In the company of preachers Book

When I discovered the beauty and reverence of the Latin Mass some years ago, a parishioner recommended to me THE HERESY OF FORMLESSNESS, by Martin Mosebach. It is a wonderful exposition on what the Church has lost in adopting the Novus Ordo over what is now called the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. Mosebach is not a theologian, but a German writer and an artist, and writes frequently on art and literature, so he approaches the subject with those unique sensibilities. His opening:

In am not a convert or a proselyte. I have had no sudden and spectacular illumination. My roots in religion were feeble for a long time. I cannot say with any certainty when they began to grow; perhaps it was when I reached twenty-five. At any rate, slowly but surely, they did begin to grow. I am inclined to think that these roots are deep by now and are continually growing, though, as before, in a way that is hardly ascertainable. What set this process in motion -- a process that has not yet reached its end -- was my acquaintance with the old Catholic liturgy. [13]

It is probably no longer arguable that Mosebach is correct when he cites that the changes in the liturgy from Vatican II have led to: a degradation in reverence by many parishioners, which includes everything from talking, visiting, dressing improperly, general misbehavior, before and during Mass, coming late, leaving early; the loss of beautiiful sacred music, the Gregorian chants, to vapid contemporary hymns and guitar choirs; fewer men entering the priesthood; an overall "dumbing-down" of Catholic teachings; contemporary church architecture more befitting a concert hall than a house designed and built to the glory of God; increase in the "busy-work" of lay liturgy committees mucking about where they should leave well enough alone.

Much of what Mosebach believes can be summed up, I think, in this one short excerpt:

I admit quite openly that I am one of those naive folk who look at the surface, the external appearance of things, in order to judge their inner nature, their truth, or their spuriousness. The doctrine of supposedly 'inner values' hidden under a dirty and decrepit shell is something I find highly suspicious. [15]

More recently, to quote Fr. Barron, "Beauty is a pathway to God." I think this is much of what Mosebach is trying to say. Beauty in the liturgy, the music, the artwork, the icons, the worship space, and that in the last 50 years we've lost a lot of that. I do not recall who said it, but to paraphrase, "the external informs the internal," meaning how we dress, act, show reverence, all of it informs our inner life; theses external things are not insignificant. In a sense, we are what we reverence, we are how we outwardly present ourselves. What Mosebach is saying is that the old Rite informed us well -- through its signs and symbols, its language, its posture, it imparted that onto the parishioners. Mosebach goes on to say,

I have described my conviction that it is impossible to retain reverence and worship without their traditional forms. Of course there will always be people who are so filled with grace that they can pray even when the means of prayer have been ripped from their hands. Many people, too, concerned about these issues, will ask, "Isn't it still possible to celebrate the new liturgy of Pope Paul VI worthily and reverently?" Naturally it is possible, but the very fact that it is possible is the weightiest argument against the new liturgy.... While the liturgy is going on, time is suspended: liturgical time is different from time that elapses outside the church's walls. It is Golgatha time, the time of the hapax, the unique and sole Sacrifice; it is a time that contains all times and none. [31-32]

Mosebach writes beautifully, and with that artist's sensibility, seems to unlock all what lies beneath the TLM. Very readable, and very enlightening. I couldn't agree more.