Latin for Lovers - The heart has its reasons

[@BarbaraElms-o2c]

I have recently begun saying the Rosary in Latin and I’m amazed at the difference it has made

[@WesternMalaise]

Beautiful Gavin, thank you. Your reflections on the Latin Mass bring out its unique importance as the oxygen of traditional liturgical worship. Seems very strange how those who are meant to be pursuing a supernatural calling are voting to deny it’s presence! I too am a convert and have learnt the Pater Noster, Ave Maria and Gloria in Latin. Next one is a really special one to me, the Salve Regina. After that, it will be the Apostles Creed, the Gloria and the prayers at the steps of the altar. Not easy if you are new to it all, but so rewarding when they become second nature.

[@agrarian_peasant]

Thank you for this beautiful reflection on liturgical Latin! In the words of the Western Rising “We will have our Mass in Latin as it was before”.

[@jameswall6270]

I start training as a latin mass altar server tomorrow in London with the Latin Mass Society. So excited! What a gigantic privilege. Ave Maria

[@catholicunscripted]

This is wonderful! Thank you for sharing that, our prayers are with you 🙏

[@BelaMadeira]

Congratulations, it must be indeed an honour & privilege, best of luck and God bless you.

[@Rerum_Novarum]

Deo gratias. May God bless your journey.

[@cybereye2]

@@catholicunscriptedhear hear!

[@cybereye2]

@@BelaMadeiraI concur!

[@mazikode]

Thank you Gavin, I discovered the Latin mass a couple of years ago and I felt robbed that all these years I had no idea. My heart goes out to the people in dioceses where it has been cancelled like in Tyler Texas where it has most recently been cancelled. Very sad foe them.and praying for them.

[@tonybamber1137]

I attend the latin mass, whilst I don't speak latin my soul understands every word.

[@russbianchi8120]

I attended universities with LATIN mottos FIAT LUX (Genesis, Let There Be Light) and VERITAS (Truth). I found little at either institution, not already ingrained prior, in my own soul

[@donaldlippert6374]

Eloquent, insightful and inspiring. Thank you Dr Ashenden and Catholic Unscripted.🙏♥️🙏

[@ivorfaulkner4768]

“Le coeur a ses raisons que la Raison ne connaît point”( Pascal)

[@clavichord]

As a baptized Catholic only later in life truly reverting to Catholicism, I do understand the importance of using Latin as liturgical language; the link and unity it gives to Catholics through time and space. I am also pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to learn to memorize and understand the meaning of the words in Latin, as so many words in English, and even more so in French, Spanish and Italian, are all based on Latin words. I understand Latin may not be the easiest language to learn to speak, write or use... but it is such a surprisingly ideal liturgical lingua franca for us Catholics... as if it was meant to be.... and I also love the Latin mass as there are centuries worth of beautiful classical music compositions which use those same Latin texts.... all things which are not available in multiple vernaculars we may or may not understand. Neither Palestrina nor Mozart wrote music for masses in the vernacular. Dedicating our self to learning and memorizing Latin is also a means of committing effort towards the practise of our religion... and for every effort one makes in perfecting one's worship, God will reward us twice as much. Christianity is nothing without effort, struggle and commitment.

[@clavichord]

@royquick-s5n Mass is something repeated regularly in a practicing Catholic's life. Learning the faith has always been in the vernacular. So there is no significant barrier to understanding... there never has been. If you remove all the mystery, tradition and effort in perfecting your worship.... if you remove that which makes a religion special... make it every day, common.... you get people leaving the church and empty seats. Roman Catholicism is indeed European based. Judaism has Hebrew and Islam has Arabic as liturgical languages... and an Indonesian or Chinese Muslim does not speak Arabic in daily life, but has no problems praying or learning to pray in Arabic. Anyway, currently, the Vatican is trying to supress all things Latin and traditional, because apparently the Churches are not empty enough nor closing as quickly... Turn back to tradition and Churches will be as full as a mosque on friday.

[@clavichord]

@royquick-s5n My own preference is primarily based on my wish to worship in the form closest to that of my distant Christian ancestors and because the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church was formed and guided by the Holy Spirit. Also because I believe Catholic liturgy reflects the teachings of Saint Paul the Apostle, as accurately as possible. My desire is based on understanding and following the early gentile Christian communities. This is why for me Biblical Greek is important to understand the New Testament, and Latin functions as an ideal liturgical language. Regarding cultural bias. All humans are culturally biased. All my ancestors are European and ethnically White, so inevitably I'm European biased, just as a Japanese person is Japanese biased. But I have no intrinsic hatred for the "other"... and I find knowledge of other cultures and religions useful.

[@clavichord]

@@royquick-s5n There are many old Christian churches around the world, Egypt, Ethiopian, orthodox. ... the Roman Catholic church is... well... Roman by culture. The mass as celebrated in the Roman Catholic church gradually developed up until the Council of Trent, when it was finally codified. I'm fine with others celebrating mass in the vernacular... but it is those not in favour of the Tridentine Latin Mass who are imposing their will on us... not the other way around. Regarding the best language to understand the New Testament, it is Biblical Greek. The New Testament reflects the teachings of Apostle Paul about Jesus towards the gentiles.... and in my opinion, the traditional liturgy of the Roman Catholic church reflects those teachings most accurately. Others may disagree. That's fine.

[@clavichord]

@royquick-s5n Latin is not a language for understanding the New Testament... but its strength as a liturgical language over the ages has been uniformity... don't forget, vernacular in the middle ages consisted mostly of just local dialects and not unified nation state languages. I agree that venacular is best for teaching religion. I'm only in favour of using Latin as part of the ritual of worship... for myself and others who wish to use it.

[@clavichord]

@royquick-s5n Regarding original Koine Greek and translations.... things get lost in translation .. because anything other than the original becomes an interpretation of the meanings by the translator.... I have come across many vital losses in meanings of the Epistles of Paul, to be honest... well, important to me, that is.

[@stella-maris64]

A friend came with me to her 1st ever Mass recently. I was in the vernacular but the creed and Gloria were sung in Latin. Afterwards she said she loved the Lstin...it lifted up her heart!

[@Hope20249]

Beautiful. Thank you Gavin.

[@catholicunscripted]

My pleasure!

[@johnknowles8526]

Thank you, may God reward you, Gavin. I can hear Michael Davies applauding from Heaven!

[@Mark3ABE]

@@johnknowles8526 I hear Julius Cesar applauding from Heaven “Britain - barbaric place, atrocious weather and we made all that effort for them, built them those lovely long straight roads and taught them to speak properLatin - well, at least it rubbed off on some of them in the end, little groups of them want to speak Latin again, makes it all worthwhile, really.”

[@donnahypolita8551]

Well done! Thank you. I am much farther past the bloom of youth than you are, so that I grew up with the old Mass and was shocked and furious when they began to chip away at it in 1963. They chopped off the beginning and the end and fiddled around with everything in between, especially infiltrating English. By the time they finally imposed the Novus Ordo what we had just been doing was not recognizable as the Roman Rite. You make the excellent and necessary point that a liturgical celebration is unlike anything else we do. Go back to the precise instructions given for the liturgy in the Old Testament. Everything about the worship of God is set apart and precisely described. The idea that there should be options made up on the spot and a general tendency to make this like everything else we do are pernicious and destructive of true liturgy . But that is evidently the goal of the current powers that be and it explains why they must crush and obliterate the Roman Rite.

[@marcelw6045]

gratias tibi ago maximas

[@Mark3ABE]

Thank you for this little reflection. My own experience of Latin is, first, attending the Latin Mass at school at the age of five. We were given Mass books with the Latin on one side and the English on the other and coloured pictures to show what was happening. I cannot identify with those who complain “I never got anything out of the Mass when it was in Latin because I had no idea what was going on”. Nonsense. It was easy enough to know what was going on if you actually wanted to. However, after a year or two the Mass was in English. Then, at secondary school, our Latin teacher was not a Catholic and had a contempt for “Church Latin” which he considered a mongrel tongue. Classical pronunciation only. So, my main experience of Latin is of pagan poetry, Horace, Ovid, Virgil and endless explanations by Julius Caesar of how he constructed his earthworks and which of the Gallic tribes were the bravest (mainly those who spent most of their time fighting the Germans). So, Latin can be either Heavenly (Gregorian Chant) but shocking to the true Classicist or very down to earth - just an earlier form of Italian, really, surviving, now, we are told, mainly in Romanian, the closest successor language. As to it being a true Liturgical language - well, the Eastern Roman Empire retained Latin as its official language (Justinian wrote his Institutes in Latin) but the Liturgy was in the vernacular, that is, Greek and, at the time, Latin was the vernacular in the Western Empire. There is no real precedent for not having the Liturgy in the vernacular - it certainly was in the early Church. I am very fond of Latin and keep it up by reading the Vulgate - and De Bello Gallico. However, it is not everyone’s cup of tea. The Second Vatican Council was clear enough “aggiornamento” was the buzz word and that meant having the Mass in Italian - or other less civilised languages. Now, one thing I cannot stand, though, is Grand Opera otherwise than in Italian. The ENO mean well, of course, but it really does not work. Or German, of course, if it is Wagner.

[@Mark3ABE]

@ You are right - the truth is that it was really only those of an academic bent who made the effort to follow the Mass in Latin. Most Priests gabbled away, so quickly, with their backs to the congregation for most of the time, that you could not really follow their actual words. The congregation were not much involved. The Altar servers said the responses on behalf of the congregation. Antonio Rosmini, in his critique of the Church in the mid nineteenth century “The Five Wounds of the Church” included, as one of the wounds of the Church, the use of a language in the Liturgy which the Faithful, for the most part, could not understand. The Jesuits leaned on Pope Pius IX who succumbed and put Rosmini’s books on the Index - on his death bed, he repented and ordered that they be removed from the Index. Pope John XXIII on a retreat happened to read some of Rosmini’s writings and it was this which put the idea into his mind of addressing some of the “wounds of the Church” by means of an Ecumenical Council. As to what Jesus might have said - well, one thing is for certain, he wouldn’t have said it in Latin or Greek, or even, necessarily, in Hebrew. More likely, in Aramaic, if that was the language those listening to him would best understand.

[@borderlands6606]

Our Latin teacher was similarly disapproving of Church Latin, and I have never had much of an ear for language. Nonetheless I prefer to attend Mass in Latin. After a career in the arts it's difficult to know if I'm responding to its theatre and abstraction, a codified religious function unfamiliar to everyday life, or something more profound. From what I have been told it was common for people to say their own prayers during Mass, the sacrifice something one attended rather than participated in. Much less true of TLM today, which seems to consist of enthusiasts and the theologically erudite.

[@Mark3ABE]

@ Yes. It is still common to refer to a Priest “saying Mass” and to the Faithful “hearing Mass” even though this does not now reflect the way in which the congregation join in the responses.

[@borderlands6606]

@@royquick-s5n While there may be all kinds of reasons for the decline in Christian participation in the late C20th, in a Catholic context the fact remains that Mass in the vernacular has coincided with a reduction in numbers of those worshipping. In the medieval world the only people educated enough to understand the Mass were professional religious, aristocrats and the higher yeomanry, yet the faith thrived.

[@borderlands6606]

@@royquick-s5n We may be speaking at cross purposes, unless you're claiming Mass attendance has gone up since the 1960s? The numbers at TLM could have something to do with being restricted to oratories and similar? I think it's accepted that vocations from traditional groups are exponentially larger than Novus Ordo parishes.

[@orarerosarium]

Thank you, Gavin. Sometimes beautiful things need no translation. We attend operas in different languages and listen to all kinds of music that is not in our own language. The Latin Mass is ancient-it started right at the beginning. It helps us enter into the mystery, and, like Italian, it just feels so right on the tongue. There must be a reason even the demons hate it.

[@CurrabegOb]

Wonderful…thank you Gavin

[@johnfisher247]

The traditional Liturgy is not incomprehensible. I have attanded the traditional Mass since the 1980's. It is the real thing. I already new the parts of the Mass through listening to recordings of Mozart's Requiem, Haydn, Beethoven's Mass settings and Gregorian Chant in my school library. I compared the new Mass with the old Mass and was shocked to see all the removals, fabrications and abuses let alone the deliberate mistranslation in a banal version of English called dynamic equivalence. I looked at the Vatican II document on the liturgy and saw so many of the things changed or added such as three new Eucharistic prayers, (one composed on a paper napkin in a trattoria) Communion in the hand, presentation of gifts, and so many novelties were not even in the Council. The traditional liturgy is not difficult at all. It is part of continuity in the Church. It uses sacral Greek, Latin and the vernacular. The gestures and customs amplify the words and reality in the Mass. I am shaped by Christ in it. I don't warp it to suit whim or my folly as is exactly what the new Mass is. The new Mass isnt the old Mass in the vernacular. They are different and that is the issue as is the idea that a committee led by an "unctious liar" as Bouyer called him should do what it did. It is preposterous and us cancel culture at work. It resonates with neo Marxist wokery and it is rupture and a euthanasia of the past. I intuited in my scholl days the culture was being trashed and like the young today I wanted to know and learn from the wisdom of all those who had gone before me not the ticky tacky 1960's.

[@Lee-zt9vl]

As a lapsed Catholic who has finally returned, the Latin Mass and the traditional chants and hymns were what drew me back into the Church and re-kindled my faith. The impotence of the Novus Ordo was what made me lose interest in the first place.

[@edwardbell9795]

If you're in London on a Sunday morning, why not attend Solemn Mass somewhere, such as the Brompton Oratory or Spanish Place, to experience the Novus Ordo celebrated reverently in Latin?

[@56247]

Another reason I have discovered for the advantage for the use of Latin in the main at Mass is UNITY. My parish often hosts people from the Vietnamese community, Hmongs, East Indians as well members of the large Hispanic community. Many older members of these communities do not have a command of the English language and they're visiting relatives definitely do not; having the core of the Mass said in Latin unites us all. Furthermore, while it is a comfort and strength to attend Mass when traveling, having one language everywhere would be great!

[@drdelaur]

Oh my! You have given our Lord and Our Lady a great love letter

[@BelaMadeira]

Used to attend the TLM at Brompton Oratory, that place will always be my parish church. 🥺

[@Mark3ABE]

Latin does have a certain mystique. I was once discussing, with a friend who sings in a Choir (he is C. of E.) one of his Choir’s forthcoming recitals - ” Haydn’s “Creation”. I mentioned that it was unusual, in that it was in German. He said that he was quite sure that it was not. He went and got a copy of the score and, sure enough, he was surprised to find that it was in German. He has assumed that anything so moving and inspiring must be in Latin. Certainly, in our culture, Latin does have a very definite place. During several hundred years of Roman rule, even before we became Christian, we actually spoke it (of those of us who were educated did). However, the primary purpose of language is not to thrill or impress, but to communicate. For a traditional Liturgy, I think that I prefer the Prayer Book, even though the English is now a little out of date. There must be a demand for good Liturgy, since, many afternoons, on the Third Programme, we still have Choral Evensong usually with the Prayer Book Service.

[@edwardbell9795]

Haydn's Creation?

[@Mark3ABE]

@ I stand corrected!

[@jameswatson9641]

A beautiful way to finish a wonderful video, a quote I've always thought to be particularly lovely and charmingly poetic.

[@edwardbell9795]

I wonder what Dr Dick thinks of the Novus Ordo in Latin, which is celebrated reverently in many churches across London (less so elsewhere). The Ordinariate liturgy, which, of course, is celebrated in English, incorporates the Offertory prayers from the TLM. If only this could be done for the regular Novus Ordo in English and Latin. The NO, celebrated in Latin with the older Offertory prayers and with the Roman Canon, has the potential to deepen our relationship with God.

[@AlasPoorEngland]

I agree whole-heartedly about Latin as a sacred language, but the Novus Ordo represents not just a weakening of the original text but a censorship of it. I could go on about this for ages, but will refrain, merely wondering if you’d like, as a footnote to the Pascal quotation, a sort of paraphrase of it, by Ralph Hodgson: “Reason has moons, but moons not hers Are reflected in the sea, Confounding her astronomers, But O! delighting me …”

[@philiphumphrey1548]

I think I'm with Gavin's friend Dick on Latin, I have an O level in it but don't like it, find vernacular worship more meaningful and intimate. I'm also a retired biologist (biochemist) and a tenor as well.

[@orarerosarium]

It may be because you find it hard to get from the head to the heart? Just wondering.

[@AWOLCHRISTIAN]

As an Anglican who is contemplating becoming a Catholic, I, along with my husband, are increasingly frustrated and saddened with the RCAI course being run at our local modernist, pro Vatican 2 Catholic Church. If this is supposed to be the way forward then I may as well stay an Anglican as the deacon who is running the course is quite frankly not selling his Church and is a liberal thinker. We are traditional in our worship and beliefs and are not sure we want to continue with the course. I never realised how much wokeism has crept into Catholicism until I attended this church. Latin mass, I’m sure, is an absolute mysterious and beautiful event to behold but I’m afraid the brutal reality is that I will never be able to attend one as it is nowhere to be found in any area local to me. The deacon even scolded me for even asking about it!!!!!! I’m really disheartened by the failure of the Catholic Church in it’s current pursuit of relativism and liberal paths of destruction. Sometimes, it seems no different to the Anglican Church I am fleeing from in terms of how it shepherds it’s flock. Such a shame and so disappointing😢

[@theoldsailor2884]

So sorry for you but what you are seeing is the destruction of the Church. If you emailed Catholic Unscripted I think they would offer you some sound advice on how to proceed. Don't give up!!

[@AWOLCHRISTIAN]

@@theoldsailor2884Thank you and blessings.

[@AWOLCHRISTIAN]

@@royquick-s5nI cannot tell if you are making a critique of my original comment or just making an observation. There is nothing “Bing Crosby” about wanting to pursue a journey with the Lord in its most beautiful and sacred form. High Anglicanism is a blessing in such a turbulent time and I was only making the observation that it appears to be a worthier path to be on right now than the awful, lame alternative being offered to me in my local Catholic Church.

[@PadraigTomas]

You right. Roy's wrong. @@AWOLCHRISTIAN

[@seanjones1020]

I would say the first thing is that the priest is not there to 'sell you the Catholic Church' it should be the Holy Spirit that has led to your conversion of heart. If He has then seek what is the right path, trust in the indefectibility of the Tradition of the Church. That said I understand your anger, worries and dissatisfaction which is why you need to seek out an RCIA from a traditional parish which may be hard, therefore it is de facto emergency conditions. The Church is halfway back in the catacombs. But don't lose heart, that is what the devil wants. And listen the Credo III in chant.

[@user-fc1ld9ts8u]

Why must the Latin Mass be stamped out of existence?

[@edwardbell9795]

Essentially, the TLM - not the Latin Mass as the NO can be celebrated in Latin and is in a number of parishes, especially those with good music resources - is being forced into ghettos (FSSP, ICKSP, etc., and possibly the SSPX, if Rome agrees to consecration of new Bishops, which is said to be a real possibility).

[@user-fc1ld9ts8u]

@edwardbell9795 You are correct. And you also knew that when I referred to the Latin Mass, I was referring to the TLM. Dominus vobiscum.

[@harryseddon3616]

When there are Christian discussions say for instance a prayer group ,when people are sharing each others testimonies etc ,will we all be speaking in Latin ? IHMary Harry

[@melarrow6202]

The Church is Universal. At 6.09 Gavin asks “ what has this culture of intelligibility done for the Church ?” meaning it has made things worse. This is the myopic view of trads in the US and UK. It is impossible to tell if we had kept the Latin mass as the main rite that things would be better. The TLM a might have hastened the decline. Church going across all Christianity in the West has declined. But in Asia and Africa, the church is growing. Guess what rite they use? Keeping old ways beyond reason is what the Pharisees did in Jesus’ day. The Trads are the new Pharisees. No doubt the TLM is beautiful. But is that a sufficient reason to keep it when only a minority can understand it ?

[@seanjones1020]

The vernacular was condemned at Trent yet was defied by Bugnini and Paul VI and we have the abomination called the new order mass

[@seanjones1020]

​@@royquick-s5n Hi Roy! Q1) Are you sure that you are not just favoring with what you grew up, became accustomed? I was brought up in the Novus Ordo mass and lost my faith as a teenager and was away from God for over 20 years it is only when I returned did I understand what part the new mass had in 'disabusing' me of my faith in God. But by His grace it was rekindled in the Latin Mass and this I put down to God's grace, my Sensus Fidei, and the indefectible nature of the Church i.e. true teaching (Sacred Tradition). Q2) And do not see the advantage of Gospel and participation in the Mass reaching round the globe in the vernacular? No, rather the advantage was that as the Catholic (Universal) Church, should have a universal sacred language. The Council of Trent emphasizes the importance of Latin as the language of the Mass, stating that it is the ancient language of the Church used in public liturgy throughout the ages. This choice is made to ensure uniformity in worship and to avoid the changes that can occur in vulgar languages. The Council asserts that the Mass should not be celebrated only in the vulgar tongue, as this could lead to misunderstandings and changes in doctrine (V5_Burke_A Catechism Moral and Controversial_1752 394:1; V3_Challoner_The Grounds of the Catholick Doctrine_1752 373:1) A fortiori...Excommunication for Changes: The Church has historically maintained that any proposal to celebrate the Mass solely in the vernacular, including the Canon and the words of consecration, would incur excommunication, as established by the Council of Trent (V8 Frassinetti A Dogmatic Catechism 1872 173:2). Q3) Are we required to know Aramaic and Hebrew to understand what Jesus said? No you are not required to understand. The Mass is not for your pleasure it is the representation of the sacrifice of Christ to God for the forgiveness of our sins. You have done nothing to deserve the Mass, it is only by God's grace that you have been given such a blessing because it is the same (unbloody) sacrifice of our Lord Jesus 2000yrs ago. Whether you understand the Latin is not necessary per se nor is your participation in responses and the like as long as you have come with the true intention of giving right worship and adoration for Christ's sacrifice for us. Q4) Did not Matthew translate his Gospel into Greek in order that others may understand the Gospel? Did Mark, Luke, and John write their Gospels in Greek for the same reason? The Church outside of Mass does not restrict the Gospel to be said to anyone in any language, it is encouraged, provided the speaker has been properly catechised by their priests on true meaning of passages! That said, what would you do if when travelling you go to a Novus Ordo mass in France or Germany, Italy etc. Would you understand a language that you don't know? Or if you went to a country with a non-Latin script how would you follow then, would you not be in a worse predicament than you started? Where as if you just had Latin as the universal language of the universal Church? Do you see in this respect how necessary Latin is to the Church? God bless.

[@seanjones1020]

@@royquick-s5n ​ Hi Roy! Q1) Are you sure that you are not just favoring with what you grew up, became accustomed? I was brought up in the Novus Ordo mass and lost my faith as a teenager and was away from God for over 20 years it is only when I returned did I understand what part the new mass had in 'disabusing' me of my faith in God. But by His grace it was rekindled in the Latin Mass and this I put down to God's grace, my Sensus Fidei, and the indefectible nature of the Church i.e. true teaching (Sacred Tradition). Q2) And do not see the advantage of Gospel and participation in the Mass reaching round the globe in the vernacular? No, rather the advantage was that as the Catholic (Universal) Church, should have a universal sacred language. The Council of Trent emphasizes the importance of Latin as the language of the Mass, stating that it is the ancient language of the Church used in public liturgy throughout the ages. This choice is made to ensure uniformity in worship and to avoid the changes that can occur in vulgar languages. The Council asserts that the Mass should not be celebrated only in the vulgar tongue, as this could lead to misunderstandings and changes in doctrine (V5_Burke_A Catechism Moral and Controversial_1752 394:1; V3_Challoner_The Grounds of the Catholick Doctrine_1752 373:1) A fortiori...Excommunication for Changes: The Church has historically maintained that any proposal to celebrate the Mass solely in the vernacular, including the Canon and the words of consecration, would incur excommunication, as established by the Council of Trent (V8 Frassinetti A Dogmatic Catechism 1872 173:2). Q3) Are we required to know Aramaic and Hebrew to understand what Jesus said? No you are not required to understand. The Mass is not for your pleasure it is the representation of the sacrifice of Christ to God for the forgiveness of our sins. You have done nothing to deserve the Mass, it is only by God's grace that you have been given such a blessing because it is the same (unbloody) sacrifice of our Lord Jesus 2000yrs ago. Whether you understand the Latin is not necessary per se nor is your participation in responses and the like as long as you have come with the true intention of giving right worship and adoration for Christ's sacrifice for us. Q4) Did not Matthew translate his Gospel into Greek in order that others may understand the Gospel? Did Mark, Luke, and John write their Gospels in Greek for the same reason? The Church outside of Mass does not restrict the Gospel to be said to anyone in any language, it is encouraged, provided the speaker has been properly catechised by their priests on true meaning of passages! That said, what would you do if when travelling you go to a Novus Ordo mass in France or Germany, Italy etc. Would you understand a language that you don't know? Or if you went to a country with a non-Latin script how would you follow then, would you not be in a worse predicament than you started? Where as if you just had Latin as the universal language of the universal Church? Do you see in this respect how necessary Latin is to the Church? God bless.

[@seanjones1020]

@@royquick-s5n ​ Hi Roy! Q1) Are you sure that you are not just favoring with what you grew up, became accustomed? I was brought up in the Novus Ordo mass and lost my faith as a teenager and was away from God for over 20 years it is only when I returned did I understand what part the new mass had in 'disabusing' me of my faith in God. But by His grace it was rekindled in the Latin Mass and this I put down to God's grace, my Sensus Fidei, and the indefectible nature of the Church i.e. true teaching (Sacred Tradition).

[@seanjones1020]

Q2) And do not see the advantage of Gospel and participation in the Mass reaching round the globe in the vernacular? No, rather the advantage was that as the Catholic (Universal) Church, should have a universal sacred language. The Council of Trent emphasizes the importance of Latin as the language of the Mass, stating that it is the ancient language of the Church used in public liturgy throughout the ages. This choice is made to ensure uniformity in worship and to avoid the changes that can occur in vulgar languages. The Council asserts that the Mass should not be celebrated only in the vulgar tongue, as this could lead to misunderstandings and changes in doctrine (V5_Burke_A Catechism Moral and Controversial_1752 394:1; V3_Challoner_The Grounds of the Catholick Doctrine_1752 373:1) A fortiori...Excommunication for Changes: The Church has historically maintained that any proposal to celebrate the Mass solely in the vernacular, including the Canon and the words of consecration, would incur excommunication, as established by the Council of Trent (V8 Frassinetti A Dogmatic Catechism 1872 173:2).

[@seanjones1020]

Q3) Are we required to know Aramaic and Hebrew to understand what Jesus said? No you are not required to understand. The Mass is not for your pleasure it is the representation of the sacrifice of Christ to God for the forgiveness of our sins. You have done nothing to deserve the Mass, it is only by God's grace that you have been given such a blessing because it is the same (unbloody) sacrifice of our Lord Jesus 2000yrs ago. Whether you understand the Latin is not necessary per se nor is your participation in responses and the like as long as you have come with the true intention of giving right worship and adoration for Christ's sacrifice for us.

[@outoforbit00]

Confusing language with liturgy.