Restoring All Things in Christ

Mike Williams, Andy Rota, and Phil Micele serve during Mass in St. Mary’s Chapel.

Fr. Agustin Anda of St. Columbkille’s Parish offered an Extraordinary Form Mass in St. Mary’s Chapel on the feast of the Dedication of St. Michael the Archangel. Assisting Fr. Anda at the altar were Fr. Gary Gurtler, S.J., and servers Michael Williams, Philip Micele, and Andy Rota. The Gregorian propers and the Ordinary were sung by the Cathedral of the Holy Cross choir, Schola Amicorum, who also sing regularly at St. Columbkilles’ First Friday Masses and at other traditional Masses throughout Boston. Though the Mass was not extensively publicized, approximately 30 people, many of them students, were in attendance.

To many unfamiliar with the traditional Roman Liturgy, the Mass offered a stark contrast to their typical experiences. The free standing altar normally used for daily Masses at St. Mary’s was moved, and Fr. Anda faced the same direction as the people, towards the chapel’s elegant high altar. The Mass was done entirely in Latin (with exception of the sermon and concluding prayers), with much of it being sung by the Schola. The use of bells and incense, frequent genuflections, elaborate vestments, and Communion received kneeling and on the tongue, also are all things rarely seen in the liturgy since the Second Vatican Council. Though this is the case, fidelity to the Council’s documents does not at all require a dislike for liturgical beauty, but rather a love for it, a fact more and more BC students seem to be discovering.

The liturgy, as the conciliar document Sacrosanctum Concilium says, is “the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows”. Such a statement only serves to affirm the ancient Christian maxim “lex orandi, lex credenda”, loosely translated as “the law of worship is the law of belief”. All the Church’s activity must be directed towards the sacred liturgy, because the sacrifi ce of the Mass is the same sacrifice as that which took place on Calvary, and nothing but Jesus Christ and His redemptive work can be at the center of Christian belief and practice. Likewise, all the Church’s power flows from this work of redemption, as the Mass is the application of the fruits of Calvary to the souls of those present.

For these reasons, it is apparent that the Mass ought to be celebrated and attended with utmost reverence and devotion, and treated as the Theo-centric act which Christ instituted it to be. If the most sacred act of the Church is turned into a platform for innovation, disobedience, and self affirmation, the sacrifice of the Cross being renewed there will cease to have meaning in the lives of Christians. The fruits of such disregard for the Eucharistic sacrifice can be clearly observed in the decline of priestly vocations and the widespread doctrinal confusion that has occurred in recent years. Conversely, dioceses and religious communities which stress reverence and beauty in the liturgy find themselves struggling quite less with the problems which have arisen throughout the Church over the past few decades. Where the lex orandi is properly followed, the lex credendi is both loved and obeyed.

Such a correlation cannot be ignored if there is a genuine desire to maintain BC’s Catholic identity. The graces which flow from reverently-celebrated and devoutly-attended Masses will serve to excite a deeper love for the truth among students and faculty alike, and to cast out unsound doctrine. As Fr. Anda discussed in his sermon, there is a grave crisis in the Church and in society, but there are also reasons for hope, namely, the desire among young people for liturgical beauty. If the work of doctrinal restoration continues through liturgical rebuilding, there is reason to believe that Boston College will one day become the great Catholic university it aspires to be.

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