The Sspx

[jeffpugh]

[quote name='Apotheoun' post='1776581' date='Feb 9 2009, 12:09 AM']I love the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom too much to consider attending an SSPX chapel on a regular basis.[/quote]
That's awesome. I have a love for the St. John Chrysostom liturgy too. I just went today

[mortify]

[quote name='Luigi' post='1794802' date='Mar 2 2009, 12:05 AM']Mass in Latin, of the Pre-Vatican II or post-Vatican II variety, in no holier than the English Mass. It is no more impressive than an English Mass (and the point of going to Mass is not be impressed, anyway). It is only less comprehensible than the English Mass except for the educated, and only a few of them.[/quote]

It's not about Latin, Luigi, although Latin is the sacred language of the Liturgy.

And in my opinion the older rite does convey certain truths of the Faith [i]more clearly[/i].

As a layperson, although I believe Pope Paul VI's mass is legitimate and valid, I have a hard time understanding why large changes were made to the liturgy.

[quote]latin is a dead language, dead as it can be. It killed off all the Romans, and now it's killing ME.[/quote]

lol, indeed!

[mortify]

[quote name='Luigi' post='1794830' date='Mar 2 2009, 12:38 AM']No - in fact, they stood like cattle in huge churches without pews or microphones and waited for the bell to be rung so they would know the elevation was happening.[/quote]

One of the problems I have with the liturgical reform is that it appears to suggest liturgical development in the Roman rite was really liturgical deviation, and that therefore the Church was in error for thousands of years. This is the sense I get when I read contemporary books on liturgical development, it's full of criticisms of the ancient Liturgy. But again, this may not be what the Church herself has intended with the reform, but certainly some people have that impression.

[quote]There was no participation. The priest spoke and the deacons, or the altars boys, answered on behalf of the people. People "heard" Mass in those days. The choirs provided lots of unintelligible but angelic sounding music[/quote]

There was participation of an interior kind. People may not have understood Latin and they might not have heard what the priest was praying, but they knew what the Mass was and what was occurring. But we have to remember the mass is not about the people, it's focus is on God. The priest was always a (relative) mediator between God and the people. The only time people would chime in was during the intercessory prayer (if that existed) and singing. This idea that laypeople have to take part in every aspect of the liturgy is a modern one.