Transcript

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost.

Amen.

Let's see, actually, uh, Matthew, can you get me one of those bottles back there?

A full one.

Yes.

So the topic of today's lesson, catechism, is gonna have to do with something that rhymes with this.

Thank you.

Little, little props, make class more interesting.

That'll be, that'll be like the, uh, what do they call it?

The thumbnail thing.

Uh, coronavirus.

Uh, so masses got canceled in this diocese, right?

To cancel public masses, right?

This is a serious thing, because, um, mankind owes God worship.

We owe that to God.

Uh, people have this idea that, um, I've heard it said that the, the mass is kind of viewed as a, as a, um, private devotion.

"It's something I do because it's good for me and I benefit from the mass.

And God wants what's good for me.

And so he wants me to go to mass because it's good for me.

And he loves me so much that, that when I if I, if I voluntarily, like, don't go, if I miss mass without good reason, right?

It's, it's, it's bad for me 'cause I'm, like, spiritually starving myself, right?

And so that's why it's sinful." And the whole idea that, um, actually you owe God a debt of worship and honor, and if you fail to give that to him, that is a grave offense, right?

That's why we have our Sunday obligation.

It's not just because it's good for us, uh, but because it's a duty we owe to God in justice.

Justice is that virtue whereby we render to others what is their due.

And when we are rendering something to someone higher than us, we call it piety, right?

Justice, um, goes, goes between everybody.

Anybody I owe something is justice, but if it's a...

Now it's like a parent's, uh, justice to parents is piety, right?

Justice to God is covered under piety.

So, uh, uh, piety is a, is a kind of a justice.

Um, and now let's go into a, um...

one of my little diagrams here.

So we, we have God, right?

The Almighty, all-seeing, all-powerful God.

And God did not have to create, but he did, right?

God chooses, uh, to create things.

And so, um, I...

and I'm actually...

I'm completely ripping off a lecture my brother did.

Like, my older brother gave a lecture on the mass, and I watched it finally after, like, three years later.

And it'd been up there, and it had like 45,000 views, you know, and I'm like, "Oh, competition," right?

This gets...

Little sibling, sibling rivalry.

And, and so anyways, so he...

It's a very good video on the mass and he pointed this out and I'd never thought of it before, um, or heard of it rather, but he says, "When God creates, this is called..." the Latin term is exitus.

This is a going out of God.

Everything goes out of God, right?

Everything goes out, uh, and comes forth.

And that's all of creation, right?

Like mankind, um, all, all, all, you know, the world, you know, all, all of creation there, right?

Stars and planets and so on.

Right?

God creates everything and now everything has an obligation to give back to God.

And this is called reditus.

I think it's two Ds, I don't know.

Exitus, reditus, a going out and the coming back.

So this, on the part of God, this exitus is completely gratuitous and didn't have to do it.

And in fact, God gains nothing by it.

And so, uh, we recognize this and in our, our overflowing thanks to God for, for the inestimable benefits he's given us, uh, we return thanks to God.

Uh, but we cannot do that adequately.

Um, there's no proper way that we can give thanks to God.

And let's see, um, all of creation like, like the stars, the planets and all of the creatures, they return, um...

We could say they're not really giving thanks because they're not rational.

There's no ability to reason within the animals or like, you know, like I said, stars, planets, physics, whatever it is.

But simply by following God's laws, um, they return...

They, they, we could say show forth God's goodness is God commands the stars, and he has set a limit to the waters and the heavens and they, and they do it, right?

We call it the laws of physics.

You can't violate the laws of physics.

Uh, they're obeying God's command.

We could say, like, every, every bird, every, every creature, every, you know, thunderstorm and all that, that's a praise given to God 'cause it's doing completely God's will.

It's been said by the fathers that mankind is the only one of God's cre- creation that refuses to do his will.

And in fact, that was the point of, of that sermon.

Um, the Canaanite woman who followed and asked, asking Christ to heal her daughter.

And Christ said, "It is not fair to give what is, uh, to the children and throw it to dogs." And it sounds like this, "Ooh, he just called her a dog.

That's a terrible insult." And she says, "Even the whelps, even...

I'm less than a dog.

Even the puppies can eat the scraps." And he said, "Great is your faith." Uh, and it was pointed out, uh, you know, we think of dog as an insult, but you know how many dogs have ever sinned against God?

Zero, right?

So in fact when, when we sin, we are making ourselves less than the brute beasts, less than dogs 'cause at least they just do the will of God.

But we, we sin.

So all, all of creation, uh, returns to God that the praise and thanksgiving that is his due, uh, and mankind is the one who was given, uh, by nature of his free will and reason, uh, you could say more than the rest of creation and has a greater obligation to return to God that thanks.

Um, now God originally gave mankind this ability with an infused...

Um, so green is my little, like, supernatural, um, color here, right?

Um-God gave mankind an original ability, the- the preternatural gifts.

Um, freedom from all sin, uh, i- immortality, a super, um, added, um, in- intellect to- to Adam and Eve.

Th- these just these natural abilities they- they didn't have by nature, but God gave it to them as gratuitous gifts.

Like more than- more than they would've deserved.

Uh, and he gave them an ability to render to him proper thanks.

Adam and Eve could have given God an adequate thanks for what he had given them.

B- because that would be rather, um...

that would be rather an injustice on God's part to, um, give man an obligation to thank and to worship and to praise him, like, "You owe that to me, but you have no way of doing that." Right?

So to create man with- with- with an inability to do what was commanded would be unjust.

So in the beginning, Adam and Eve had that ability to give God that proper thanks.

And what did we do?

We blew it, right?

On the very first day, right?

We- we broke that, um, uh, ability by original sin.

And so mankind additionally, in offending the infinite God, um, now we were in- unable, incapable of offering to God proper worship.

And, uh, but mankind knew that we do owe God something.

We owe God, uh, thanks and praise and worship.

It's something that we should offer to him, um, uh, so that's why you have Cain and Abel offering sacrifices.

And- and God deserves the best, right?

God deserves the absolute best, our- our number one first fruits that we have to offer.

And this is why, um, when Abel's gifts were accepted and Cain's were not, we note, and I- I may have mentioned this, Abel offered the firstlings of his flock, the fat portions, and Cain offered of the fruits of the ground.

So the- the indication there is that Cain offered...

he was- he was, um, uh, holding back, right?

He wa- he wasn't giving his best, whereas Abel gave God the best he had.

And so Abel's- Abel's s- sacrifice was accepted, Cain's was not.

Uh, but th- there's an idea of th- there is an inability there.

There- there is a lacking on our part.

You know, we had, we lost that original divine, uh, divinely bestowed ability to- to give proper thanks to God, and we had to restore it.

But how are we gonna restore that?

I mean if- if there's a, I don't know, a bridge spanning an infinite chasm, right?

And somehow y- y- y- y- y- you cross from one side of it, like a teleporter or something, and you break that, uh, how far do you have to go before you reach infinity?

Y- y- y- you can't do it, right?

Y- you can't reach infinity unless you have infinity.

So mankind, w- w- w- we were stuck.

How are we gonna ever return worship to God?

And so that is a part of, or really even we could say the main reason, why Christ came down to Earth, is that there was no way man could repair that.

So God himself had to come down, right, in the flesh, and- and- and take onto himself, right, this- this- this human nature that- that had been surrounded and wounded by sin.

Well now- now God himself takes on human nature and, you know, he- he- he's both man and God.

And now he renders a- a perfect sacrifice to God.

And- and- and this- this gratitudes that should've been there from the beginning is now restored.

But in, we could say, a, um, a limited context.

When is that gratitudes, or when was that gratitudes given to God?

Uh, at- at- at the sacrifice of Calvary, right?

The- the first...

when Christ died on the cross.

And now mankind can offer to God once again, um, adequate thanks and praise and worship when he attends mass, right?

That is the only time mankind is offering to God proper thanks and praise.

When we pray the rosary, when we- when we go to adoration, when we talk to God in my own words.

Okay, that- that- that's good, but it's only at the mass when we actually complete this cycle.

And so the- the holy sacrifice of the mass is the most important activity that is taking place on Earth right now.

Right?

Nothing is more important than any mass that's ever being said.

Or- or- or that has ever been said.

So- so why has the Vatican canceled it then?

Oh, just jumped the gun.

That's not what we're talking about.

The question was, if that's true, why did the Vatican cancel all these public masses, right?

Um, that's why I'm talking about the mass today.

So, um, so the- the- the mass is the most important thing mankind can do, and it- it is the most noble activity in which we can participate.

Uh, 'cause th- when- when any time mass is being offered, that is, as I said, the most important activity taking place on Earth at that moment.

And this is why, this i- and people don't realize this, um, as I- I mentioned at the beginning, that's why we go to mass on Sunday, is to fulfill our obligation to return thanks to God in the manner, the only manner, that is fully satisfying to him.

Because when we attend mass, I'm not giving anything to God that he didn't already give me, right?

And when I give it to him, uh, I'm giving it through the hands of Christ, right?

Christ is offering his sacrifice to his father, and when I go to mass, Christ gives me those merits from his sacrifice on the cross, through v- virtue of baptism.

And so when we go to mass and when we participate and the priest turns around and says, "Orate fratres, pray brethren that my sacrifice and yours might be acceptable to God, the Father Almighty." My sacrifice and yours.

We're all participating, right?

That's why we're all facing the same direction, right?

All giving worship to God.

Uh, so when we do that, Christ is giving thanks to the Father, Christ is adoring the Father, Christ is making reparation to the Father, and- and we're there, right?

Like we are all underneath, uh, Christ here, right?

And- and- and- and here he is, right?

This- this- this is Christ our Lord and okay, I'm...

I want...

Christ, I want you to take my worship and give it to God and it goes boom all the way up to heaven, right?

Um, there's that canon of the mass, um, where it says-Uh, "May the h- may these holies, uh, may this holy sacrifice be carried by the hand of an angel to the altar on high." Right?

And he actually says that.

Carry this host, carry this sacrifice to your altar on high, that it may be an acceptable sacrifice.

And so we're participating in that.

So all of mankind who's not at mass when, uh, uh, uh...

or rather I should say when mankind does not go to mass, uh, mankind does not render to God the worship that is his due.

All those Muslims and Jews and Protestants and anybody who's not Catholic, they are not fulfilling their obligation to worship God.

That's a...

And that is a grave obligation to render thanks and praise and honor and worship to God.

And you are not doing it in an a- in, in an adequate manner.

So that, that is why it, it's, it's...

You could say, um, to tell other religions, "Oh, you could be a good whatever and, and go to heaven." Yeah, you're gonna go to heaven with a massive lifetime of guilt of not worshiping God properly.

That, that is one of the most...

The cruelest things you can do to somebody is, is not to tell them that we have a grave obligation to worship God and there's a way you can do it, and this is the way.

I've said it before, it, it...

That, that debate between the Anglican and the Catholic priest, the bishops.

Remember that?

"We all worship the same God." Yeah, you in your way, and I in his.

And, uh, that's what it is.

Question.

Yep.

How-

Yeah.

Okay.

So yeah, so the question is, how close was the Last Supper to, like, a mass?

Uh, that there's, there's a book, I think, written by, uh, Pope Benedict XVI, or a pope emeritus, and it says How Christ Celebrated the First Mass.

And it's a discussion of what the Jewish ritual of Passover would be.

So what you're gonna find is, if you see the Jewish Passover ritual, you're gonna see like, okay, that's nothing like, like a mass.

Once you know all the symbolism, you're gonna be like, "That is totally the mass." Right?

Because of the scripture, the significations, the biblical references, the foreshadowings, right?

Ev- everything that's going on.

Um, and, and what was the, what was the Last Supper meal except a, um, commemoration of when the Israelites left Egypt?

That, that's what it was.

And how...

Uh, Egypt, of course, representing the land of sin.

Um, we could say, what, what happened with Christ's sacrifice on the cross?

Who is Christ?

The Lamb of God, right?

Uh, crucified for us, shedding all of his blood, uh, um, on, on the cross for our salvation, for our, our salvation from sin, washing us r- in the, in the, in the blood of the Lamb.

Uh, the Last Supper, the, uh, Easter supper, right?

Commemoration of the Passover, commemorated the time when the Israelites, to leave the land of sin took a lamb and shed its blood and smeared it over the wood of their doors and then crossed through the Red Sea, right?

That water and blood to, uh, into, um, the Promised Land, right?

That's the signification of both of those events, right?

You see, you see the immediate parallels, right?

So knowing that, right?

And knowing the scripture references, knowing that, that who Christ was, what he was, all the foreshadowings, all the significations.

Uh, when you know the Bible, when you know the stories and it's pointed out, there's just no doubt in your mind this is the fulfillment of the Old Testament.

I mean, the whole, um, Mosaic Law is a foreshadowing of, of the Catholic Church.

So, um, you know, that, that, that is, that, that is how you could say the Last Supper was like mass, in that the mass, um, brings out the, the, um...

You could say that the Passover was the seed and, and then the mass is the flowering tree.

Like, this is what was signified all along.

For 2,000 years, right, this was, this was...

this lay hidden underground and then it, boom, flourished in- into the tree, right?

The, the tree of the cross.

So, um, where were we?

So mankind has a duty and an obligation to worship God, and, and, and the holy sacrifice of the mass is how we're gonna make that happen.

Um, you know, ev- every, what, pagan tribe out there, right?

Um, the, the, the, the, the, the, um, Polynesian islanders, the Greeks, the Romans, the, the, the cannibals, the whatever it is, and they're offering sacri- Aztecs, right?

They're all offering sacrifice to God.

They know God...

We owe God something, right?

He, he, we owe him something.

And in fact, human sacrifice is kind of a perversion, a perverted desire to give God the best.

What's the most, the most we could offer to God?

A human life.

That's the highest thing we can think of, right?

Who, and who wants to give their life?

And in fact, actually the, the, uh, many of these, these, um, pagan religions, th- they would have willing victims.

I mean, they would s- They would, they would fill their heads like, "Okay, you're gonna sacrifice to God.

This is the most noble thing you can do." And like, okay, yes.

There- there's this, there's this reciprocal understanding of that's worth it, right?

Giving God honor and glory is worth my very own life.

We still see that today.

There's suicide bombers, right?

That's a perversion of what really should be a religious vocation right there.

How sad is that?

Right?

Somebody who would be willing to give his life and all, all, everything, his family, his...

Uh, could have been a monk or a nun or a saint, and now, boom, dies blowing himself up and killing 100 people.

It's a lost vocation right there.

So terrible, terrible evil in the world, but...

And, and that's what Satan does.

Satan takes our natural good desires and he twists and he perverts it.

Right?

So we, we, we need to be working for the conversion of, of the world.

Yeah?

Is it okay to ask a question?

Sure, yeah.

So you said that the Islamic worship, Protestant worship is not proper or-

Right.

...

enough.

What about the Nova Ordo Mass?

You knew it was gonna happen.

This video is going to be heavily edited.

My little foam mustache.

No video?

Um, oh boy.

27 27

I'm, I'm the computer.

Right, right, right, yeah.

So okay- so I- I- that's a- that's a- that's an excellent question, right?

So, um, what is the essence of the Mass, right?

It's in chapter 27.

I want you all to read chapter 27.

I didn't know I was gonna give this class until, like, 10:00 this morning.

Um, chapter 27 is about the sacrifice of the Mass.

Um, and the essence of the Mass...

I will tell you this right here, the Mass is Christ's sacrifice on Cavalry- um, uh, Calvary, renewed.

Uh, so Christ offered himself in sacrifice to his Father once and once only.

Um, in fact, ooh, I wanna- I wanna...

there's a very, very important, um...

Uh, here we go.

A gift offered to God in sacrifice, we call a victim, right?

That is that gratitudes, giving back to God.

A gift offered to God is- in sacrifice, we call a victim.

The one who offers sacrifice to God in the name of all the people, we call the priest.

And so the sacrifice on the cross was the priest Christ offering the victim who was Christ, right?

The priest and the lamb.

Can you slow it down a little more?

'Cause I don't- I lost...

Outstanding.

I'm glad you said that.

Thank you.

It's worth like a beer right there.

The question, it gets...

Slow down, right?

Um, good, good, good.

Let's, let's take that a little bit slower.

Thank you.

Here we go.

God gives us, we give God in return.

What can we give God He doesn't already have?

Nothing.

Nothing, right?

So, um, there's, there's this, this, um, we could say sense of inadequacy on the part of mankind to give God anything that, you know, is, we could say, valuable to God.

Actually, the, the one thing that is valuable to God that- I don't wanna be heretical- that he doesn't already have is our free will, our free decision to love God, right?

He, he, in a certain strange way, I mean, nothing's lacking in God, but that's our decision to give to him, right?

And that...

And, and, and God respects that so much, even though he loves us, he's willing to let people choose hell, uh, rather than force them against their will.

Um, so we, we don't really have anything to give God, and we can't render him adequate sacrifice.

But when Christ, right, Christ our Lord, um, who is God himself, right?

Um, God and man is able to make to God that perfect sacrifice and did, and, and that perfect sacrifice was, you know, his, um, his death on the cross, right?

So that is the perfect sacrifice.

Now, none of us can do that.

We can't offer to God ourselves on the cross.

I mean, even if we did, all we're doing is imitating Christ, which it's, it's a valuable sacrifice-

Mm-hmm.

...

but it's not infinite.

So all the rest of us, right, are, are, are down here, right?

And, and we cannot give God an infinite sacrifice.

But when we, when we unite our sacrifices to Christ and he offers a sacrifice in our name, uh, then we're included in that.

And so, um, this model, you could say, this is the Old Testament, um, model of sacrifice and priesthood also.

So you have...

Imagine here this is not Christ, but this is the priest, right?

Who is the priest?

The priest is a man specially chosen to offer sacrifice to God.

And in the Old Testament, it was, uh, the blood of bulls and goats, right?

That is what- that was what was offered to God.

"Okay, you, you tell us what you want, and we'll give it to you." "This is how I want to be worshipped.

Uh, this is how to build the altar.

This is how many qubits it should be, and it should be overlaid with this and that." "Got it.

All right, God.

You, you say, we're gonna do it." Uh, and, and so, um, you could say once a year, uh, the high priest offered sacrifice for all the people, the sins of all the people as a whole nation, w- that sacrifice was offered once a year.

So you had the priest offering the sacrifice, all the people who were included in that sacrifice, and then you had, uh, the victim, you know, whatever it was.

Was Melchizedek one of them, high priest?

Yes, that's a very interesting topic, Melchizedek.

Um, how does he fit into the priesthood?

Um, in the Old Testament, to be a priest, you have to be a- you had to be of the tribe of Levi.

If you're not a Levite, you couldn't be a priest.

Um, the ruler, the king of Israel would come from the tribe of Judah, right?

And that was what King David.

King David was of the tribe of Judah.

Uh, the Messiah would come from, from the line of, of, of David, and he would be called Mi- Mighty Counselor, Prince of Peace, um, you know, the Me- the Messiah would, would, would come from, from, from Judah.

So how do you get the savior, the Messiah, who is also a priest, if he's not a Levite?

And this is the topic of the book of Hebrews, where Saint Paul is arguing with the other Jews saying that Christ i- uh, um...

It says in the Psalms, you are a priest according to the order of Melchizedek, not according to the Levitical priesthood, but Melchizedek.

Now Melchizedek was, uh, whom Abraham went and offered, um...

When, when, when Lot was captured by the kings and Abraham went and rescued his cousin Lot, or, um, and he went to Melchizedek, who offered sacrifice on Abraham's behalf.

And this is all in Genesis, like, I don't know, Genesis chapter, uh, 11, 12, 13, 14, something like that.

Melchizedek offers gifts of what?

Bread and wine to God, right?

Foreshadowing.

So God, whomever God chooses to, to say, "Okay, this is the person I want to be your priest.

This is the person I want you to go to, to offer for sacrifice," that's the priest-I want you to go to Levi's for your priesthood.

Okay.

I want you to go to Melchizedek.

Okay.

I want you to go to Job, right?

Uh, after Job, you know, is- is- is afflicted and his three friends come and they argue him and they tell Job "You did something wrong." And he says, "Oh, I didn't do something wrong." They said, "Yes, you did." He says, "No, I didn't." "Yes, you did." And they do that for 57 chapters.

Like back and forth.

It's very poetic.

But at the end, God tells the friends of Job, "You have sinned.

You have sinned against me.

Go to your, uh, go to my servant Job and he will offer sacrifice on your behalf." Good.

Can I ask my question then?

That I-

Wait.

...

asked before class?

Oh, no wait.

No, don't.

Do not ask that question yet.

Too early.

Too early.

Okay.

So we're back to, like-

So we are priest and victim here, right?

Right.

And- and- and the cross just sym- symbolizes the sacrifice.

Gotcha.

So you have the priest, you have the victim and you have the people.

Now the question, what- that they got us started on this whole- this wh- this whole thing was, um, at the holy sacrifice of the mass...

Oh, we're going way back.

Is the Novus Ordo Mass ex- like, uh, acceptable, right, to God?

Some...

Was the question something like that?

At the Novus Ordo Mass, uh, a- a- at the Mass, right, we could say who is the principal priest at Mass?

Christ.

Christ, right?

In- in the person of the individual priest, right?

The individual priest is there, but Christ a- by instituting the priesthood he said, um, at the Last Supper, uh, "Take all of your meat.

This is my body." Uh, "Do this in- do this in memory of me." That is considered the moment at which Christ ordained the Apostles.

Just like he doesn't give somebody an obligation without an ability to fulfill it, he wouldn't have told priests, you know, "Offer my s- body and blood," but w- how are we supposed to do it?

He gives them the ability to do it at the same time.

So pre- Christ is the principal priest through the individual man, and Christ is the principal victim.

What are we offering to Christ?

What is offered in the Mass?

Christ's own sacrifice on the cross.

So, um, Christ is both the priest and the victim at every Mass.

And to properly express that, the Church throughout the ages has- has, um, used...

I mean, the best minds, the best musical geniuses, the- the- the- the best, um, you know, ar- architects have said, "Well, if th- this is the one- the one thing on Earth that is most important, offering to God the sa- the sacrifice of his own Son, what shou- should the building look like in which that is taking place?"

A cross.

Right?

Well, I mean, yeah.

Y- so yeah, well it should...

The building itself should be shaped like a cross, that's called a cruciform church, but it should be magnificent, it should be, um, you know, it should raise our minds to God, it should- it should call to mind what is happening.

The- the- it should be, you know, massive and glorious and grand to represent the event that is taking place.

How should we say the Mass?

It should be- it should be filled with- with singing and- and rejoicing and solemnity and- and- and gold and precious metals to signify the King of Kings, and- and- and- and the value that we're getting.

Um, so when you- when you- when you look at- at everything as surrounding the Mass, it is all about the priest Christ and the victim Christ o- o- offering that to his Father.

So, you know, before you had Gothic cathedrals and Gregorian chant and- and outstan- you know, beautiful vestments and all that, you had the catacombs.

Right?

You had the Apostles gathered in the Upper Room breaking bread, right?

So yo- you didn't have much, but it doesn't matter, because when Christ offers himself to the Father, whether he's surrounded by beautiful music or jeering Pharisees, the sacrifice is still being made.

And so that's why any Mass, whether it is a, you know, traditional Latin Mass or the Novus Ordo Mass or the Byzantine rite or the Melchite rite, or this, that or whatever, if it's the Mass, that sacrifice is taking place, and that's the most important thing that's happening in the world right then and there.

Now, we have e- the element of human psychology in that although this could be the most important thing in the world, if- if I don't know that or if I don't believe that an- and- and it's done poorly, I'm not gonna believe, right?

Like, "This can't be that important.

If it was important, why aren't they taking it more seriously?" Right?

Or- or- or- and conversely, "Ooh, this must really be important because they're taking it so seriously." Um, and- and we need that.

We need those external reminders to- um, to affect our minds and- and really make that- make that, uh, different.

I remember, actually it was a personal moment when that very thing happened to me.

I was at the seminary, you know, kneeling down and it was the moment of the consecration.

And then you had the priest elevating the host and you had the deacon raising hi- the back of his, uh, chasuble, and you had the subdeacon doing incense, and you had, um, everybody kneeling down on the pews, and you had somebody over there ringing a bell, and you had another acolyte over here ringing a different bell, and there's like six, you know, six different people all around this one event.

And I just...

The thought popped into my mind, like, "This is really important." Like this event, like you can tell just from everything that's going on, like, wow, this one moment is super important.

And it is.

The- the- the moment of the consecration when- when the- when the priest says, you know, uh, "This is my body given up for you," that's the moment when Christ becomes present in the host and renews his- his incarnation, he's born again into the world, his life, his prayers, his passion, his sufferings, his death, his resurrection, his ascension, right?

All that takes place at every single Mass, right?

Every single Mass is like a little encapsulation of the life of Christ.

33 years of God on Earth, i- in the Mass.Um, and, and so it's important that the externals, uh, all point to that, and, and serve to, to make us realize, okay, this is, is...

this is it, this is the most important thing.

So the Mass that does that better is going to be a better Mass, right?

Because we're going to understand more, we're gonna be actually participating more.

And you know, people talk about, "Well, the Mass needs to be in a language people understand." You know?

I may not understand old Slavonic or French or German or Japanese, but I can sure understand, um, silence.

Right?

And I can understand mystery, and I can understand beauty, and I can understand reverence.

And those are universal languages, right?

Um, silence is golden.

The beauty, beauty of silence.

The power of silence, right?

So all that is pos- is possible.

And, and what better language to celebrate Mass than a language which is reserved to God alone?

Nobody speaks this language except God, right?

We never speak Latin except when we're at Mass offering sacrifice to God.

Or in the Church, when we write official Church documents, we're gonna use Latin.

We're gonna use the official language of the Church.

No one, um, nationality or language is privileged over anybody else.

This is a language specifically for God and the Church, right?

What a beautiful idea, hmm?

So that's, um...

sh- what, what should we could say, uh, that's why I think objectively speaking, the Latin Mass is a, a better form of the Mass.

It was something that, that...

Everything I've just ex- described and explained was understood, and, um, uh, how could we say?

Uh, that, that's what people s- strove to do.

They, they, they wanted to make that reality more and more present.

And we have 2,000 years, uh, of the best minds, the best musical, uh, architectural minds working on this.

They're gonna come up with some outstanding results, and they did, right?

Why do we think that they're...

Everywhere you go in Europe, what, what are all the attractions?

Like this cathedral, that cathedral, this work of art?

What's it about?

It's about the Transfiguration, it's about the Resurrection, it's the, you know, the Altarpiece of Ghent and whatever it may be.

It's all this religious stuff.

Where do art students go when they wanna study like the masters?

They go to the Sistine Chapel, right?

It's all religious art.

What do architects study when they go to school?

They study Goth- Gothic cathedrals, right?

That's the first thing when you learn how to build buildings, look at the cathedrals.

That's the foundations of modern architecture.

Same thing with music.

What did they study?

The Mass.

Uh, Mozart's Mass.

Bach, Beethoven, they all wrote for the Mass.

So th- that is what should surround this sacrifice, is the best mankind has to offer.

And instead, these days, we have this, um...

and you hear all kinds of conspiracy theories.

Um, but you have this foolish idea that in, in, in 60 years, we're gonna come up with a better idea than in 2,000 years, right?

And that's, that's what you end up with with the new Mass.

Question?

No, I was gonna say something with that.

Uh, I was watching something Taylor Marshall and all those guys were talking about, especially in Africa, where you can have nine or 10 dialects in a very small country.

Oh, yeah.

They really liked the Latin Mass because-

It unites them all.

...

then they all understood-

Yeah.

...

exactly what-

Yep.

...

that other person said.

There was a, there was, there was a, um...

on the use of Latin in, in the Mass, a, a, a Franciscan, and he talked about the story of how these missionaries went to this island somewhere, and it was very, very, um, disparate, and they all had their local dialects and their local language and their local practices, and they were fighting constantly.

And the missionaries went, and they all said Mass, and when the people would go to Mass, they would come from all the different tribes.

And they would, they would...

they started to get along, and they started to, um...

because they said, "Okay, although we speak different languages and we have different regional, regional, um, you know, peculiarities, when we come to Mass, we're all brothers and sisters and we're all the same." And there was really this, this spirit of harmony that began, and, and, and the missionaries noticed it.

And then some years later, in the Vatican II they said, "You have to speak in the language of the people." And the priests were like, "Well, will that mean we have to learn 16 different languages?" And Vatican said, "Well, you have to do it." And so there's a struggle, the translations were poor, and when they started doing it, like, the, the people stopped going to...

if it wasn't in their language, they wouldn't go to Mass, and the strife began again.

And the missionaries complained very much against it.

They refused, "No, you have to do it this way."

The Church took Latin and-

Right, yeah, so the, the, the, um...

the question is, Latin's referred to as a dead language.

Um, but I, I call it...

no, Latin is not dead, Latin is immortal, right?

It will never die, and it never changes, in that the words all have very definite meanings.

There's no ambiguity.

Um, I don't say no, there's, there's little, right?

And over 2,000 years, the Church has been very careful to define the terms.

When we say this, what do we mean?

And imagine, you know, there's, there's no...

when you have that, um...

p- prior to, uh, you could say Vatican II, all the seminaries, it didn't matter where you went, if you were German, French, Swiss, American, uh, Eskimo, you learned theology in Latin.

The entire world of priests was united in one language.

And then w- we've got the same textbook.

If you wanted this...

you, you closed down a seminary in Germany, you could ship all the books over to America and all the seminarians could use 'em.

No problem.

Well, we all read and speak Latin.

All that was lost.

It's a huge, huge blow.

So yeah, Latin is the, um, is the language of the Church for...

and I, I don't know if it was for that reason because Latin is, um, uh, unchanging or that the Church took it and was like, "Okay, we're gonna make sure that these terms are definite and that they don't...

there's no ambiguity." So, something like that.

Right.

Um, okay, let's see.

Where else?

Um, have you heard that, uh, that Gloria, you know, the Gloria during Mass?

Mm-hmm.

Gloria in excelsis Deo.

Glory to God in the highest and peace to his people on Earth, right?

And then Novus Ordo, you have glory to God-And, and it's this particular way of singing Glory to God, and they transposed it with the My Little Pony theme song, and it, it was the same, like it just fit.

Uh, and that, that's part of the idea that, oh, it should be the, it should be in the music of the people, it should be the folk music, and it's just this campy, embarrassing...

Uh, so you know that one, um, Here I Am Lord?

That's a '70s sitcom.

The Brady Bunch slowed down.

<< Here I am, Lord.

Is it I, Lord?

>> ♪ And he had three children of his own.

♪ Right?

That's what we're giving to God, right?

That, and then look at the churches, they had a, they had a slideshow.

Um, is this a...

Gu- guess that building.

Is this a bank, a school, a prison, or a church?

Knew it was the bank too.

Right?

And like, you can't tell.

Right?

So that's, that, that is, that is what came out of Vatican II, is the worst architecture, the worst music, and the worst theology about this.

Right?

Everything I just described about, about the Mass being a sacrifice Christ offers to God, and that mankind giving back to God the only thing, uh, that, that man can do that is pleasing to God, that is all takes a back seat to, uh, this is a community, right?

And that's why the priest should be facing the people and they should be facing each other, and it's a celebration of community.

And that all the focus is taken away from God, and put onto man.

Is that why they recently took all the communion rails out of a lot of the churches?

There, there's, there's many reasons why they did all the horrible things they did after Vatican II, so.

Um, and, and, and regardless, this is not...

Again, I don't want to go into like conspiracy theories or whatever, but I'm just, you know, was just saying that the focus of the Mass is, should be on God, and should be on Christ, and not on mankind.

Um...

So...

So-

That leads to...

So that begs the question, why have we closed the churches on man's word and closed God off to us over a virus?

That brings me to my question.

Right.

So, um, the question is...

I'm gonna like edit out all that whole previous whatever.

Oh, sorry.

We have...

Okay, the first question, um, if this being the case, right?

If Mass is so important, if Mass is the most important thing mankind can render to God, why was that public worship we, that we owe to God canceled on account of this coronavirus?

And essentially, the governor's decree that no gatherings of more than 250 people.

Doesn't matter that you're doing the most important thing on Earth, and that you're giving God Almighty the worship and honor and glory that is his due, and that we have a grave obligation to give, it doesn't matter that you're doing that, no gatherings of more than 250 people.

Um, that is the scandal of it, right?

The scandal that a governor can essentially tell the Church what to do, right?

That's the impression.

And the impression is that the bishops are saying, like, "Well, we don't really sufficiently value the Mass or think that that's that important, so we're just gonna go ahead and cancel it at the first whiff of, um, uh, uh, secular, um, disapproval." Right?

That's the impression that's given, and that's why people are upset.

That's, that's why I went through the whole thing of describing the essence of the Mass is priest and victim, right?

When Christ offers himself as victim to God, it doesn't matter what else is going around, whether it's My Little Pony Glory to God or Victoria's, you know, a- just absolutely outstanding music, um, Christ is offering sacrifice to God.

So the Novus Ordo Mass, uh, uh, the worst Novus Ordo Mass, and I mean the one that is offered like the priest isn't really paying attention, the people are like, "Whatever," nobody knows what's going on, uh, at least somebody's there like Saint John or the Blessed Vir- Virgin at the foot of the Cross, offering to God like, "At least I know what's going on, right?

Somebody here is, is worshiping you." So that, that h- horrible, you know, campy Novus Ordo Mass is the most important thing going on in the world right then, and is offering to God infinite sacrifice.

It's just that it's being very poorly done.

So attending a Novus Ordo Mass is not a bad thing.

Yeah.

So, uh, any, any Mass you can get to fulfills this obligation.

Any Mass is, is, is, is...

Like, you should be there.

Okay.

Yeah.

A- and so absolutely go.

If you have a choice, obviously go to the Latin Mass where it's gonna be done better.

But if there's no, is no choice, just get to Mass, right?

Participate in this, the most important thing you can possibly do.

It's a grave obligation to attend Mass on Sundays.

So not to do so is a grave sin.

Okay.

And then that stems from, like I said, this, this cycle here.

God gave us everything.

We owe a debt of gratitude to God.

We owe him ho- honor and worship and glory, and the Church said, "Okay, attend Mass once a week in order to do that." If you attend Mass, you are fulfilling your obligation of adoring God and thanking God and praising God.

And it doesn't matter if you're not Catholic.

If you're not attending Mass, you're not o- like, objectively speaking, you, it doesn't matter what you do.

If you're not attending Mass, you are not giving God the honor and worship and glory that he is owed by us.

That's why it's so important for everybody to be Catholic and everybody to be going to Mass.

Okay?

This is a heavy, heavy decision to cancel the public worship of God.

Right.

That's on the bishop's shoulder.

Has that been done before?

Yes.

This has historical precedent.

In the Middle Ages, bishops would cancel Masses all the time, it was called interdict.

Um, if a region was like rebelling or there was serious trouble or there was any kind of, um, something which, which was of a grave nature, bishops would forbid all sacraments from being distributed.

And then I, I don't want to go into that, but th- this has been done before and bishops do have that authority.So, for on our part, we are not at fault for not being able to return that worship to God.

God is- that is not gonna be imputed on us, right?

However, our obligation of returning him thanks is not lifted.

So we still do owe God honor and worship and glory.

And that's why, um, y- y- our own pastor, Father Jackson, said, "Keep Sunday holy." Read Scripture, set aside an hour and, and give God thanks.

Give him that honor that we, uh, w- y- we owe him, if we do know sin on our part.

If that cancellation of masses was made without sufficient reason, then every single day that mass is not offered, the bishop owes all that glory and honor to God.

How is he gonna pay that?

Pay it.

Yikes, right?

We can't pay it.

Pray for the bishop, right?

Pray that he makes the right decision.

Pray that this was the right decision.

And we don't know.

We don't, we don't have access...

He was, uh, this is not an easy decision.

He didn't want to do this.

Uh, he consulted with, uh, medical experts, I'm sure, virologists, uh, all kinds of theologians.

Uh, uh, maybe they weren't very good, but he certainly consulted, right?

And he's privy to information we don't have.

So it wouldn't be good to second guess and say, "Well, he made a bad decision," or, "That wasn't the right decision." Well, it's not my place to say that, right?

What we can do is point out the importance of the mass and the gravity of the decision, and then pray for the bishop that, that, um, you know, that, that, that, that, um, I don't know, that, that it was th- the correct one.

Or if it wasn't, that he makes the correct one soon, or next time, or whenever it may be.

Why can't mass be celebrated with 249 people?

Um, that's the decision he made, right?

And that's what we ha- that's...

We, we can look at that and say, "Well, well, can't we have masses with less than 250?" I mean, sure, that would, that would fulfill the governor's request, but that's not what the bishop decided.

It still falls under obedient, though, 'cause we're supposed to be obedient to-

Okay, not being it, the question is...

um, so there is a, uh, society, uh, a group within the church called the Society of Saint Pius X.

This is a group of priests.

And after Vatican II, right, all that craziness, they said, "We're not doing this.

This is wrong.

This is not the proper way mass should be.

We are gonna continue to celebrate mass in Latin with all the old, um, theology and, and all the old, um, music and architecture and so on," right?

All the old liturgy.

Uh, and that continued from 1960, the 1960s and onward.

And there was a...

Archbishop Lefebvre was the, the bishop who founded that.

Uh, so these groups have continued to exist, and they go into a diocese.

And normally, for us to be here at the Fraternity of Saint Peter, we must get the bishop's permission, "Can we establish a parish in your diocese and offer the Latin mass?" "Yes." "Okay, thank you.

Here we come." The SSPX just does it, right?

They find some wealthy benefactors, they build a chapel, they start offering mass.

The bishop says, "What are you doing here?" And they say, "Saving souls because you're not," right?

So there's an antagonistic relationship there.

And whether that's true or not, that's, that's the, the kind of attitude.

So the bishop gives priests permission to, uh, celebrate weddings, to do baptisms, to say mass, to hear confessions.

If we don't have that permission, we can't do that.

The SSPX, they claim to have permission...

Well, it's complicated, but they're just, they're here without the permission of the bishop.

So-

So when he, when he makes the, the decision no mass, they say, "Well, we're gonna do it." We're gonna do it.

Yeah, but the Diocese of Bozeman says SSPX doesn't have any jurisdiction here.

It's not...

It doesn't fulfill your Sunday obligation if you go to them.

Right, and so the archbishop has a page.

Yeah.

And so so-called Catholic masses and the SSPX is not the only one.

There's like-

Yeah, there's a lot of different groups.

There's...

Yeah.

Some weird ecumenical things.

Yeah, many other groups that call themselves Catholic, but they're not really there.

Uh, but the, the confusing situation with the SSPX, the Society of Saint Pius X, is that, um, Rome has said...

It was written, "Can a person fulfill their Sunday obligation by going to the SSPX chapel?" And Rome replied, "Yes, you can." Uh, but is that a permission over and above the bishop or is that unless the bishop says otherwise?

And typically, it's, it's, um...

Well, that, that's part of what makes it so confusing, is I think the more stronger case is that if the bishop, unless the bishop says otherwise, you could go to an SSPX mass.

But if the bishop says no, you, you're bound to obey your bishop.

And the other argument's otherwise, and I don't recommend people go to SSPX at all because of the danger.

Because just like those people that they're not Catholic and they don't know they're supposed to be going to mass, but that doesn't mean that they're relieved of their obligation to give God worship.

So if the SSPX is wrong and they're being disobedient and attempting to offer God pleasing sacrifice, he's not pleased because they're being disobedient.

And like, "What?

But we're justified.

We're supposed to be doing this." And God's like, "Well, I know you think that, but actually you shouldn't be." That's the risk of going to an SSPX chapel, is there's a risk of disobedience and, and being displeasing to God, which nobody wants to do, right?

So, obedience is more important.

Hold on.

Yes, question in the back.

Uh, you mentioned set aside an hour for prayer.

Um, I'm wondering, like, could we just go through our missal or what, what is a good way to pray?

'Cause I know that there's like an order of operations, right?

You kind of like-

Right, yes.

You acknowledge God, you praise him, you ask-

Oh, yeah, yeah.

You're talking about the four ends of prayer.

We'll get to that.

I'll answer that in, in a bit here.

Um, let me get back to the other one, which was SSPX...

This question.

Obedience.

Obedience is more important than...

um, oh, right.

So if, if the bishop says, "Okay, this, um...

We're not gonna do public masses anymore." And you're like, "Whoa, but that's public mass.

That's the worship we owe to God." And he says, "Well, this is my decision, my diocese, my prudential call.

We're not gonna offer public masses for the public's health and safety," but the SSPX over here is offering mass in disobedience to the bishop.Don't go.

Obedience is more important.

Is that not part of an hour's prayer?

Or-

Uh, yes.

Uh, so, um, you still owe God worship, but, um, again, just like the, um...

we could say this was a problem of the Jews, actually.

This is, uh, precisely the problem with the Jews and the Pharisees.

When Christ came to Earth and he said, "Do this in memory of me." Essentially, "I am the fulfillment of the law." Uh, and the Jews are like, "But Moses said...

but the law says." And Christ says, "That's right, and I'm the fulfillment of that.

And to prove it to you, pick up your bed and walk.

Receive thy sight.

Lazarus, come forth." Right?

Christ is working all these miracles to show the Jews, "I'm giving you a new commandment.

God told you to do this before, but God is telling you now to do this," which they knew was coming.

In Jeremiah 31:31 it says, "The days are coming, sayeth the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with my people.

Not like the covenant I made with our fathers in the wilderness." He tell- told them, "There is a new covenant.

It's going to change.

It's gonna be different." And when Christ came and worked miracles and changed it, the Jews said, "No.

We wanna do it this way." And that's the same attitude of when the bishop says, "God speaks through the bishop.

Um, you're gonna- you're gonna do- you're gonna, um, do mass this way and listen to the bishop." And we say, "No." We're, we're being disobedient to God.

So what should we do?

The question then becomes, um, when in obedience to the bishop, uh, we don't go to mass or we can't go to mass, how do we honor God?

Right.

Um, and there are, there are many ways to do that.

You can come to adoration, which we offer.

You can, you can, um, follow along the readings that you would have done at mass.

Get your hand missal and go through the intro, what's the collect, what's the, the different prayers and the mass.

Uh, pray the rosary, read the Bible for half an hour, uh, a- along with the other things, right?

So take an hour.

Take 45 minutes or an hour, and spend it with God, spend it in prayer.

Do the best you can, and that's gonna suffice.

Why?

Because you're being obedient to God, right?

Mosaic covenant, that's what we're gonna do.

Uh, new covenant, that's what we're gonna do.

Attend mass on Sundays and holy days, that's what we're gonna do.

Competent authority of the bishop, mass is canceled, that's what we're gonna do, right?

Obedience is always more important.

Don't get caught up in the, uh, externals.

That's when people say, "Well, uh, I couldn't make it to a Latin mass, so I didn't go to mass on Sunday." Wrong answer, right?

O- they go...

It doesn't say, "Attend the Latin mass on Sundays and holy days.

Attend a mass that you like on Sundays and holy days." It says, "A- attend mass." Just go.

So we'll end there.

That's...

We've gone a little bit over time.

Um, there'll be some heavy editing to do with this video, like I mentioned.

Sorry.

Yeah.

Okay.

Let's, let's stand and say a prayer.