Holy Spirit Absent in Attempts to Revert to Latin Mass

But Magic would not tarry,
it moves from arm to arm.
It would not stay with them,
Magic is afoot,
it cannot come to harm . . .

“God is Alive, Magic is Afoot”
Words: Leonard Cohen
Music: Buffy Sainte-Marie

Recently, two Catholic priests, Joseph O’Leary and John Carville, have written insightful commentaries related to Pope Benedict XVI’s document, Summorum Pontificum.

In his commentary* in the Catholic Commentator, the official publication of the Baton Rouge diocese, Fr. John Carville points out that Summorum Pontificum is the pope’s attempt to “step toward reconciliation with a minority of Catholics who do not want to let go of the old Latin Mass [i.e. the Tridentine Mass] . . . celebrated before the Second Vatican Council.”

Fr. Joseph O’Leary, in his online commentary, calls the Catholics who comprise this minority, “neo-Tridentinists.”

Interestingly, both writers, in their own way, reflect on how recent efforts to revert to the Latin Mass are contrary to the movement of the Holy Spirit in the Church.

For instance, Carville notes that: “A fundamental liturgical principle is involved [in the issues raised by Summorum Pontificum] that was beautifully expressed by a bishop on the council floor of Vatican II, a bishop familiar with a rite far older than our Latin, Tridentine one dating from the 16th century. This most convincing argument came from an Eastern rite patriarch, Maximus IV Saigh of Antioch. He said that from the perspective of the Eastern rite it was strange that the presider in the liturgy would use a language that differed from that of his congregation, who in turn had to pray in a language they did not understand. ‘A living Church has no use for a dead language.’ Since it is the instrument of the Holy Spirit, language should be living.”

Yet according to Joseph O’Leary, those desperate to see a return of the Tridentine Mass and its Roman Canon are in denial of the Holy Spirit.

In his commentary, Manichees, Marcionites, Pneumatomachs, and Neo-Tridentinists, O’Leary notes: “The role of the Spirit in the revived [i.e., vernacular] liturgy is powerfully expressed; whereas there is no reference to the Spirit, and no Epiclesis, in the Roman Canon. The Spirit is another pesky Vatican II innovation that Tridentinists want to put back in its closet. While the pneumatological deficiencies of the Tridentine rite were blameless when we knew no better, consciously to revive them is to quench the Spirit and become a Pneumatomach [i.e., one who denies the sacred presence and action of the Holy Spirit].”

“Hence,” writes O’Leary, “the inopportune restoration of Tridentine rites is a move in the direction of three ancient heresies: Marcionism, Manicheanism and Pneumatomachism. This could be a fatal error for the Catholic Church.” (Note: I’ve added the links within these excerpts from O’Leary’s commentary.)

Carville concludes his July 18 commentary by reminding us of the work of the Holy Spirit at Vatican II and, in particular, the decision at this Ecumenical Council to approve the vernacular Mass – now the “ordinary and normative rite for our liturgy.”

Writes Carville: “We must remember that [in our] Catholic faith . . . the teachings of Ecumenical Councils, in union with the pope, are guided by the Holy Spirit. They are the result of debate, but in this case the voice of the Spirit seems to have been heard rather clearly. The vote approving the Constitution on the Liturgy was 2,162 for and 46 against. Seven votes were invalid. The Holy Spirit had lined up his votes rather well. We forget so soon, and in the name of tradition.”

All this talk of the Spirit being sidelined and ignored just makes me smile, chuckle, and recall the beautiful and haunting Buffy Sainte-Marie song, “God is Alive, Magic is Afoot” – with lyrics by Leonard Cohen. In the context of this song, “Magic” can readily be seen to be synonymous with “the Spirit” - a Spirit that is very much alive and which “cannot come to harm” by our misguided attempts to ignore or extinguish it.

God is afoot; Magic is alive.
Alive is afoot,
Magic never died . . .

God was ruler.
Though his funeral lengthened,
though his mourners thickened,
Magic never fled.
Though his shrouds were hoisted
the naked God did live.
Though his words were twisted
the naked Magic thrived.
Though his death was published
round and round the world,
the heart did not believe.

Many hurt men wondered,
many struck men bled.
Magic never faltered,
Magic always led . . .

Though laws were carved in marble,
they could not shelter men.
Though altars built in parliaments,
they could not order men.
Police arrested Magic,
and Magic went with them,
for Magic loves the hungry.

But Magic would not tarry,
it moves from arm to arm.
It would not stay with them,
Magic is afoot,
it cannot come to harm.
It rests in an empty palm,
it spawns in an empty mind,
but Magic is no instrument,
Magic is the end . . .

This I mean to whisper to my mind.
This I mean to laugh with in my mind.
This I mean my mind to serve
'til service is but Magic
moving through the world;
and mind itself is Magic
coursing through the flesh;
and flesh itself is Magic
dancing on a clock
and time itself the magic length of God.

Words: Leonard Cohen
Music: Buffy Sainte-Marie**
© Stranger Music, Inc./Caleb Music-ASCAP

* To read Fr. John Carville’s commentary in its entirety, see page 4 of this PDF document.

For a reaction from a “neo-Tridentinist” to Fr. Carville’s commentary, click here.

** “God is Alive, Magic is Afoot” is available on Buffy Sainte-Marie’s album, Illuminations.


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
The New Motu Proprio: “Nothing but Headaches for Bishops, Priests, and Laity”?
Joan Chittister on the Restoration of the Tridentine Latin Rite
James Carroll on “Pope Benedict’s Mistake”
“Uncle Vince” is at it Again