The greatest defect is the offertory prayers, they are expressing a banquet or a sacred meal. This is the danger because it does not express that we are celebrating a sacrifice, and this sacrifice is the essence and substance of the Holy Mass. Of course, in the Holy Mass, the banquet element is contained and is an integral part of the Holy Mass, but it is not the substance, the substance is the sacrifice of the cross which is celebrated sacramentally – the banquet is the fruit of the sacrament, it flows out.
These new offertory prayers of the Novus Ordo are more or less expressing a protestant style, making the meaning of the mass primarily as a banquet: to eat and drink, or to have food and drinks to consume even though they are sacred. But this is a very serious danger and defect of the Novus Ordo. These prayers were never used in the Church nor was it invented by the Church. These prayers were simply taken from the Jewish Sabbath meal and are very close to Protestant thinking, which I consider to be very dangerous and should be changed by the Church as soon as possible.
The second defect is the Second Eucharistic prayer: it is very short and it does not express the sacrificial character of the mass. Therefore, some Protestants and Anglicans say that they can easily take the new offertory prayers and the second Eucharistic prayer and celebrate this worship as if it is in our understanding of the Eucharist; they have publicly and repeatedly done this. For us, this should already be a sign for the Church or for Rome to change these two things: to abolish the second Eucharistic prayer and to restore the traditional offertory prayers which express clearly the sacrificial character of the mass.
This does not affect its validity because the traditional teaching and the general opinion of the traditional theologians before the council were that the essential words of the Sacrament of the Eucharist (every sacrament has essential words) should be maintained. For the bread which is the first part, “This is my Body” – these words are essential, all words before and after this are not essential. For the chalice, “This is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant,” only these are necessary for the consecration.
Let us say for example, during the consecration when the priest said the words “This is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant,” then suddenly he dies, the mass and the consecration remain valid, and therefore, all the other words are not strictly necessary but it should still be spoken.
Dear visitors of Gloria Dei and all who have already written or who will write a personal message to me. I am grateful for your attention, your kindness, for your spiritual support and especially for your sacrifices and prayers for me. God may reward you!
