Dead man rising. Widow of Nain's only son. Told to "Weep not." He rises, begins talking, a "holy fear" fills witnesses. Another matter: Why Latin in the mass?
Luke 7:11-16, pre-1969 reading:
Jesus went into Naim accompanied by his disciples and “a great multitude.” They came on a huge funeral procession for the only son of a widow. The pallbearers stopped where they were.
Jesus called out to the grieving mother, "Weep not," came up and touched the coffin, said, "Young man, I say to you, get up."
The man sat up and begun to speak. Jesus presented him to his mother.
A holy fear came on them all. Stunned, they glorified God saying, “A great prophet is risen among us. God has visited his people."
The word got out, “noised abroad” throughout Judaea. John the Baptist sent two disciples to ask Jesus if he was the one “foretold” in Scripture or should they wait for someone else.
It was just when Jesus had cured many diseases and afflictions and evil spirits and given sight to many blind people.
Return and tell John what your own eyes and ears have witnessed, Jesus said, “how the blind see, and the lame walk, and the lepers are made clean, and the deaf hear; how the dead are raised to life, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.”
“Blessed is he who does not lose confidence in me,” he said.
When they had left, he praised John to the multitudes:
“What was it you expected to see when you went out into the wilderness? A reed trembling in the wind? A man dressed in silk? You must look in kings’ palaces for men that go proudly dressed, and live in luxury. A prophet? Yes, and something more, I tell you, than a prophet.
“This is the man of whom it is written, Behold, I am sending before thee that angel of mine who is to prepare the way for thy coming. I tell you, there is no greater than John the Baptist among all the sons of women; and yet to be least in the kingdom of heaven is to be greater than he.
“It was the common folk who listened to him, and the publicans, that had given God his due, by receiving John’s baptism, whereas the Pharisees and lawyers, by refusing it, had frustrated God’s plan for them.”
Indeed.
There is an element of mystery about Latin. It is a dead language, not spoken by the faithful. The use of Latin conveys to the mind of the people that something is going on upon the altar which is beyond their comprehension; that a mystery is being enacted.
Far more than a prayer service.
The use of Latin in the Mass is a means of maintaining unity in the Catholic Church, for the use of one and the same language in Latin Rite churches all over the world is a connecting link to Rome, as well as between nations separated by their cultures and native tongues.
It’s a unifier.
Latin is a safeguard against error because of its immutability. The near exclusive use of the vernacular inevitably leads to heresies and errors creeping into the Church. Likewise, the use of Latin helps to define and defend orthodoxy.
And protects worshipers from sometimes considerable stylistic differences, priest to priest.
Finally:
The primary reason why the whole of the Mass was historically offered in Latin is because it is a sacrifice, not an instruction for the people. The celebration of Mass consists more in action than in words.
It’s a happening.
This final reason cannot be overstated. A Protestant gathering which commemorates the Lord’s Supper is simply a service of prayers and instruction. For this reason the vernacular is a necessity.
The Catholic Mass, however, is a holy sacrifice offered to God the Father by an ordained priest, in persona Christi. The action of the Mass, and the mystery of it, is reinforced by the use of Latin.
Moreover,
In his 1962 apostolic constitution Veterum Sapientia, Pope St. John XXIII observed that:
“The Catholic Church has a dignity far surpassing that of every merely human society, for it was founded by Christ the Lord. It is altogether fitting, therefore, that the language it uses should be noble, majestic, and non-vernacular.”
Neither should Latin
. . . be limited to masses offered in the [current] Extraordinary Form . . . [which] have every reason to be celebrated in a language that is “noble, majestic, and non-vernacular.”
Amen.