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The True Beauty of the Liturgy of the Mass

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Would you rather give a half-hearted offering like that of Cain, offering what the Lord had not desired, or would you rather give it all to God like Abel, who offered the best to the Lord?

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Would you rather be like Judas Iscariot, who scolded Mary for wasting money on perfume used to anoint the feet of Christ before His death? especially that was out of false concern of the poor given that he desired the money for himself? or would you be rather be Mary indeed, who anointed the feet of Christ for His burial, even with the expensive nard-flower perfume and therefore like Abel, gave her best offering to the Lord?

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Such is therefore, what we should think of, when we think about the Mass and the liturgy that surrounds it. Many would be in danger of misunderstanding the entire purpose of having such liturgies and rites of worship, and dismissing them as backward, elitist, showy, and wasteful in nature – No, indeed, in fact, all these are for the glory of God alone, and we wouldn’t give half-hearted gifts and attempts to our Lord. Our worship in the Mass is to the Lord alone, and the glory that is in the Mass, is for the glory of God.

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So why elaborate vestments, with colourful and vivid images, even with golden thread or velvet? Why elaborate and jewelled mitres? Why elaborate church buildings, the Altar decoration and everything else? That is because all these are for the glory of God, and for God alone, and not for the glory of men. And in this too, as I had often mentioned, many would be able to learn more about the faith, and at the same time, bring worship closer to what it should be, that is, to be a heaven on earth, especially with the angels and the saints, we worship God together.

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Men are visual creatures, and we base ourselves and our perceptions closely with our visions and what we see in our surroundings. One very strong argument why so many people had left the faith and became lost in the past decades was because the disappearance of beauty in our worship, not the beauty of excessive displays of course, but the true beauty of worship in that every part of the Mass and its liturgy has its own particular importance and meaning, even all the gestures made in the Mass.

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Being visual creatures, men no longer see God as the divine He is, because especially like Science, which place accountability, reproducibility, etc. at the most important, especially visual proofs, men no longer see God because our worship had become so diluted, so abused by decades of excessive trials and innovations which ended up diluting this image of ‘heaven on earth’ in the Mass. The Mass becomes less a desire for all to come to other than just a ‘chore’ for many to come, and Sunday obligation becomes what it is, an obligation, rather than true desire to come and worship the Lord.

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Therefore, it is important that in the coming future, our Church, while projecting itself ever more, as it had always done, in helping the needy and the unloved around the world, expanding its charitable acts which is already the world’s largest by significant margins, ever more, but most importantly also, at the same time, strengthening the anchor of faith, through the energetic and constant explanation of the faith and the Sacred Tradition, particularly on the Mass and its liturgy, especially to the youths and the newly baptised, that they will truly grasp what being a Catholic is about.

That being a Catholic entail not just being good person, helpful person, and caring person, but also someone who truly knows entirely what they are doing at Mass, at their worship of the Lord every Sunday, and who truly come for the Mass because they desire to seek the Lord, and understanding the beauty of the liturgy of the Mass, they become ever closer to God, and through this, be ever more blessed and loving, that they can bring forth this love in their service of others. Ora et Labora, a balance indeed required between prayer and worship, and the service facet of our faith.

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In this manner, we must always remember this verse, which is also a very nice Psalm passage I had discovered, that in all things, we glorify God alone, particularly in the Mass, through all its beauty :

Non nobis, Domine, sed Nomini tuo da gloriam!
Not to us, o Lord, but to Your Name we give glory!

+Peter Canisius Michael David C. Kang
Ut Omnes Unum Sint, ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam
21 April 2013, Good Shepherd Sunday

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My personal thoughts on the election of Pope Francis I and the current state of the Church

I can only hope that Msgr. Guido Marini, the Master of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations (Papal MC) can indeed stay where he is, as many uttered their concern whether he will still stay as papal MC given the apparent change in this new Pope.

As this is just the first day, I do not know much yet about the direction that our new Pope, Francis I, will bring us all, but I hope that he will not overemphasize inculturation and liberation for the sake of evangelisation, as what was once done under Archbishop Marini, the previous papal MC, but rather focus and renew the spirit of the liturgy as was done by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI when he was Pope, with the help of Monsignor Marini as the chief liturgical reformer.

There is a need to balance between tradition and innovation, and not to tilt too far to the other side. Already these past few years we had seen a great rebound in the number of seminarians joining the seminary, and also the growing accustomisation among many people all over the world of the use of Latin in the Mass, despite of course emphasis remaining on the vernacular language.

Already, many apparently made comments (as I do) on his choice of not wearing the mozzetta and the stole upon making his first appearance, despite the proper winter papal mozzetta had been prepared for the new Pope. These are little things, but I hope this won’t be a precedent, which if not carefully handled, may undo many of the great things and reforms of the reform of Vatican II that had been painstakingly done in the past few years, and have begun to bear fruit in the Church today.

Balance is important. Already we have seen in many cases after Vatican II, churches and groups going too far towards innovation and liberal thoughts that ended up losing their very Catholic identity. What we need is to preserve our tradition, and yet remain open for innovations that can help new evangelisation, and evangelisation must also be carried in the spirit of the preservation of Apostolic teachings and traditions, and not conform to what the world think, that is relativism.

Social media like twitter, Facebook, blogs, and many others are these great innovations that can help spread the teachings of the Church, and yet let us not be like many Catholics, particularly in the USA, which had been commented as being ‘market Catholics’ where they pick and choose what they want to believe in, as long as it suits them, and reject those that they feel don’t fit with them. No, to be a Catholic means accepting the whole teaching as a whole, and not taking just those parts that you like, and discard the rest.

I need to add that going into extremes into the other direction is also abhorred, as what was made obvious by the SSPX Society, which continued to linger in their ultra-conservatism, and refused to take in several important modifications made by Vatican II.

Just some examples : We no longer blame Jews for the death of Christ, and instead they are our elder brothers in faith, having been chosen and called by God first among all nations.

Then, although indeed I firmly believe in salvation only through the One Church of Christ, but I also believe in the Universal Call to Holiness (by Blessed Pope John Paul II), and there are righteous people outside the Church, who do God’s will, but lacking only the necessary faith in Christ, but that doesn’t mean that they are immediately condemned to hell for that. It is our task to bring the Good News and salvation to them, which can be done through new evangelisation, rooted firmly in tradition and prayer.

However, one wish that I want to make is that, I hope Pope Francis I can thoroughly reform the Roman Curia, to purge from it all ties to corruptions and evil, and to purify our Holy Church that it will once again be immaculate and pure as it should always be, as the One, and only Church God had established in this world, through Peter the Apostle.

And I am touched by his selection of name, Francis, which honoured both St. Francis of Assisi, whom I held in high regard, and St. Francis Xavier, the great missionary and co-founder of the Jesuits (with St. Ignatius Loyola) whom Pope Francis I is a member of. St. Francis Xavier is close to my heart as he is also the patron saint of my early education, and which helped me to learn about the faith, and eventually welcomed into the Church.

I am also deeply touched by his humility, especially when he asked that the people pray for him, and even bowed down to show his humility, which does remind me to another Pope, John Paul I, whose motto is Humilitas, but as history went, he did not have the time to accomplish much. Therefore I hope, the legacy of Pope John Paul I can be continued in Pope Francis I, who had the same quality and personality as Pope John Paul I.

However, humility and simplicity must not lead to the simplification of our faith, but rather let these be tools to further deepen our ties to our faith, and understand more about it.

I noted that Pope Francis I is deeply devoted to the Virgin Mary, whose name is part of his personal name, Jorge Maria Bergoglio. He will be another Marian Pope in the likelihood of Blessed Pope John Paul II. It is important for us to have a strong devotion to the Virgin Mary, as she is the best helper that we can have, in guiding our way towards the Lord, and ensuring that we do not go astray from our path.

May God bless our new Pope Francis I, and at this important juncture at the beginning of the new Pontificate, I hope that the Holy Spirit that has elected him to carry this task, will also guide him, that he will make correct choices that will continue the good works that began with Blessed Pope John Paul II, and was accelerated by Pope Benedict XVI, now Pope Emeritus.