Transcription
What if I told you that one of the most important parts of the mass was deliberately changed? Not accidentally, not organically, but because the church's understanding of sin, sacrifice, and the cross was being re-emphasized in a completely different way. All one must do is look closely at the words changed in the offeratory from the traditional Latin mass to the novasordo. I'm going to walk you through the exact words so you can see why this is a problem. Once you see not only what words were deleted and added, but why why these sacred words were changed, you'll see the offeratory like never before.
To get the big picture, we have to go back to the quote unquote spirit of Vatican 2. In the years leading up to the council, a new theological movement began to take hold. It emphasized love over sin, mercy over judgment, resurrection over the cross. Now, none of those things are wrong in themselves, but you can see in our modern world that the notion of sin has been cast aside. Why focus on the cross when you can focus on the resurrection? That's how the thinking goes. The new theology movement wanted to deemphasize sin and atonement and wanted a more comprehensive or more ecumenical notion which I tend to think denigrates Christ hanging on the cross. In practice, this led to a shift from propitiatory sacrifice to the broader framework of pascal mystery.
Let me break this down for you. Propitiatory sacrifice. That's a hard word for us in the postconsil church. Propitious means favorable. So a propitiatory sacrifice is one that God sees as favorable or acceptable. We offer him a sacrifice and he favorably accepts it. The emphasis is that our sin put us out of favor with God and this propitiatory sacrifice restores our relationship with him. This is a really important word. Why? Because the new mass has all but done away with the notion of propitiatory sacrifice which we will return to momentarily. So in order to replace the words and notions of propitiatory sacrifice which were heavily emphasized since the council of tr and before the new theologians of the 1960s emphasized a term you've all heard the pascal mystery which is the unified work of Christ's passion death and resurrection. Let me put it plainly. The emphasis became, let's highlight the totality of Christ's work, especially the resurrection, so we're not forced to dwell on the part the modern world resists, the cross, the suffering, the idea of sacrifice for sin. After all, to their way of thinking, that is, why would an allloving God require his son to be tortured like an animal? This God sounds too much like some bloodthirsty Old Testament God, and we don't want that. Now, of course, I'm generalizing the sentiment, but I think this captures the essence of their thinking. Modernist theologians can't really deny the cross. So, they sort of bury it within a broader, more upbeat, less bloody, more welcoming notion of the Pascal mystery. To be clear, the pascal mystery is something ancient and is something beautiful, but it should not replace the propitiatory sacrifice.
So now we come to the late 1960s when this spirit of Vatican 2 wanted to create a new mass. Instead of focusing on sin, sacrifice, and atonement, the emphasis shifted toward the pascal mystery, toward participation, toward a more communal and accessible liturgy. And there was another goal as well, a humanism. The reformers wanted a mass that would be less offensive, less alien to Protestants. Because if there's one thing Protestants have rejected, it is the idea that the mass is a propitiatory sacrifice. Luther said it had to go. By the way, now hang on. What did Martin Luther say about sacrifice? I had to look this up myself and it's striking. Here are quotes from his Babylonian captivity of the church that he wrote in 1520. Quote, "There is a stumbling block in the mass that must be removed, and this is much greater and the most dangerous of all. It is the common belief that the mass is a sacrifice which is offered to God." Even the words of the canon seem to imply this when they speak of these gifts, these presents, these holy sacrifices, and further on, this offering end quote. The mass to Martin Luther was categorically not a sacrifice. In fact, he says, "Brace yourself." Quote, "The priest offers his mass as if it were a sacrifice, which is the height of perversity." That, my friends, is what you call blasphemy. Perversity. So, in the 1526 German mass, Luther eliminated traditional offeratory prayers. I went to his actual text. It's just gone. This, my friends, is what Martin Luther wanted.
So what did our reformers do? They didn't deny sacrifice outright. They did something more subtle. They removed the language that made it unmistakable. They softened it. They reframed it. They shifted the emphasis. In the traditional Latin mass, the offatory is preparing the sacrifice. But in the Novas ordo, it is replaced with something else. A Jewish table blessing called the baraka. This is the kind of prayer a Jewish father would say over bread and wine at a meal. Blessed are you Lord, King of the universe. And he blesses bread and wine as coming from the earth. It is a blessing over gifts, not a sacrifice. And that is the key shift from offering a sacrifice to presenting gifts.
Now look at the actual words side by side. First, let's look at the traditional Latin mass. I want you to listen for words about sin and sacrifice. Are you ready? Quote, "Except, oh holy father, almighty and eternal God, this spotless host, which I, your unworthy servant, offer to you, my living and true God, to atone for my numberless sins, offenses, and negligences on behalf of all here, present, and likewise for all faithful Christians living and dead, that it may profit me and them as a means of salvation to life everlasting." Amen. So we have spotless host offered to you to atone for numberless sins, offenses and negligences. And that if this sacrifice is acceptable, if it is propitiatory, then it will profit us as a means for salvation. Pretty clear what the emphasis is.
Now compare with the novasordo. Be sure to look and listen for the notion of sin and sacrifice. You ready? Quote, "Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation, for through your goodness, we have received the bread we offer you, fruit of the earth and work of human hands. It will become for us the bread of life." Now, where is the sin and where is the sacrifice? In fact, all we really see is the Jewish blessing over bread. The emphasis is on human work, our cooperation with God's gift and creation, but not sin and atonement.
So moving on to the wine in the Latin mass. Quote, "We offer unto thee, O Lord, the chalice of salvation, intreating thy mercy, that our offering may ascent with a sweet fragrance in the sight of thy divine majesty for our own salvation and for that of the whole world." You heard it. In treating thy mercy for our salvation, the mass is spoken of as a propitiatory sacrifice. Now listen to what replaces it. Quote, "Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation, for through your goodness, we have received the wine we offer you, fruit of the vine and work of human hands. It will become for us spiritual drink." Now, there's no intreating mercy because sin and sacrifice is not the point. There is no reference to this being done for our own salvation because again, the emphasis is now thanksgiving rather than sacrifice for our sins.
So, why remove that language? Why strip out sin, atonement, sacrifice, mercy in the sense of forgiveness of sin? Because the reformers believe that this emphasis was too heavy, too negative, too focused on sin, too focused on the cross. They wanted to rebalance the mass toward meal, community, gift, and resurrection. The reformers didn't quote Luther, but they removed the very language Luther objected to. Perhaps this is the result of the new theologians crafting the mass. Or perhaps it's from having Protestant participants with the consilium that came up with the mass. I don't know, perhaps both. In any event, this is the key. The issue is not just what is missing. It is that the entire category has changed from offering a sacrifice for sin to presenting gifts for a meal.
Now defenders will say the sacrifice is still there and technically and doctrinally that is true. But here's the problem. If you remove the language of sacrifice, if you remove the language of sin, if you remove the language of atonement, then for most people the reality itself begins to fade. In the traditional Latin mass, by the time the offeratory begins with those beautiful Latin words, sushi sanater, the priest is beginning the sacrifice. In the novasordo, we are preparing gifts. And that shift from sacrifice to gift, from sin to celebration, from altar to table was not accidental. It was intentional. And once that shift happens in the words, it inevitably happens in the minds of the faithful. Because lexandi lex credendi, the law of prayer is the law of belief. If you change how people pray, you will change what they believe. and just look around. Statistically speaking, Catholic fidelity is at an all-time low.
But at the traditional Latin mass, all this nonsense goes away. You can experience the mass the way the church has intended for centuries. Next time you're at mass, whether at the traditional mass or the new, I encourage you to follow along in whatever book is available to you and pay close attention to the offeratory. In the traditional mass, you will see proper reverence for Christ's passion on the cross. And if you're at the new mass, hopefully you will see perhaps for the first time a conspicuous absence of sin and sacrifice. And perhaps you will conclude the father deserves more than our gratitude and our gift of bread and wine. He deserves the immaculatum hostium, the spotless host, or one could say the immaculate victim. The father deserves the offering of his beloved son and nothing less. Oh.