What are you doing for Lent? What are you giving up? For many people the answer to these perennial questions will begin by making an effort to get to daily Mass during Lent for this is the bedrock of whatever sacrifices we set before ourselves during this penitential season. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church points out:
''The Eucharist is the highest form of prayer, sum and summary of our faith: 'Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn confirms our way of thinking'.'' (CCC 1327).
Furthermore the Catechism stresses that ''in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch.'' (CCC 1324)
St Augustine sums it up beautifully by calling the Eucharist ''The Door of Life'', on which Pope John XXIII comments: ''If the Eucharist is the 'Door of Life', then I intend to go in by it.''
Special
Every Mass - celebration of the Eucharist - is special and beautiful as all believers will be well aware. This week, however, I would like to focus on the traditional Latin Mass which is slowly, but surely, being sought out by a growing number of people in most western countries, including Ireland.
Interestingly, many young people love this Mass, some I have spoken with after the 11am Sunday Mass at Brompton Oratory in London, say they love the sense of reverence; the heightened sense of the sacred, of the mystery; the music. ''I think it is really beautiful,'' one young man told me. ''I come here every Sunday.'' Did he mind that it took over an hour, I ask? ''Not in the slightest. It's quite a journey for me to get here. But it is a very special event for me, so I am quite happy to spend an hour here,'' he answers.
Some people are unclear about the Church's position in relation to the traditional Latin Mass according to the 1962 Roman Missal, and seem to be unaware of both the present Holy Father and his predecessor, Pope John Paul II's approval of it.
Permission
In a Vatican statement in October, 1984, Pope John Paul gave permission for the Mass to be offered in Latin with approval of the local bishop. This is the traditional Latin Mass as it was celebrated in Catholic churches around the world until after Vatican II (1962-65).
In his Apostolic Letter Ecclesia Dei (July 2, 1988), the pontiff called for ''the wide and generous application'' of his earlier directives.
Cardinal Ratzinger, the then Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith speaking to the bishops of Chile, on July 13, 1988, in Santiago, Chile said: ''We ought to get back to the dimension of the sacred in the liturgy. The liturgy is not a festivity; it is not a meeting for the purpose of having a good time. It is of no importance that the parish priest has cudgelled his brains to come up with suggestive ideas or imaginative novelties.
''The liturgy is what makes the Thrice-Holy God present amongst us; it is the burning bush; it is the Alliance of God with man in Jesus Christ, who has died and risen again. The grandeur of the liturgy does not rest upon the fact that it offers an interesting entertainment, but in rendering tangible the totally other, whom we are not capable of summoning. He comes because he wills. In other words, the essential in the liturgy is the mystery, which is realised in the common ritual of the Church; all the rest diminishes it. Men experiment with it in lively fashion, and find themselves deceived, when the mystery is transformed into distraction, when the chief actor in the liturgy is not the living God but the priest or the liturgical director.''
In his 1997 book, Salt of the Earth, the cardinal commented: ''I am of the opinion that the old rite should be granted much more generously to all those who desire it. It's impossible to grasp what could be dangerous or unacceptable about that. A community that suddenly declares that what, until now, was its holiest and highest possession is strictly forbidden makes the longing for it seem downright indecent, calls it's very self into question.''
Authorised
In July 2007 Pope Benedict issued a motu proprio lifting the restrictions for access to the traditional Latin Mass. Pope Benedict's ruling authorised parish priests to celebrate the extraordinary form if a ''stable group of faithful'' requests it, without needing their bishop's permission. It also permits the old rite for weddings, funerals and other liturgical celebrations.
In an accompanying letter to bishops, the Pope wrote: ''This news will, I hope, further encourage Catholics who prefer the older liturgy to seek out traditional Masses, which will become much more widely available after September.''
For the past number of months the Traditional Latin Mass has been celebrated at 12pm at Ss Peter and Paul's Church in Cork.
Many people have commented on the beauty of this liturgy which is drawing a growing congregation every week. Fr Patrick McCarthy PP has announced that in addition, the Latin Mass will be celebrated at this city centre church every weekday during Lent at 6pm and on Saturdays at 10am.
