The Essence of Living the Faith
Summary of Headings
Introduction
The Importance of the Mass
That is, first and foremost, you may notice that even though we are in the sacred tree dome, we are talking about the most holy but also the most solemn time of the year. We have everything in bright colors, white and gold. We have flowers on the altar. We sing the Gloria. We even ring the bells during the Gloria. But then the mood as we process through the mass starts to change. Everything becomes more somber. The bells that you hear at the Gloria will no longer be heard because the bells are a sign of joy and that joy is departing from us. The apostles felt joy when they received from our Lord Jesus Christ their sacrament of priesthood, when they received the Eucharist, when they received the Blessed Sacrament for the first time. They felt joy when they received the washing of the feet. They were joyful when that happened. They received the first mass. They were part of it. But then the mood grew somber because our Lord Jesus Christ grew somber. He felt sorrowful even unto death. So it will be for us as we process through. We will have the washing of the feet, a very beautiful moment with an immortal hymn, the Ubicaritas, where there is charity. Subtitles by the Amara.org community Then we will celebrate the Blessed Sacrament and process with the Blessed Sacrament to the side altar in the parish hall. There we will adore him. There we will have our own Gethsemane where we will kneel before him and spend an hour and hopefully an hour with him because as he reproached the apostles, could you not watch with me for one hour? We should not let that reproach fall upon us. We should spend time with the Blessed Sacrament. I know there is no room, but you can take it in stages. Some people can leave and come back. There should always be people. That place should be full until midnight. At midnight we take the Blessed Sacrament and we remove it. Very much as the Jews removed our Lord and brought him before the Sanhedrin, we take him and we hide him in the sacristy. The altar of the altar. That altar as a reserve. Then after we remove him to the side altar in the parish hall, while we are watching with him, while many are watching with him, we come back here and we strip the altar, very much as Christ is stripped and everything becomes somber. The priest wears violet instead of gold. Everything is empty and bare. 7. is the ceremony that we have today. It's a very beautiful one, but it's also just chock full of the most precious parts of our faith. And ultimately, that's where we want to talk about. It's a misconception many times that we traditionalists, as we're referred to, as we refer to ourselves oftentimes, we stick with this mass because it's better, it's more beautiful, it's of a higher order, it's older, and there's a lot more, they so called, smells and bells about it. But the fact of the matter is, the reason that we kept this mass is because it is the perfect expression and defense of our faith. Each and every one of us as Catholics are called upon to live our faith, not just have faith. By the fact that we are baptized, we automatically have faith. It is there always in our souls, but whether we use it or not, or whether we suffocate it or not, is entirely up to us. But the faith must become as much a part of our lives as breathing. It should be even more natural than breathing. It should be a part of our very essence. We can hold our breath, but our faith must never stop, not for an instant. Not for a single instant in our lives. And the most perfect way for us to live our faith is to know our faith, to know the true doctrine of the church. And while it is under attack, we must fight for it, first and foremost in our own souls, but also in public. The best way for us to defend the faith is to live the faith, where everybody else is practicing godlessness, or a certain... religious hypocrisy, where they're one way in church and another way before the world. We have to be the faithful who never stop living the faith no matter what. And the best way that we can do so, the best teacher for us to do so, and the best defense for us to do so, is the holy sacrifice of the Mass, this Mass. That is why we kept the Mass. It is a question of faith. It is a question of the salvation. It is a question of the salvation of our souls. While the rest of the church capitulates to the world, we must stand in opposition to it. While the rest of the world hides the faith, or the faith becomes something that is adaptable to the world, we must stand out. Not flashy, not showing off our faith, but living, breathing our faith. Every instant of every day, no matter whom we're with, no matter what the situation is, we must stand out. We don't always have to be on a soapbox or at a pulpit preaching and yelling at people. But whatever we do, it must be inspired by, guided by, and lived by our faith. Whatever we say must be inspired by our faith. And it must be lived by us in the faith before we say it. We, each of us, many times in our lives, are hypocrites. Because we live one way, and condemn everybody else for living the same. Or living differently. Or whatever else. We condemn everybody else for being godless. But how god-full are we in our everyday lives? How much does the faith influence and direct every aspect of our lives? How fearlessly do we proclaim it each and every day? We must fight for the faith in a world that hates it and will destroy it. But we cannot do so if we do not have the Mass. The Mass is the tip of the iceberg. It is something worth fighting for. It is something worth dying for. It is something that is crucial to this world. I'm not going to go into a long rant about the new Mass, but it is deficient. It does not represent the whole of the faith. It does not defend the faith properly. It does not defend the Eucharist, but rather opens the door to abuses that we all know about. It does not protect and defend the Eucharist, our Lord Jesus Christ, the faith and doctrine of the Church, the hierarchy of what the Mass is supposed to be. It does not do its job. That is one of the reasons we have to push it away. But just as completely, the reason we have to push it away is what lies beneath. As I said, the Mass is but the tip of the iceberg. So if the tip of the iceberg is the new Mass, deficient, inadequate, and opening the door to problems, what lies beneath it? As Archbishop Lefebvre said, quoting Saint Jerome, or paraphrasing Saint Jerome, it stems from heresy and leads to heresy. That is what is below. It is not a question of taste or preference. It is not a question of feeling more sanctified than everybody else, or more justified than everybody else. It is a question of faith. So what is beneath this iceberg? The traditional Latin Mass. The one true faith. Eternal doctrine. The secret to salvation. All of those things are what we have and what we possess. Which means we must live up to them and we must live them. It is not enough to ask for a new Mass. It is not enough to have them. They must become the central occupation of our lives. How do we do that? This Mass tells us so clearly. The humility of our Lord washing the feet of the disciples. The generosity and charity that he showed them. The beauty of his doctrine that he preached to them at the end of the Last Supper and at the very beginning of his agony. Read those chapters in Saint John. They are the most beautiful in the entire Bible, in my opinion. The establishment of the Holy Mass. This gift that he gave us that we celebrate today. We commemorate today. This Mass. The establishment of the priesthood. To make sure you will always have the Mass. You will always have the Sacraments. No matter how imperfect they are. No matter how unholy they may be. No matter how human they are. You will always have the Sacraments. You will always be given what is necessary because Christ remains present in his priesthood here on earth. And most importantly, the Eucharist itself. The reason for everything. It is the greatest of the Sacraments because it is the source of all Sacraments. He is the source of all grace. He is the source of the Mass. He is the High Priest. He is everything. St. Augustine famously said that the difference between the Holy Eucharist and the rest of food is that when we consume food we assimilate it and make it into ourselves. But when we receive Communion he assimilates us and makes us himself. That is how we must approach Communion. I hope you have a great day. I talk about living the faith. I talk about being consumed by the faith and actually living the doctrine of the Church and actually living the Sacrifice of the Mass and not just simply having it for our own use. The Holy Eucharist is the key to all of that. But it is necessary for us to approach Communion with that intention. To surrender ourselves. To be absorbed by him. To disappear into him. To lose ourselves in him. To be no more. He must increase and I must decrease. We must disappear into him. He must be everything. Todo, nada. As St. John of the Cross so famously used as his motto. Everything is his, it is from him and it is for him. Nothing is from me and nothing is for me. That is how we must live our lives. That is the essence of what it means to be Catholic. That is the greatest battle that each and every one of us must fight today regardless of everything else. And that needs to be the primary goal for each and every one of us from the instant we wake up in the morning to the instant we lie down and fall asleep. This must be the single thought that drives and guides every aspect of our lives. At first it will be difficult and cumbersome trying to remember and remind us of this fact. But the more that we let ourselves go in the moment of communion, the more that we receive his grace generously flowing into us through Holy Communion and in the Holy Mass, the more easy it becomes. The more natural it becomes. And that is our goal. But each time we approach the Holy Sacrament, each time we attend Mass, we should be overawed by the mystery that we are participating in. And that is where our faith comes in. We must know what we are doing here and why we do it. We must know what we receive and why we receive it and what it does to us. We need to know these things. Blessed Imelda, when she received her first communion, she died of joy. Not a bad way to die. Because she understood and appreciated it. St. John Vianney said that if a priest knew what he held in his hands, he would die of joy in the instant. That same moment that he realized that he was dead, he would die of joy. Anyone of us who realizes, truly understands and appreciates what is going on on the altar, what we celebrate today on Holy Thursday, would die of joy. It would be the most glorious death we could imagine. This is what we have before us and this is what we must pray for now. This is what the Church is losing in a big hurry. We have to fight to maintain in our own lives for the lives of the Church. The Church needs a true devotion to the Eucharist, to the Mass, to doctrine, to the priesthood. These things are getting lost and we can't participate in that. Because of what we have, more is expected of us and we must give more. Each and every time. Each and every day. By doing so, we know the secret of salvation. The door of salvation is open to us. By doing so, we finally see the secret that can give us perfect and absolute joy. Of the presence of God. And nothing can take that away from us. No matter what. And that is what we must be willing to sacrifice everything, even our very lives. For. Let us keep that our focus, especially tonight of all nights. And as the mood grows more somber, let us take more appreciation of the immense love our Lord Jesus Christ is showing us each and every moment that we are alive. That we can actually have this grace, we actually have this faith, and we actually have this Mass and these sacraments to be able to be in perfect union with Him so that we can be eternally united with Him in Heaven. That is the lesson of the Holy Ghost.
Living the Faith
The Eucharist and Communion
Conclusion
Summary
The Traditional Latin Mass is the perfect expression and defense of our Catholic faith. It is not just a ritual but the essence of our belief, calling us to live our faith authentically. The Eucharist is the source of all grace, transforming us when we receive Communion. Understanding the doctrine of the Church and the role of the priesthood is essential for the continuity of the Sacraments. In a world that challenges our faith, we must stand firm, living and breathing our faith daily. The Mass is the cornerstone of our spiritual lives, guiding us to eternal union with Christ.