is that the TLM will play a key role in the resurgence of authentic Catholicism in the coming decades. I hope to see the beginning of this era before the Lord calls me home. Safe in the Barque of Peter!
I only have access to the NO Mass. I always love Mass because I understand what it is. But there are serious, serious flaws with the NO Mass in Ireland. In Ireland the NO is priest centred - he is the star of the show -- if he is a pantomime priest you get a pantomime mass if he is a comedian you have to put up with his jokes and jolliness. I have come to realise the NO is a fossilized version of Mass - it is stuck in the culture of the 1960s and the priest can make or break it - because he is facing the wrong way. He looks at an audience not a congregation. Why is he always facing the people? And since covid we have the masks, the rituals of hand sanitising, the social distancing. And even for me this is becoming too much. I huff and puff and sigh when I see him mask on, mask off, sanitising his hands, gloves on, gloves off, communion behind a Perspex box, giving communion with tongs - what is this nonsense?? I long not to see the priest facing me - please turn around face the altar and give honour to God during the consecration. That one move alone to go ad orientem will make a huge difference. The NO is dying - it has led to the loss of faith in the real presence. Absolutely no doubt about it. The NO in Ireland is a failed experiment, a disaster of huge proportions - the pews have mostly grey and bald heads and even the pews are half empty. And none of my three boys practise the faith for they only rarely go to Mass. I can't blame them for even I am struggling with the Sunday Mass in its present form bowing to the covid cult. And the NO has Vatican II has produced Pope Francis and the pachamama idolatry. Need I say more. Rant over.
I agree Regnum Christi is outstanding! They are on fire. Good on your family. Praise God! Unfortunately, regarding average Novus Ordo Masses, Garabandal's post above, which he calls a rant, hits the nail on the head. It is very true, not really a rant.
How outrageous! The only precautions my pastor takes from the above are sanitizing and mask-wearing at the time of Holy Communion!
To be fair I like the priest he is pro life. But his fear of covid is over the top. He's in his forties but may have underlying health issues. But the procedures in place are so distracting unfortunately.
Well, a parish next to my neighborhood just began Latin Mass. I love it. So many families and young people go to this Mass. Most women wear the veils, and the men wear suits. It’s like I’m being transferred back to the 1950’s.
St Augustine Church of Coral Gables in Miami Florida. It’s located across the University of Miami. We are very fortunate to have a great priest there.
I so agree with this. The NO is fossilised - the modernisers throught to make the Mass more 'relevant' to the age, and we got stuck with a hippy mindset, heavily influenced by the eccentricities of television. My local situation is awful. People are leaving because Father talks so much. I joke that we have three sermons - one at the start of Mass, one as the homily and one at the end when the notices are read out and a lot more besides. It's HIS show. The sad thing is that he's a good person and pro-life, and he's a good historian with a mostly orthodox theology. BUT.... you really have to offer up the chattering and the banality. I don't really remember the TLM as we were taken only rarely to Mass as children. I did attend an FSSP Mass but didn't have all the sublime experiences people on this forum talk about. The lack of reverence in many NO Masses not only causes a lack of faith and bad theology, with many people in the communion line waiting 'to receive the bread' (grrr) but an almost universal shunning of the confessional. My local parish doesn't offer confession at all. You can go, but you have to schedule, which removes the anonymity. I drove to our local abbey and sat for 45 minutes but no priest came at the appointed hour. No other lay people either. I was quite alone in that huge church with the Blessed Sacrament for company. I'm going to my eldest daughter for Christmas and hope there will be a chance to go at her parish, but I suspect it's scheduling only. I can hardly believe how bad things have got.
