German writer Martin Mosebach spoke with 'La Verità' (July 7) about the Mass in the Roman Rite. Key points.
- In any liturgy or religion, the content and the form in which it is presented, are inextricably linked. If the form is changed, the content is also changed.
- We believe only to a small extent with the head. Faith in the consecrated host is shown by kneeling etc.The suppression of forms of reverence, beginning with Paul VI, has greatly undermined faith in the Eucharist. In many cases the faith has even disappeared, even without any change in doctrine.
- For young people, the dissolution of religion into non-committal pastoral talk is not enough. They seek religious experience in the Roman Mass. The hierarchs accuse young Catholics of religious extremism, without considering the reasons that lead young people to the Mass.
- The priest's prayer, addressed to the community and not to the altar, as it has been throughout the history of the Church, appears as a discourse with the community, not addressed to God. This change of orientation alone transforms prayer into something completely different.
- The Novus Ordo liturgy has become the ritual of a religion quite different even from the one proclaimed by the Second Vatican Council, which was still linked to the bimillennial tradition of the Church: It became an anthropocentric, no longer a theocentric religion.
- Francis rules erratically and often contradictorily. He creates an atmosphere in which everything seems possible. There is no longer any connection with the Depositum Fidei.
- The traditional liturgy once made it possible to rebuild a history in a long period of political and cultural ruin, in the age of migrations and the early Middle Ages.
- A new culture can only come from the treasure of the Church. Just as a tree draws sap from its roots to form a new trunk and bear fruit, so our society must draw strength for its own rebirth from liturgy, prayer and religious tradition.
Picture: Martin Mosebach © Dtv Verlagsgesellschaft, CC BY-SA, #newsTwrgiwizke