I am a tad tardy in providing my scheduled musing, so to take advantage of my delinquency I will write on a more timely topic than initially planned. It should go without saying that the views expressed here are unique to me and do not necessarily reflect those of other chapel faithful, but it might be prudent to be redundant as this take may prove too spicy for some palates.
If ever I happen to cross paths with an apologist for the New Order who wishes out of charity to educate me on the error of choosing to take my family where I do to receive the sacraments, I have already prepared three questions I would be interested to get his take on. The first I alluded to in a previous installment: What patristic source can he point to for justification for communion on the hand? Another goes like this: What are the miracles attributed to John XXIII in support of his canonization? The last one, to be fully appreciated, requires a little setup.
Tomorrow the Church commences Her annual Triduum with Maundy Thursday, so called because of the words of Our Lord following the events of the day's Gospel:
Mandatum novum do vobis : ut diligatis invicem : sicut dilexi vos, ut et vos diligatis invicem.
— Joannes 13, 34 LV
So much can be expounded upon from the mysteries of this one liturgy, principal among them the Institution of the Most Holy Eucharist. As such, the Church sees fit to educate the faithful through Her servant St. Paul with his exposition on the Blessed Sacrament. Now, if one were to attend the "unique expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite" (Traditiones Custodes, Art. 1) for the service of this day, he would hear a lay lector dictate this second reading:
Brothers and sisters: I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.
— 1 Cor 11:23-26 NAB
Unless that person is of impeccable sanctity and could bilocate, another soul assisting at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered by the hands of an SSPX priest would hear Father chant this Epistle in Latin:
Brethren: When you come therefore together into one place, it is not now to eat the Lord's supper. For every one taketh before his own supper to eat. And one indeed is hungry and another is drunk. What, have you not houses to eat and to drink in? Or despise ye the church of God; and put them to shame that have not? What shall I say to you? Do I praise you? In this I praise you not. For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And giving thanks, broke, and said: Take ye, and eat: this is my body, which shall be delivered for you: this do for the commemoration of me. In like manner also the chalice, after he had supped, saying: This chalice is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as often as you shall drink, for the commemoration of me. For as often as you shall eat this bread, and drink the chalice, you shall shew the death of the Lord, until he come. Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord. But let a man prove himself: and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of the chalice. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord. Therefore are there many infirm and weak among you, and many sleep. But if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But whilst we are judged, we are chastised by the Lord, that we be not condemned with this world.
— 1 Cor 11, 20-32 DRV
So, my apologist friend, you happen to attend the unicorn NO which is all said in Latin and there's no altar girls and the choir sings Pergolesi's Stabat Mater in full polyphony during communion? Good on you. Guess what? At the end of Holy Thursday during the translation you have the latitude to substitute the Pange Lingua with One Bread, One Body, but you do not have the option to add the excised words of St. Paul to your mass meal. And you know what else? The same thing happened for Corpus Christi and the associated Votive Mass of the Most Holy Sacrament. Nowhere in your 3-year cycle of Sunday readings, 2-year cycle of daily readings and 4-week Liturgy of the Hours is the warning to be found against your negligent consumption of the "source and summit of the Christian life" (CCC ¶ 1324).
And so my question can finally be presented: Why did the editors of the Missal of Paul VI see fit remove the verses concerning unworthy reception of the Eucharist from the liturgy?
If you don't want to take my word for it, feel free to consult more erudite minds like those from New Liturgical Movement (here and here), Corpus Christi Watershed (here and here), Fr. Felix Just when he compares the Scripture contained in the Mass before and after reconstruction, and the late Fr. Anthony Cekada from his seminal study Work of Human Hands, excerpted below. After you've exhausted all the resources at your disposal, my modernist interlocuter, I'll still be patiently waiting your reply.
There are various conclusions that one can draw from this, and I'll present some of mine. There is no talk that can be had of mutual enrichment or the hermeneutic of continuity, but only of singular disfigurement and the hermeneutic of obliteration. When comparing the two distinct rites it is en vogue to communicate in canonical legalese, to speak of validity and liceity and debate on those terms. But what is not up for debate is legitimacy. I concur with the good Archbishop when he says "the rite of the new mass is a bastard rite" (Open Letter to Confused Catholics, ch. 15). I am constrained to say that the progenitor of the NO is up in the air, but if I had any authority beyond the family entrusted to my care I would be more inclined to apply the words of Our Lord to the Jews:
You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof.
— John 8, 44 DRV
If I have offended sensitive ears, I do not apologize because the zeal for His house "hath eaten me up" (Psalm 68, 10 DRV). But if I have erred in my judgement, I pray God have mercy on my wretched soul and that he bring a swift end to this crisis. "Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt" (Matthew 26, 39 DRV).
