Happy Birthday, Novus Ordo

[Aloysius]

So, the Novus Ordo Missae turned forty today, as it was first promulgated on April 3, 1969, to be used for liturgical year 1970 (beginning the first Sunday of Advent of that year)

[url="http://wdtprs.com/blog/2009/04/happy-birthday-novus-ordo/"]http://wdtprs.com/blog/2009/04/happy-birthday-novus-ordo/[/url]

[quote]Today is the 40th birthday of the Novus Ordo Missae
On this day in 1969 His Holiness Pope Paul VI promulgated with the Apostolic Constitution Missale Romanum the new edition of the Roman Missal which would come into effect at the following 1st Sunday of Advent.

Now that the Novus Ordo is 40, are there signs of a mid-life crisis?

[b]This is usually about the time when the greater respect is gained for the past, right? Concern for the future prompts change, right?[/b][/quote]

time for a positive mid life crisis for the Novus Ordo!!!

a shiny new sports-car (new English liturgical translation), digging up those old year books (the Old Latin Mass), getting a toupee (getting rid of those bare-spots in the churches with some good old sacred art so it doesn't look so bald), getting out all the old records to listen to (the old sacred hymns coming back)... oh how I love this analogy.

[Apotheoun]

I think it is time to end the experiment.

[Aloysius]

yes, I agree, but you know the Church frowns on Euthanasia (just carrying out the analogy ad absurdum, you're right of course, but probably not feasible... the Novus Ordo might die a nice old death at the age of 70-100 years old, but there's really no chance it'll be abandoned now (unless it crashes its new sports car))

[Apotheoun]

Reason will eventually prevail, that is, once the generation that produced the thing dies off.

[Aloysius]

The current world life expectancy average is 66.12 years... might be about right.

[Moosey]

[quote name='Aloysius' post='1823597' date='Apr 3 2009, 04:04 PM']yes, I agree, but you know the Church frowns on Euthanasia (just carrying out the analogy ad absurdum, you're right of course, but probably not feasible... the Novus Ordo might die a nice old death at the age of 70-100 years old, but there's really no chance it'll be abandoned now (unless it crashes its new sports car))[/quote]

Edited April 3, 2009 by Moosey

[Nihil Obstat]

A nice 'reinventing' would be perfectly acceptable. A reform of the reform of the reform, right?

[homeschoolmom]

40 is a great age... (where's my sports car?)

[CatholicCid]

While I generally thoroughly enjoy Fr. Z, I was somewhat weary of this one.

Does he not celebrate the Ordinary Form? Don't recall from his website...

[kafka]

The Mass and the Liturgy are imperfect.

In Heaven there is no Mass.

Therefore it will always undergo modifications within faith and reason throughout salvation history.

The form of the Mass will always have points that can be improved upon, or changed from one approach to another within faith and reason.

Those who abuse and change the Mass unfaithfully will be punished in due time. Those who lead people astray by their unfaithful celebration of the Mass shall be punished in due time. Those who are lead astray by them are basically inculpable and God in my opinion will help them in due time.

The Mass and the Liturgy should not be treated as an idol.

[Aloysius]

I don't know if he does or not, he is certainly extremely familiar with its Latin text. I think he primarily celebrates the Extraordinary Form, at least. In any event, I very much like the analogy of a mid-life crisis... it is clear from Rome's actions that they're trying to fix the "Novus Ordo" which top Vatican officials consider NOT to have fulfilled the Second Vatican Council's call for liturgical reform (http://www.catholicculture.org/news/features/index.cfm?recnum=49461)... this is a perfect analogy. It is the consensus of most good liturgists in high places that the experiment has utterly failed, and Benedict's solution is to get the 1962 missal to spread around everywhere so that it can fix the Novus Ordo. While his letter to the bishops referred to both forms of the rite enriching each other, it seems clear that what he wants in the 1962 missal is insertion of more modern feast days and new prefaces and such to keep it up to date in organic development, and that he wants the spirit of the 1962 missal to be infused into the celebration of the Ordinary Form... so, in essence, it is time for the Novus Ordo to get a positive mid-life crisis where it re-evaluates its entire life and attempts to fix the errors that have accrued in it... lose a bit of that weight you know.

anyway, I don't know why anyone would be wary of this Fr. Z blog entry...

[jeffpugh]

Read the comments. The conversation seems to be pointing toward the ending of a "teenage" time, passing from rebellion to obedience, etc. Growing pains, if you will. Remember, 40 years is quick in the life of the Church

[Aloysius]

I saw that, but I personally like the whole mid-life crisis thing much better myself.

[kafka]

[quote name='Sacred Music Man' post='1824244' date='Apr 4 2009, 01:35 AM']Read the comments. The conversation seems to be pointing toward the ending of a "teenage" time, passing from rebellion to obedience, etc. Growing pains, if you will. Remember, 40 years is quick in the life of the Church[/quote]
The liturgy will be among the least of the problems in the Church as we begin to embark upon the Tribulation. There are problems of Catholics and Christians denying more fundamental beliefs within the hierarchy of truths much greater than the mere form of the liturgy which will eventually be dissolved.

As long as the Lord's Supper is renewed wherever the Faithful gather with a priest and the sacrificial death of Christ is renewed in the consecration of the Body and Blood of Christ, that will be fine for a while.

[Aloysius]

[quote name='kafka' post='1824240' date='Apr 4 2009, 02:25 AM']The Mass and the Liturgy are imperfect.

In Heaven there is no Mass.

Therefore it will always undergo modifications within faith and reason throughout salvation history.

The form of the Mass will always have points that can be improved upon, or changed from one approach to another within faith and reason.

Those who abuse and change the Mass unfaithfully will be punished in due time. Those who lead people astray by their unfaithful celebration of the Mass shall be punished in due time. Those who are lead astray by them are basically inculpable and God in my opinion will help them in due time.

The Mass and the Liturgy should not be treated as an idol.[/quote]


there certainly is Mass in heaven: it is what we are participating in through the liturgy here on earth. all our liturgies are participations in the liturgy of heaven. that is, in large part, what the book of Revelation is all about: the heavenly liturgy.

the human beings who celebrate the liturgy are always imperfect and bring imperfections into it, certainly. but to call the liturgy itself imperfect is an error, in my opinion. there are certainly some imperfections in the rubrics sometimes; but the rubrics celebrated in full obedience are a type of perfection.

the liturgy is the fullest culmination of the Church's prayers and of her worship of the Lord. It is the expression of the immaculate bride of Christ's perfect worship of God. it is not to be taken lightly, it is not to be minimalized as if its form did not matter.