The Heresy of Formlessness

To me, the traditional Latin Mass is not something from the past only. It's ever old and ever new. The traditional Latin Mass will have a great impact on the future of the Church. The United States just hasn't caught up yet. It's still living in the 70s. Maybe one of my legacies at Auburn was to help introduce the traditional Latin Mass to some people. I think it's pretty shocking to see the positive response young Catholics give to the traditional Latin Mass. When I think about last fall, and about the time when seven college students gave up a Saturday night, and then got up an hour before sunrise on Sunday, so that they could drive for an hour and sit through a Mass that lasted two hours, in a language they did not understand - that's a pretty amazing feat. Not only did college students do it just one time, but every semester since the first Latin Mass trip at Auburn I've had students come up to me wanting to know when they could go back to a traditional Latin Mass. I think it's a pretty powerful statement. I think the youth out there are thirsting for something powerful and sacred. They are searching for something that transcends everyday life. They want something that goes beyond petty chit-chat and 24/7 shorts and flip-flops. Unlike the prejudiced generation that did away with the traditional Latin Mass, us young people are largely optimistic and open-minded about the traditional Latin Mass. Or, they simply have no exposure or opinion.

I say that the traditional Latin Mass is the future of the Church because there is a trend toward greater solemnity and reverence at Mass. More and more Latin Masses are being celebrated every day. Pope Benedict XVI has increased the solemnity and reverence of the Mass at the Vatican. He has restored many things to their original place, such as receiving communion kneeling and on the tongue. More and more people are becoming aware of what Gregorian chant is. Gregorian chant is not just one of the many options a choir director can choose from when he is selecting music for Mass. Gregorian chant is radically different from all the hymns, praise anthems, and praise and worship music that is used in churches all over the U.S. Gregorian chant is an integral part of the Mass that developed along-side the Mass. As regards the words of the Mass itself, in a few years a new translation of the English Mass will come out that is truer to the original Latin than the current translation. In almost everything, the future of the Mass is a return to the organic roots of the Mass. This is very good news.

I have read a number of books about the Mass and the issues that surround it in our present time. Most of them treat the Mass from a theological or historical perspective. Those books are all good in themselves, but there is another book that I really like. It's called The Heresy of Formlessness, by Martin Mosebach. Mosebach is a German novelist and writer. In the book, he argues for the worth of the traditional Latin Mass from an intelligent layman perspective, and from the perspective of art. It's a really compelling book. I highly recommend it.