The beginning of participation in the Mass is through being personally conformed to Christ, through baptism and being in the state of grace. Worthy reception is the most profound and perfect aspect of participation. (Sacrament. Car. 52-53). Liturgical participation is not merely formal and external. According to Vatican II, engagement of heart and mind in the interior person is what makes liturgical participation authentic and protects us from being mere silent spectators (SC 48). Participation is increased through catechesis since one needs to first understand what is happening in order to pray the Mass (SC 21). As St. John Paul II said, “Active participation does not preclude the active passivity of silence, stillness and listening: indeed, it demands it.” (ad limina address to the Bishops of the United States On Active Participation in the Liturgy, 1998)
Perhaps you believe Latin to have been outlawed when the Second Vatican Council in the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium called for the text of the Mass to be revised. This widespread misunderstanding is actually contrary to the facts. While allowing a place for vernacular languages in the Mass, Vatican II is quite clear in its words that “the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites” (SC 36.1), and that “steps should be taken so that the faithful may also be able to say or to sing together in Latin those parts of the Ordinary of the Mass which pertain to them,” (SC 54). If Latin is excluded from the Mass, the Council’s mandate is being disobeyed. In more recent years, Pope Benedict XVI has affirmed the continuing validity of this mandate: the 2007 Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum caritatis addressed to the Synod of Bishops endorses the Synod’s observation about the role Latin can play in promoting inclusiveness in the liturgy (Sacrament. car. 62). With regard to the use of chant, I direct you again to the Council, which specifies that among musical forms suitable for liturgy, chant must have “pride of place” (SC 116). You may be interested to know that in a 1998 address to the bishops of the United States, St. John Paul II pointedly mentioned that even as we allow the treasures of the liturgy to be opened up by greater use of the vernacular, the Latin language, especially in chanted form, is superbly adapted to the Roman rite and therefore should not be abandoned.
I don’t believe Latin should be outlawed and I have no problem with the Latin Mass. But I also have no problem with Mass said in English. The Bible does not prohibit Mass from being said in any particular language.
Likewise I have no problem with celibate priests, but I also have no problem with married priests either. The Bible does not prohibit priests from being married, to the contrary is promotes a married clergy and priests were expected to be married in the Bible.
Finally I have no problem with people who receive Holy Communion on the tongue, but it is not prohibited to receive it in the hand either. Nothing in the Bible prohibits you from receiving Holy Communion in your hand.
I do not like it when some Catholics say you’re not Catholic enough because you don’t do things exactly the way they do.
In addition, I have not been able to find anything in the Bible which prohibits females from serving as altar girls, lay readers, Eucharistic Ministers or in other supporting roles in the Mass. NOTHING.