The John Perricone article really is excellent. He raises questions that deeply concern me, both as an Anglican convert and a student of Carmelite spirituality.
We seem determined to repeat the fatal errors of Anglicanism. Our new mass is so full of human talking that Jesus can barely get a word in edgewise. And Synodality seems to be carrying us even further down the path of talking *about* Jesus instead of talking *to* Jesus. At the end of all this human talking I fear we will end up with a man-made Jesus — a sort of empty wineskin that we fill up with fashionable social causes. And we will lose sight entirely of the real Jesus, with his hard teachings and his sacrificial mysticism.
I could say a lot more about this — but I’ll keep my powder dry because I’m in the early stages of writing a book about the ‘mystical conversation’ between the great Carmelite saints and the Tridentine Mass.
Obviously such a book would have been inconceivable without your monumental scholarship on the Mass. Before I discovered your work, I had only a vague feeling that ‘something is not right here.’ You gave me the tools to think systematically about the problem. And I know I’m not alone.
You have shown many of us the way. So thank you again for everything you do. It really matters!
You are absolutely right about the "mystical conversation" that took place between ALL the saints in the past and the traditional apostolic rites in which they worshiped. Indeed, it was their mysticism that largely drove the organic development and explication of these rites, in a positive "feedback loop." The astonishing arrogance of the reformers of the 1960s consisted in thinking that somehow, by their own lights and by their "scholarship," they could evaluate as from a superior position the entirety of the Catholic patrimony, decide what to keep, what to chuck out, and what to rewrite or write from scratch, and then employ heavy-duty top-down authority to force everyone to accept it. As I said in my interview with Matt Fradd, the sheer unbelievability of it beggars the imagination.
For examples of how a great Benedictine mystic, St. Gertrude the Great, engaged with the solemn Mass, see:
Yes, exactly! It's a virtuous cycle! The Mass and the mystics complete each other. But then we shut out the mystics -- and essentially reduced the liturgy to a bureacratic administrative process.
Like you I find the hubris of the reformers utterly astounding. What could possibly lead a person to wake up one morning and think: "I know what God wants me to do today! He wants me to replace this song by Thomas Aquinas with a much better song by Wonderful Me Me Me!"
But I used to work professionally with extremely traumatized people. And if you read the biographies of many of the most important "spirit of Vatican II" figures you realize that they were also profoundly traumatized. Pedro Arrupe for example, was in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb was dropped.
At first it seems paradoxical that severely traumatized people would reject the sacrificial Mass, which gives dignity and meaning to human suffering. But traumatized people often self-sabotage by destroying the very relationships that they most need on to heal.
That's how I see it anyway. It doesn't solve the problem of course. But it does help me to be less frustrated and more fruitful. It is better to germinate than to ruminate!!
His Reign Shall Have no End arrived, and I just looked inside. I flipped to chapter one and thought I was opening an older book with its more generous margins and typeface that is easy on the eyes. The page layout and the cover make a handsome and reader-friendly book.
But of course I had to read your preface. It was invigorating! You say the incarnation is the vital center of Catholic Social Teaching. Then I will be reminded of this in the Angelus, the Creed, the Last Gospel. I welcome your focus on principles, Leo XIII, and tradition—I’m not up for anything exhaustive.
That prayer from Prime has become a favorite since you recommended the hour at your Substack. As a convert from Protestantism, modernism, and the idolatrous and exhausted cult of man, I will keep reading and praying for the reign of Christ. Thanks for your labors!
The John Perricone article really is excellent. He raises questions that deeply concern me, both as an Anglican convert and a student of Carmelite spirituality.
We seem determined to repeat the fatal errors of Anglicanism. Our new mass is so full of human talking that Jesus can barely get a word in edgewise. And Synodality seems to be carrying us even further down the path of talking *about* Jesus instead of talking *to* Jesus. At the end of all this human talking I fear we will end up with a man-made Jesus — a sort of empty wineskin that we fill up with fashionable social causes. And we will lose sight entirely of the real Jesus, with his hard teachings and his sacrificial mysticism.
I could say a lot more about this — but I’ll keep my powder dry because I’m in the early stages of writing a book about the ‘mystical conversation’ between the great Carmelite saints and the Tridentine Mass.
Obviously such a book would have been inconceivable without your monumental scholarship on the Mass. Before I discovered your work, I had only a vague feeling that ‘something is not right here.’ You gave me the tools to think systematically about the problem. And I know I’m not alone.
You have shown many of us the way. So thank you again for everything you do. It really matters!
You are absolutely right about the "mystical conversation" that took place between ALL the saints in the past and the traditional apostolic rites in which they worshiped. Indeed, it was their mysticism that largely drove the organic development and explication of these rites, in a positive "feedback loop." The astonishing arrogance of the reformers of the 1960s consisted in thinking that somehow, by their own lights and by their "scholarship," they could evaluate as from a superior position the entirety of the Catholic patrimony, decide what to keep, what to chuck out, and what to rewrite or write from scratch, and then employ heavy-duty top-down authority to force everyone to accept it. As I said in my interview with Matt Fradd, the sheer unbelievability of it beggars the imagination.
For examples of how a great Benedictine mystic, St. Gertrude the Great, engaged with the solemn Mass, see:
https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2017/02/true-poverty-of-spirit-in-splendor-of.html
Thank you for your generous and encouraging words about my work (to God be the glory!) and I wish you all the best on your manuscript.
Yes, exactly! It's a virtuous cycle! The Mass and the mystics complete each other. But then we shut out the mystics -- and essentially reduced the liturgy to a bureacratic administrative process.
Like you I find the hubris of the reformers utterly astounding. What could possibly lead a person to wake up one morning and think: "I know what God wants me to do today! He wants me to replace this song by Thomas Aquinas with a much better song by Wonderful Me Me Me!"
But I used to work professionally with extremely traumatized people. And if you read the biographies of many of the most important "spirit of Vatican II" figures you realize that they were also profoundly traumatized. Pedro Arrupe for example, was in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb was dropped.
At first it seems paradoxical that severely traumatized people would reject the sacrificial Mass, which gives dignity and meaning to human suffering. But traumatized people often self-sabotage by destroying the very relationships that they most need on to heal.
That's how I see it anyway. It doesn't solve the problem of course. But it does help me to be less frustrated and more fruitful. It is better to germinate than to ruminate!!
His Reign Shall Have no End arrived, and I just looked inside. I flipped to chapter one and thought I was opening an older book with its more generous margins and typeface that is easy on the eyes. The page layout and the cover make a handsome and reader-friendly book.
But of course I had to read your preface. It was invigorating! You say the incarnation is the vital center of Catholic Social Teaching. Then I will be reminded of this in the Angelus, the Creed, the Last Gospel. I welcome your focus on principles, Leo XIII, and tradition—I’m not up for anything exhaustive.
That prayer from Prime has become a favorite since you recommended the hour at your Substack. As a convert from Protestantism, modernism, and the idolatrous and exhausted cult of man, I will keep reading and praying for the reign of Christ. Thanks for your labors!
Such a wonderfully wide panorama of what's happening!
Thanks for the great content!
Wonderful to see you and Fr Perricone on with Ben Harnwell! Two great heavy hitters!
Thank you
Fr Sam Anthony Morello, OCD is a Carmelite Monk and author with the ICS. Are they related?
No, no relation.
Thank you for responding.
"Lectio Divina and the Practice of Teresian Prayer" - Sam Anthony Morello, OCD 📘🕊️
[ICS Publications 🇺🇲] Highly Recommended short study on prayerful reading. ⚜️ Holy Madre Saint Teresa of Jesus, help us to pray! 🇪🇸💎🏰⛲