Full and Active Participation?

"The Holy Mass is a prayer itself, even the highest prayer that exists. Is is the

Sacrifice dedicated by our Redeemer at the Cross, and repeated every day on the

Altar. If you wish to hear the Mass as it should be heard, you must follow with eye,

heart, and mouth all that happens at the Altar. Further, you must pray with the priest

the holy words said by him in the Name of Christ and which Christ says by him. You

have to associate your heart with the holy feelings which are contained in these

words and in this manner you ought to follow all that happens on the Altar. When

acting in this way, you have prayed Holy Mass. Don't pray at Mass, but pray the

Mass." - Pope St. Pius X

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    Sacrosanctum concillium, the Constitution on Sacred Liturgy from Vatican II urges "in the reform and restoration of the sacred liturgy, the full and active participation of all the people is to be considered before all else..." (CSL 14)

[Edit. note: the original Latin translation renders the phrase "actual participation," and not "active participation," (participatio actuosa)]

    Apologists for the liturgical revolution occurring in the Church since the Council and the promulgation of the Novus Ordo Missae (Mass of Pope Paul VI) are fond of citing Pope St. Pius X who first used the phrase "full and active participation" early in the 20th century. They do this as a way of justifying almost any innovation conceivable as if it proceeded from that great champion of orthodoxy. What is beyond any shadow of a doubt for those conversant with the magisterium of this incorruptible Saint is that Pope Pius X could never have envisioned the noisy, activist, ecumenical, vernacular-only, anthropocentric caricature that the Novus Ordo has been established as in the so-called "ordinary form" of the liturgy.

It all boils down to two verbs defining what it is we do at Mass.

    In the Mass of All Ages, the form of the liturgy handed down from antiquity (at least as early as the 6th century) the verb used to describe the action of the Catholic at Mass is assist. This is what Pope Pius X is teaching in the quote at the top of the page. Assist at what? Assist in the offering of the propitiatory sacrifice offered by the priest in persona Christi - in the person of Christ - the unbloody immolation of the Divine Victim on the altar offered to God. We assist the priest as he re-presents the passion of the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary, as he offers to the Father the transubstantiated accidents of bread and wine as the body and blood of the Redeemer for the sins of the living and the dead. What then is Catholic worship? Pope Pius XII defined it for us in the encyclical Mediator Dei as the perfect worship the Son offers to the Father. To assist in this offering, this sacrifice, to offer and unite one's self, one's sufferings, one's prayer and spiritual sacrifices to this Holy and Blameless Victim immolated on the altar is the worship the Catholic offers in the Mass of St. Pius V.

    But outside a tiny group of so-called "Traditionalists", who uses this verb anymore?  What do modern Catholics say they do in a Novus Ordo Mass?  Most say they attend Mass.

    For 14 years I "attended" the Novus Ordo Mass never knowing what the mass truly was supposed to be or what I was supposed to be doing in it. Attending indicates the very opposite of "full and active participation" according to the definition given by Pope St. Pius X. It is passive. It is watching, observing, being entertained. Now after all the innovations, creativity, ad libbing, injection of popular music, hand shakes, lay people lectoring, distributing holy communion, "altar girls", "prayers of the faithful" ejaculated from the congregation, applause, Father's "jokes", guest musicians, lay evangelists, etc..., wouldn't it seem a bit ironic if all this frenetic activity actually failed to meet the Vatican II Fathers' intent of "full and active participation"?

Let's look at what is being offered.

    In the Missal of Pope St. Pius V, there is offered a "pure Victim +, a holy Victim +, a spotless Victim +" on the altar where the priest and people are directionally oriented together towards the tabernacle, the main altar crucifix, and the ceiling of the chancel or sanctuary symbolizing heaven.  In the Missal of Pope Paul VI the priest offers "bread... and wine... the work of human hands..."  While the language of transubstantiation is present, albeit in a veiled, tempered manner, what is not clear is whether this is an offering of bread and wine or of the immolated Victim. Unless the priest prays the rarely offered Roman Canon (also known as Eucharistic Prayer I) there is little to identify the offering as the sacrifice of the Son to the Father. This is further confused by the priest's orientation towards the people which seems to symbolically indicate that the offering is being made to the people rather than for them. [An alternate explanation might be the liturgical action of facing the people (ad populum) emphasizes the offering being made to God present within the gathered community - the error of so-called "assembly theology."]

    The complete loss of reverence adds to this confusion. In the Mass of All Ages, only a priest or deacon may handle the Sacred Species. The faithful receive kneeling and on the tongue behind an altar rail separating the chancel from the nave, careful not to handle the Host as this privilege belongs only to the consecrated. Further, women and girls must veil according to the Apostolic requirements set out in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 11). In the Novus Ordo Mass, laity swarm the chancel and flutter around the altar, handling not only the ciborium and chalice, but the Sacred Species. The tabernacle usually resides in a side room and the ciborium containing the Sacred Species is transported in and out by a layman. The faithful receive standing, in the hand, without veils, and usually to the accompaniment of hymns that sound like pop music.

Priest distributing communion at a Mass offered by Pope Francis, 8 July 2013 on the tiny Sicilian island of Lampedusa .

    Back to our verbs assist and attend. Even if the faithful were carefully instructed that the Catholic assists in the sacrifice offered at a Novus Ordo Mass, what would they actually find to assist with/at? In the incessant noise, motion, speaking, praying aloud, singing, shaking hands, chatting, applauding the musicians, engaging the priest in 'dialogue', does all this activity add up to full and active participation in the offering of the Divine Victim immolated on the sacred altar?

    In Israel the worshiper brought his sacrifice to the priest and added his prayers to the priest's actions of immolating the lamb, goat or bullock on the altar. Afterwards a portion of the sacrifice was given to the worshiper who was required to cook and eat it with his family. They partook of what they offered through the priest on the holy altar in Jerusalem. They didn't "do the work" of the sacrifice but joined their intentions to the sacrificing priest who offered the victim on their behalf. The Epistle to the Hebrews explains that the mediatorial actions of the Old Covenant priests is a picture of our great High Priest in heaven, Jesus Christ.

    Full and active participation is primarily an interior disposition. Pope St. Pius X tells us, "Don't  pray at Mass, but pray the Mass." Listen carefully to his words: pray the Mass. Assist in the sacrifice. If you merely attend and pray, you have prayed at Mass. This is not full and active participation. We must follow the example of our Blessed Mother who assisted at the first Mass at the cross with her Divine Son, sharing in his sacrifice as a sword pierced her own soul. This is praying the Mass. The Mass is the sacrifice of Calvary. It is the mystery of our Blessed Lord's priesthood. It is the perfect worship that the Son offers to the Father. No amount of incessant activity, audience participation, 'dialogue with our presider', or hands-on-liturgical busy-ness can attain to this goal. Would one really behave this way at Golgotha on that dreadful Good Friday long ago?

    Let us with caution indulge the idea that the "two forms" of the Mass are "equal." There is assisting at the sacrifice, and there is attending Mass. Let us endeavor to obey the words of Pope St. Pius X and truly pray the Mass with "full and active particpation."