Holy Virgin and Child, Jan Massys; 1564

IN THIS AGE of Counterfeit Catholicism, praying the ancient and unchangeable liturgy of the Catholic Church at home is what a small but growing number of Catholics do every Sunday. Now that your church is likely closed, consider joining them by praying the true Mass at home. It is not ideal, but Catholics have done it for many centuries when they did not have access to the sacraments. I highly recommend Gerry Matatics’s CD lecture, “What Do Recusant Catholics Do on Sunday?;” his other talks are outstanding too. Matatics’s personal story is fascinating. He was raised in an atheistic home and became obsessively interested in the Bible as a teenager. He became a full Presbyterian minister but then converted to Catholicism. The Bible, he said, converted him. For Protestant readers, and actually anyone, I highly recommend his great and entertaining lecture, “How the Bible Converted Me to Catholicism: One Protestant Minister’s Surprising Journey of Faith.”

With everything closed by government fiat, this is a good time to learn more. This is a good time, the best of times, to pray.

Come to Mass! Come, children, come to Mass, and bring your merry hearts with you. Come, you that are young and happy, and rejoice before the Lord. Come, you that are old and weary, and tell your loneliness to God. Come, you that are sorely tempted, and ask the help of heaven. Come, you that have sinned, and weep between the porch and the altar. Come, you that are bereaved, and pour out here your tears. Come, you that are sick, or anxious, or unhappy, and complain to God. Come, you that are prosperous and successful, and give thanks. Christ will sympathize with you. He will rejoice with you and He will mourn with you. He will gather up your prayers. He will join to them His own almighty supplications and that concert of prayer shall enter heaven, louder than the music of angelic choirs, sweeter than the voice of those who sing the song of Moses and the Lamb, more piercing than the cry of the living creatures who rest not day or night, and more powerful and prevailing than the intercession of the Blessed Virgin and all the saints of paradise together. The Mass a formalism! The Mass an unmeaning service! Why, it is the most beautiful, the most spiritual, the most sublime, the most satisfying worship which the heart of man can ever conceive.

— Fr. Lasance Missal (PDF), 1937

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