The Extraordinary Form for Ordinary Catholics (3/3)
An Introduction to the Traditional Latin Mass (Conclusion)
The Mass is the solemn, public, formal act of adoration, thanksgiving, and supplication offered by Christ the High Priest to the Father, and by His entire Mystical Body in union with Him. It is the foremost act of the virtue of religion, by which we offer to God a sacrifice of praise worthy of His glory. It is the chief expression of the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity. It is the irruption of the kingdom of heaven into our earthly time and space. It is the nuptial feast of the King of Kings. It is the recapitulation of the entire created universe in its Alpha and Omega.[1]
The second half of the Mass begins with the Offertory of the day, a processional prayer (chanted by the choir at a Sung Mass) during which the subdeacon brings the chalice to the altar and the gifts are prepared. As the Offertory prayers and the prayers recited by the priest over the gifts make clear, their purpose is to sanctify, through bread and wine, all human work and art, but even more so to express the faithful’s self-offering to God in the Eucharist, both for praise and thanksgiving as well as for the propitiation and reparation of their sins by Christ's perfect sacrifice. These prayers also intercede for both the living and the dead, emphasizing again the ecclesial unity wounded by sin. The priest bows before the altar as he prays the In spiritu humilitatis, offering himself and all the people to God, then moves his hands in a circular motion while praying the Veni sanctificator, the epiclesis imploring the Holy Spirit to consecrate the gifts in order for them to become the Body and Blood of Christ. Finally, he incenses the gifts (first in a circular motion, then with the Sign of the Cross), then the altar, during which, as with all ceremonies in the usus antiquior, he prays; the server incenses the people, at which they all stand. In preparing the incense, the priest prays for the intercession of St. Michael, whom medievals identified as the angel at the altar of incense in the Apocalypse.[2]
The priest then prays the Lavabo, meaning “I will wash,” praying that God will make him spiritually clean through the sign of water, again echoing Baptism, for the Consecration, symbolized by the recitation of part of the 25th psalm. Like most elements of the Mass, this began historically for a practical purpose but later its mystical depths were plumbed through the contemplation of the saints. He then bows before the altar and prays the Suscipe, sancta Trinitatis, invoking the Holy Trinity, explicitly connecting the Paschal Mystery of Christ to the same sacrifice which will be re-presented in the Consecration and praying for the intercession of the saints. In preparation for the Consecration, the priest prays Orate Fratres, asking everyone to pray for him and one another; he then quietly prays the Secret of the day, one of the most ancient Mass prayers, asking God to accept the gifts of bread and wine as instruments for the true offering of the Eucharist.[3]
The Canon of the Mass is preceded by the Preface, opened with an introductory dialogue which goes back to apostolic times and is recorded by Hippolytus in the third century,[4] with the priest asking the people to lift up their hearts to God, elevating their desires to Heaven rather than worldly things (Sursum corda), and to give thanks to God, to which the people acknowledge that it is right and just. The Preface then follows, varying for the proper of the day. It recalls the fact that, at Mass, Christians are not praying alone but in company with all the heavenly army of angels and saints, praising the Blessed Trinity eternally.[5] This reveals the full glory of the Mass, fulfilling the Sursum corda by lifting up the heart to Heaven in the supreme act of worship which is Christ's sacrifice on the Cross, soon to be made present in the Consecration. The Preface concludes with the Sanctus sung with the choir, taken from the prophet Isaias and echoing the immortal hymn of the angels in Heaven; it is exceptionally ancient, being mentioned by Pope St. Clement I in the first century.[6]
The people then kneel as the Canon begins. The Canon, as preparation for the Consecration, is essentially intercessory: the priest quietly prays that he and the gathered congregation will be made worthy, then prays for the pope and bishop and the whole Catholic Church, for all those dear to him and the congregation praying the Canon with him; this illustrates the nature of the Eucharist as Sacramentum Caritatis, offered for the salvation and well-being of all. The priest then, as with the Sanctus, joins the Mass to the Heavenly Liturgy, venerating and asking the intercession of the Blessed Virgin and many early saints; martyrs of Rome are emphasized because the Canon was first composed in Rome during the time of great persecution.[7] The climax of the Consecration is approached finally by the Hanc Igitur prayer, when the priest extends his hands over the offerings as a symbol of his sins and the sins of all mankind being placed on Christ, the Lamb of God, who took on the sins of the world and vanquished them on the Cross through His divine charity.
The Consecration then takes place with the priest reciting the institution narrative of the Last Supper, genuflecting both before and after consecrating the bread and wine in adoration before what has become the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ; he elevates each species toward the Crucifix as the offering of Christ to the Father in Heaven and so that the congregation may see and adore them with him. The Consecration is done in faithful obedience to the command of Christ. Bread and wine remain only as appearances; their substance has become Christ's true Body and Blood, the same sacrifice of the Cross made universally accessible through His resurrection and offered by Him eternally to the Father in Heaven for our salvation, now made applicable in the unbloody sacrifice of the Eucharist:[8] the fulfillment of all desire, the correction of the Fall and a foretaste of humanity’s complete spousal union with Christ the New Adam at the End Times. Christians are also more perfectly united to the Body of Christ, both on Earth and in Heaven, forgiven their venial sins and filled with grace to grow in holiness and preach the Gospel throughout the world.[9] (CCC 1394)
After the Consecration, the priest prays the ancient Anamnesis, emphasizing the presence of Christ and the power of His sacrifice in the Eucharist offered by the priest with the people and recalling the prefigurement of Christ in the priestly sacrifices of Abel, Abraham and Melchisedek in the Old Testament. He also again reveals the participation of the Mass in the Heavenly Liturgy, asking the angels to carry the offering of the Eucharist to the Father for the salvation of the Church. He then prays for the dead which, as St. Augustine wrote, has special significance in the Mass,[10] and that all present may have some fellowship with the saints in Heaven through the divine life of the Eucharist. He kisses the altar and makes the sign of the cross over the offerings and himself to emphasize his words, and when praying for the congregation strikes his breast in remembrance of the Confiteor. The Canon concludes with the Doxology, adapted from St. Paul’s epistle to the Romans and including another, smaller elevation of the Eucharist.
The Rite of Communion begins with the Lord's Prayer (Pater Noster), which may be prayed either by the priest alone, representing Christ as supreme instructor in prayer, or by all the faithful with him. It is the most perfect prayer, the model for all others. This is followed by the Embolism, a commentary on the Lord's Prayer begging for the forgiveness of sins, and then the Commingling, when a piece of the Body is mixed with the Blood in the chalice as a sign of the unity of the Church as the Body of Christ. The people then kneel and pray three times the prayer of St. John the Baptist, the Agnus Dei, also pointing to the Lamb in the Heavenly Liturgy, then the priest prays preparatory prayers for the three effects of communion (peace, sanctification and grace)[11] and all the faithful echo the man healed by Christ in the threefold Domine, non sum dignus; (Mt 8:8) while the choir sings the Communio antiphon, the faithful who are worthy[12] process to the sanctuary, kneel on the altar rail and receive the Eucharist directly on the tongue under the one species of bread (but receiving the fullness of Christ therein). (CCC 1390) Receiving on the tongue avoids abuse, teaches humility and reverence for the Eucharist which only the consecrated hands of the priest touch and recalls the words of Isaias: “And one of the seraphims flew to me, and in his hand was a live coal, which he had taken with the tongs off the altar. And he touched my mouth, and said: Behold this hath touched thy lips, and thy iniquities shall be taken away, and thy sin shall be cleansed.” (Is 6:6-7)
Communion is followed by the Postcommunion prayer in thanksgiving for the Mass, then the Dismissal, from which the name “Mass” derives in the Ite, Missa est, first used (with certainty) as the name for the liturgy by St. Ambrose, signifying both the end of the liturgy and the mission on which the faithful are sent through the evangelical power of the Eucharist.[13] The music accompanying the dismissal usually uses the same melody as the Kyrie, emphasizing the unity of the Mass.[14] The people kneel as the priest prays the Placeat tibi, kisses the altar and turns to bless the faithful, then recites the Last Gospel, the prologue of St. John's Gospel and one of the greatest passages of Scripture, before processing back to the sacristy. It is customary for the people to then stay for a time kneeling in silent prayer after Mass.[15]
After leaving the EF for the first time, many questions may arise, inviting deeper study and conversation. The newcomer may even feel uncomfortable, disturbed by his experience. These feelings and questions should not be ignored: they are signs of a profound interior change. Msgr. George Moorman, concluding his classic treatise on the EF, thus wrote: “It is all over now, and you may go back into the busy street and into your own homes. Nothing has changed since you left it all an hour ago. Only this has happened: You have stood in the presence of the living God; you have shared in the most sacred and solemn action that is possible to conceive as taking place on this earth.”[16]
[1] Kwasniewski, Roman Rite, 47.
[2] Cf. Sternbeck, Order of Mass, 28-29.
[3] Sternbeck, Order of Mass, 30.
[4] Sternbeck, Order of Mass, 35.
[5] Sacrosanctum concilium, §8.
[6] Pope Clement I, Letter to the Corinthians, trans. John Keith, Ante-Nice Fathers, ed. Allan Menzies, vol. 9, The Epistles of Clement (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature, 1894), at New Advent, www.newadvent.org.
[7] Sternbeck, Order of Mass, 36.
[8] Moorman, Latin Mass, 25-26.
[9] Sternbeck, Order of Mass, 58.
[10] Sternbeck, Order of Mass, 38.
[11] Sternbeck, Order of Mass, 58.
[12] Moorman, Latin Mass, 172.
[13] Fortescue, “Liturgy of the Mass.”
[14] Sternbeck, Order of Mass, 59.
[15] Moorman, Latin Mass, 173.
[16] Moorman, Latin Mass, 187-188.