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3MI Newsletter from March 8th, 2024
As we near the middle of our Lenten journey with Holy Mother Church, we focus increasingly on the death of our Redeemer (as seen in the Stations of the Cross). From here, the Catholic will increase his reflection on his own death.
And so, as our thoughts focus on mortification during this season, we turn to a very interesting booklet that covers the final mortification of death. Over the last several years this author and others, assisting at the Mass of All Times, have had a chance to use this small 40-page Requiem Mass booklet from the 1930s.
On the very first page of this booklet in the opening page titled, “Reflections at a funeral”, what is the first sentence we read?
More than six thousand years have passed away since the first man breathed the air of Heaven in the fragment garden of the Paradise…
Imagine the defense that the modern Catholic would give at this opening sentence!
And why the discontent? An offensive act was committed against the historical paradigm that rests on the fantasy of evolution and scientism.
For decades, the norm of Catholic apologists continually making endless peace offerings to the anti-Christian worldview looks something like this,
Don’t worry this Catholic doctrine is not against reason, as science teaches.
or
Many think that the Catholic Church is hostile toward science, but don’t worry She is not.
However, what is defended in this packet? Interestingly, it is the Bible, the source, along with Tradition, of every Catholic doctrine. The source from which most Catholics are quick to distance themselves with the line, “We don’t take it literally.”
In this booklet, in enclosed boxes throughout the text, explanations are given for those who are protestant, agnostic, or otherwise mistaken about the True Faith.
In the Explanation Box given after the Collect, we read,
The candles you see burning upon the altar have an historical and symbolical meaning… The Bible teaches that special vestments are to be worn by those exercising sacred functions…
At Catholic services incense is at times burned. The Bible teaches that incense, symbolizing prayer, can be used when offering praise and worship to God.
In the Explanation Box that the follows the Gospel, we read,
Many think the Catholic Church is hostile toward the Bible; the fact that her Sacred liturgy, much of the Mass itself, consists of quotations from the Bible, proves how untrue that is…
In the Explanation Box that follows the Offertory, we read,
You cannot help noticing that there are pictures or statues of sacred personages in the Church. The Bible teaches that God approves sacred pictures and images to stimulate religious fervor.
In the Explanation Box that follows the Last Gospel, we read,
When the priest meets the corpse at the door, also in blessing it at the end of the Mass, he uses holy water. The Bible teaches that already in ancient times, God not only permitted but commanded the use of holy water.
In the Explanation Box on the Blessing of the Body After Mass, we read,
You cannot understand the Catholic burial service without taking into account the fact that the funeral Mass is a public solemn prayer of sacrifice offered to God for the dead because the Bible teaches…
Let us imitate this 1930s Catholic Requiem Mass booklet by having no fear to mention chronological issues. They provide an angle to evangelization that helps nudge others ever closer to the Catholic Faith. Many sense they are in a mysterious mist of deceptive iniquity – they may desperately need you to raise the fog from their minds.