Transcript:
The Traditional Latin Mass and the Youth
It is an evident fact that the Traditional Latin Mass is drawing an increasing number of young people, young families, and particularly young men. We might ask ourselves: why is the Traditional Mass so attractive to them?
The Traditional Latin Mass is truly the Mass of all ages and of all Catholic generations, not merely because of every little ritual detail, but due to its essential characteristics.
It is the Mass of all ages because its rite expresses in a clearer and more beautiful manner the essential truth of the sacrifice of the Mass: the adoration of God, the Most Holy Trinity, through the offering of the sacrifice of the Cross. The Holy Mass, with all the details of its rite, seeks to reflect as much as humanly possible the awe and beauty of the worship offered to the Most Holy Trinity by the Church triumphant in Heaven.
God has inscribed in the human soul a deep longing for truth and beauty. The purer a soul is, and the more it is filled with the graces of faith, the more spontaneously it is attracted by supernatural truth and supernatural beauty.
Therefore, the pure souls of innocent children, the sincere souls of young people, the souls of simple, faithful people, those not yet contaminated by the clerical ideology of anthropocentrism in the liturgy, are drawn by the magnetism of truth, order, and beauty that radiates from the Traditional Latin Mass.
Young people feel deep within that they are born for a higher ideal, even for heroism. The style of the Novus Ordo Mass, with its significantly reduced sacredness and ritual beauty, often transmits mediocrity. Young people who truly believe are not attracted by mediocrity.
The rite of the Traditional Latin Mass also transmits a clear hierarchical order and, in some way, the solemnity of a military discipline characteristics that especially attract young men.
It is an undeniable fact that, at least since the publication of Benedict XVI’s epochal Summorum Pontificum, the Traditional Latin Mass has increasingly become the Mass of youth.
“In tribulationem ad altare Dei ibo: ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam.” Psalm 42 (I will go unto the altar of God, to God who gives joy to my youth.)
These words, recited at the beginning of the Traditional Latin Mass, proclaim a fact we can all see and rejoice in: the Traditional Latin Mass is drawing an increasing number of young people and young families.
The Pope and bishops of our day should listen to the growing voice of young people who ask for a restoration of the living and venerable world of supernatural truth and sublimity, which the Traditional Latin Mass contains.
This voice of young people could be paraphrased as follows: “Now we know and love the liturgical treasure of our Mother, the Church, the treasure of which we have been deprived.”
Today, the revival of the Traditional Latin Mass is mostly carried out by younger clergy, young people, and young families. This is an encouraging sign of hope amidst a general liturgical crisis. The traditional liturgy of our Mother, the Church, is invincible. It has nothing to fear from any catastrophe.
The facts show that since the promulgation of Summorum Pontificum, the Traditional Mass has been a quiet and determined triumph in the life of the Church across all continents, among all ages and states of life. This is clear evidence that the restoration of the Traditional Mass and the Traditional Rite itself is not a work of man, but a work of God.
Those who oppose this form of celebrating the Mass so loved by our fathers in the faith and by the saints should heed the words of the wise Gamaliel, who said in the Acts of the Apostles: “If this plan or undertaking is of man, it will fail. But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow it; you might even be found opposing God.”
Dear faithful, especially dear young people, make the celebration of the Traditional Mass your spiritual home, a piece of heaven here on earth, in this valley of tears.
Let this liturgy impact your life so that mutual love, patience, and the courage to confess the Faith may grow in the parishes of the Traditional Mass. Above all, may these communities bring forth many new Catholic families, new domestic churches, and many authentic, holy priests.
God bless you.