Posted on 08/19/2009 10:09:54 AM PDT by NYer
i already replied to that...
“I wish there was a community of Latin Catholics.”
Maybe you could be the nucleus of such a group.
The Real Meaning of Pentecost
by Anthony Gorgia Ii
“Come, Holy Ghost, Creator Blest, and in our hearts take up Thy rest, and with Thy grace, and Heavenly aid to fill the hearts which Thou hast made.” This, the hymn of Pentecost, resounds the meaning of Pentecost. For, it is Pentecost that the Holy Spirit came most fully alive in our Church, for on that day the Church became born.
Before ascending into Heaven, Jesus promised to His apostles: “I will send the Paraclete.”
The Paraclete is a title of the Holy Spirit, referring to Him as the Advocate or the Helper. It was most fully made known upon that Pentecost day that our Catholic Faith became the Temple of the Holy Spirit. We are His instruments, bringing the Word of God to all of humanity. It is through the Holy Spirit that we are inspired, our souls are nurtured with His Work within us.
On Pentecost, the Holy Spirit bestowed upon the apostles seven gifts: Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of the Lord. In the Presence of the Holy Spirit, the apostles became fully aware of the Love of God active in their lives, and in the lives of the faithful. And so, they emerged as new people, no longer afraid, and they began to preach and proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ.
On that Pentecost day, there were many people present from many nations. When the apostles emerged from the upper room in which they stayed in fear of being killed, they began to preach the Word of God. And, each person present, each of different background and language, had understood the words of the apostles, as if they were speaking in each person’s language. The apostles had the ability from the Holy Spirit to speak in Tongues. The Scriptures say: “We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty acts of God.”- Acts:2:9-11
The language in itself, Tongues, is the Language of the Holy Spirit. To a human ear, it is not understood, for it comes upon the tongue only at the prompting of the Holy Spirit. As the Holy Spirit came upon the Church on Pentecost, we became born into the love and Light of Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit is still present in the Church today. Through the Sacraments, we are enriched in His love, He guides us and as the Nicene Creed with firm belief states: “proceeds from the Father and the Son.” It was all indeed in God’s plan of loving goodness that mankind should be saved in renewed in the Covenant in this sequence. The Father created the world and kept all things in its loving existence. He created mankind and kept all of His Creation in Divine Providence. The Son was begotten from the Father, and the Son died for our sins, granting to us the gift of the Father’s salvation.
Through death on the Cross, Christ saved us from death. From rising in the glory and splendor of the Resurrection, we, the faithful are renewed in His Easter joy, as we are triumphant; Christ conquers death. As Christ Jesus ascends into Heaven, He sends to us the Holy Spirit, to watch over us and guide the Church in its pilgrim way towards the Kingdom of God in the celestial courts.
The Holy Spirit is indeed still present in the Church, and renews us in His Pentecost each and every day. Through the Sacrament of Confirmation, we, in our Catholic life, are fully initiated into the liturgy of the Church, and we receive the Holy Spirit and His seven gifts. These gifts help us to lead good Christian adult lives, and make us better witnesses to Jesus Christ in the world. The Holy Spirit also inspires the Pope, who is the Vicar of Christ. The Pope, who is the representative of Christ on earth, leads the Church towards the Loving Arms of Jesus Christ. We, the faithful, receive the inspiration and promptings of the Holy Spirit daily. In our vocations, we best apply our talents to our work, which were given to us by God. The Holy Spirit continues to renew us and refresh us in our daily work, so that we may do all things for the greater glory of Jesus Christ. As Catholics, we are baptized in being “born of water and the Spirit.” The water that is poured over us in the Sacrament of Baptism is symbolic of the Father’s love for us. Many times in the Old Testament, water becomes a symbol. The best example occurs in the Exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt. Water takes on the symbol of freedom. As Moses lead the Jewish people away from Egypt, so does God lead us from our sin. In Baptism, God, in His Infinite Mercy, removes original sin from our soul, and we are freed from original sin. Although our human frailty of sin is not removed, we are strengthened and welcomed into the liturgy of the universal Catholic Church as children of God.
The Holy Spirit takes on the role as Guider and Protector, as He sanctifies the Church. Out of love for mankind, we are lead in the Light of His Inspiration. It is best to close, invoking the Holy Spirit, with thanksgiving for His many blessings upon mankind: “Come, Holy Spirit, refresh and bless the souls of Thy faithful, renew us in Thy love, and lead us unto the celestial Kingdom, where we shall adore Thee for all eternity. In Thy sanctifying grace, Thy Hand of Creation and love extends to all people. In Thee, a broken people become healed; a human race becomes one. O Holy Spirit of unity and justice, flourish upon our Church, and seek the hearts of Thy faithful, so that in Thy everlasting Light we shall become the abode of Thine endless mercy for the world, the temple of Thy glorious works, for all eternity, forever and ever. Amen.”
Text to the first quote used above: “Come Holy Ghost...Thou hast made” was from the song “Come Holy Ghost”, written by Rabanus Maurus
You should have posted this to the other guy. He obviously didn’t know anything about it.
I wish I had learned Latin in school. It was not offered where I went to school so I took up Spanish. I was born in 1963, the same year Vatican II was implemented so I always attend Mass in the vernacular. Truth be told, my greatest experience with the Latin Mass is from the baptism scene in The Godfather which I must have seen at least 200 times.
That all said, I still think Latin is an incredibly important language and ought to be reintroduced. Although English is officially charecterized as a Germanic tongue (due mainly to its structure and grammar), nearly 70% of our vocabulary can be traced to Latin roots. And, of course, for centuries Latin was the language of higher learning and high end professions such as medicine, the legal profession, philosophy and theology.
I certainly do not think the reintroduction of Latin into our churches or public educations system could do any harm. Beats reading Heather Has Two Mommies and all the other PC crap being pushed on young people these days.
As far as the Church goes, I don’t think Vatican II will ever be repealed. The vernacular genie has already been let out of the bottle. But I am glad that the Pope encourages the traditional Tridentine Mass and that among candidates for the priesthood, the seminaries which promote traditional Catholicism are overflowing with applicants. Certainly a very good sign.
Always remember the liberals ruin and corrupt EVERY institution they gain control. No wonder the Episcopalian Church is in decline and public education is a joke.
And that is why Vatican Council II 'opened' the liturgy to the vernacular language. Up until that time, however, the Mass was universally celebrated only in Latin. The great advantage was that no matter where one traveled in the world, you could follow along. Now, if you tavel to Scandinavia, you can't understand the Mass.
Peter served as Bishop of Antioch. To this day, the Consecration is still chanted in Aramaic. Why not the mass in general then?
For the very same reason ... who would understand it? Here in the US, the liturgy is celebrated in English, except for certain prayers that retain the Aramaic.
There is no perfect solution to this historical dilemna. Consder that in the time of Jesus, Aramaic was the every day language yet Hebrew was the liturgical language used in the Temple and synagogues. You see, nothing has changed.
Some people have a problem with tradition. But most conservatives I know cherish tradition. It’s part of what makes you a conservative.
Vat II changes came late to my rural childhood town/area. As a then young child, I have only vague memories of it, but it made a huge impression even then. Nothing else did seem the same since. My mother and many in my family were Byzantine or Orthodox and I remember well attending those Liturgies. These have retained the mystery and reverence, the beauty that the New Mass seemed to lack but the Latin Mass did, as I'm sure NYer and others can attest, as my mother often lamented. The Latin-is-dead crowd were always hard pressed to convince me that the language was somehow a barrier, because I didn't know a lot of church Slavonic or Latin, yet I had no difficulty 'following' along. Much like when I attended Mass in the Cathedral Marie Reine du Monde in Montreal and attended a beautiful Mass in Latin, French, and English. It was the first time in years I had the pleasure of kneeling at the altar rail to receive Holy Communion.
There is a difference between “following” and “understanding”.
Bull. I go to the Latin Mass most every week. Been doing that for 10 years so I think I have a pretty good idea of what kind of people are in the pews.
EVERYONE understands it to some degree. My wife is a convert from Judaism--she took no Latin in school whatsoever. Well after a few years of Latin Mass, she can understand it quite well. It becomes a second language to you once you hear it often enough.
It's a beautiful language, it's a beautiful liturgy, and nuts to you if you don't like it.
First, I apologize for being snippy, I’m just tired of this criticism. :)
As a historical note. Everybody spoke Latin once upon a time so the Mass was in Latin. Then the Latin began to fragment into Italian, Spanish, et. al. No one really thought to translate the Mass into these “dialects”—as they were considered—because it would have struck them as silly as translating your hymnal into Brooklynese or hillbilly. The Mass stayed in Latin even after the use of Latin faded because (surprise) people tend to be conservative when it comes to religion. That’s why all these people like using the King James today. No one talks that way anymore, but people are used to it, it’s poetic, and it gives the text a certain gravity it wouldn’t have in modern slang.
Things are somewhat different now. I grew up on the Mass in English, yet I think going to a Mass in Latin helps me in some way—makes the divine service less common, more mystical. I’m not an obscurantist—I understand everything that’s being done, I just prefer this mode of expression. Latin is symbolic to me of a divine language and one that befits the majesty of God.
Well, I guess you 'got' me. I used 'follow' in the vein of 'know what is going on' (ie if one should be late for Mass), implying that a basic understanding of the Mass was already inherent, whether English or Latin. Or Spanish. Or Vietnamese. Or French. Or Church Slavonic as in Eastern rites. Many of us who attend Mass already possess an understanding of Mass, so we can understand what is happening regardless the language, as I mentioned I myself have attending a tri-language Mass in Montreal. And we are happy to field questions or assist with someone who is obviously unfamiliar, such as when Evangelical friends attended with me on an occasion.
And why the big push for Latin, you may then wonder. Is it merely the language alone? Yes and no. Yes, because the translations from Latin in the years following Vat II have been sooooo varied and scattered and, in some dioceses with their own agendas that vary from the Holy Father, contentious. And no, because it isn't just about the Latin language. It's about the entire way the Mass in Latin is celebrated, with attendant mystery and reverence not always seen in Novus Ordu celebrations, which can vary widely from Church to Church.
Nicely said, Claud, and I completely agree.
I do remember the Latin Mass from my youth (mine was the very last Communion class that was lucky enough to have it; my brother's the next year had already changed). I cried my eyes out when the changes came, because they didn't just change the language -- they tore out the altars. They smashed the windows. They painted over the murals on the ceilings. They tossed out the beautiful vestments hand-stitched by generations of women. To my child's eyes, they threw out nearly everything beautiful and holy and replaced it with paneling from the Bradys' TV room.
Thankfully, I'm lucky enough to be able to go to a TLM every week, and I don't think I've been so happy to go to Mass in my entire life.
Regards,
Plus the beauty is not to be over looked:
Corpus Domini nostri Jesu Christi custodiat animam meam in vitam aeternam. Amen.
Strangely, this pops into my mind almost daily, in circumstances where I am not even thinking of religion. the beauty of this Latin sentence underscores its fantastic meaning. To me, it represents everything wonderful about being Catholic.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.