Fathers Kenneth Baker and Kenneth Myers on the Latin Mass

In the March 2007 issue of the Homiletic & Pastoral Review, Father Kenneth Baker, S.J., the editor of that great Catholic journal, has an insightful editorial (click on this post's title) about the Latin Mass. He writes:

"One aspect of the prayers of the traditional Latin Mass that impresses me is the number of references to sin, forgiveness, damnation and salvation. The traditional liturgy is very much aware of the weakness of human nature, man’s proneness to sin, and the fact that we all, with the exception of Jesus and his Mother, are sinners...

"The prayers before communion express several times the need for forgiveness and for the grace to save us from eternal damnation. Here we see that the traditional Mass takes the real possibility of our falling into mortal sin and going to hell for all eternity very seriously...

"The point is that the traditional liturgy is very aware of man’s sinfulness and begs over and over again for forgiveness and perseverance in the grace of God. The Latin Mass is permeated with the sense of the sacred. Those who attend it and know what is going on, love it and want to attend it as often as they can. In pointing out man’s sins and need for forgiveness the old Mass strikes home. Many people relate to it. That, I think, is one reason why it is coming back and attracting both young and old to worship God as the saints and our predecessors have for over 1500 years."

Father Baker's editorial is a commentary on a substantial, must-read article in that same March 2007 issue, "A New Look at the Old Mass," by Father Kenneth E. Myers, chaplain of the Pittsburgh Latin Mass Community. See the link to it at http://www.pittsburghlatinmass.org/

Wish everyone in our Archdiocese, clergy and lay, would read Fr. Baker's editorial and Fr. Myers' article. Bring on Sept. 14th!