Lex Orandi, lex credendi – The Novus Ordo Law of Prayer corresponds to the Novus Ordo Law of Belief: that Man is God

Heresy of the Week, Week of 1/28/05 By Bro. Michael Dimond and Bro. Peter Dimond For more see: Heresies of the Week – Miscellaneous Articles and Issues

Lex Orandi, lex credendi is a principle in Catholic teaching.  It simply means that the manner in which the Church prays or worships must reflect what the Church believes. 

This is so true that when the Protestant heretics split from the Church they most effectively indoctrinated people with the Protestant heresies (denying the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, denying the Mass as sacrifice, etc.) by changing the Mass in ways which reflected their new beliefs (e.g., treating the Eucharist like an ordinary piece of bread, removing references to sacrifice, etc.) We see the same thing in the Novus Ordo Missae (the New Mass).  I don’t want to go into the many different ways that this is true in the Novus Ordo, but simply to focus briefly on how the Novus Ordo law of prayer reflects the post-Vatican II teaching (enunciated by John Paul II) that man is God.  Even Michael Davies, the late defender of the validity of the New Mass, clearly recognized that the worship of the New Mass is the Cult of Man.

Michael Davies, Pope Paul’s New Mass, p. 149: “Perhaps the most dramatic symbol of the man-centered nature of the new liturgy is the turning round of the altar, or rather, its replacement by a table… Man has turned away from God to face his fellow men.  Not all liturgical experts would state formally that they are replacing the Cult of God by the Cult of Man.  For some it is a subconscious process.  But it is all part of a trend which, if not stated formally, is nonetheless clear.” Michael Davies, Pope Paul’s New Mass, p. 141: “The late T.S. Gregory… was very disturbed by the post-conciliar liturgical reforms… he warned: ‘… But though we can no more change the Catholic Mass than we can change the nature of God… We can even think that the heart of the matter is not the sacrificed Son of God but the assembled faithful.’  This was a prophetic warning of the nature of the New Mass as defined by its compilers in the notorious Article 7, i.e. the essence of the Mass consists in the coming together of the faithful.  Those who undertake the tedious task of wading through even a fraction of the propaganda which has accompanied the New Mass in any Western country would certainly concur that almost invariably it sees the meaning of the Mass in the assembly, not the sacrifice for which, in theory at least, the assembly comes together… Professor Salleron noted at once [in 1970] that the New Mass represented the liturgical expression of the Cult of Man…”

The meaning of the New Mass is in the assembly, according to the Vatican II sect; because its creed is that the assembly – man – is now Christ.

Antipope John Paul II, Very First Homily, Forever Marking the Beginning of his Pastoral Ministry, Sunday, Oct. 22, 1978:  “All of you who are still seeking God, all of you who already have the inestimable good fortune to believe, and also you who are tormented by doubt: please listen once again, today, in this sacred place, to the words uttered by Simon Peter [Mt. 16:16].  In those words is the faith of the Church.  In those same words is the new truth, indeed, the ultimate and definitive truth about man: the Son of the living God – ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

This replacement of God with man in the (New) Mass is also inculcated in the official Vatican II document on the liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium).

Vatican II Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium #14: “This full and active participation of the people [in the liturgy] is the aim to be considered before all else; for it is the primary and indispensable source from which the faithful are to derive the true Christian spirit.”

Regarding this teaching, Michael Davies comments:

Michael Davies, Pope Paul’s New Mass, pp. 142-143: “What matters in the Tridentine Mass is the reverence due to God, that the sacrifice should be celebrated in a manner appropriate to the majesty of God to Whom it is offered.  Article 14 of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy is unambiguous, attention must be focused upon the congregation rather than God.”

Thus, Vatican II officially teaches that attention in the Mass must be on man rather than God.  And this is why at the New Mass we hear about every kind of abomination, including Clown Masses, Kiddie Masses, etc., etc., etc., etc., which are all directed to making the worship conform to the assembly – which is really the object of its worship.

Michael Davies, Pope Paul’s New Mass, p. 170: “…the most evident characteristic of the new liturgy is that it is the Cult of Man rather than the Cult of God.  The last thing it intends to convey is that we are in but not of the world; the last thing it intends is that we should be drawn out of our ordinary lives.  The leit-motiv of contemporary writing on the [new] liturgy is that the congregation must be made to feel at home during Mass and this is best done by insuring that that the liturgy reflects its particular milieu… This is particularly true in the case of children…the Directory on Children’s Masses….”

This worship of man in the New Mass was strikingly captured in an April 3, 1978 exposé by the Boston Globe.  It was an exposé of a Clown Mass that took place in Boston on April 2, 1978.  Here is the Eucharist prayer from this Novus Ordo Clown “Mass,” which was celebrated by Fr. Joachim Lally:

“Send Your Spirit over these gifts of bread and wine and over each of us so that together we might be the living and breathing moving Body and Blood of Jesus Christ Your Son and our Brother.”

In this Novus Ordo Clown Mass we see the blatant teaching that man is also Christ.  This is precisely the doctrine of Antichrist, the dissolving of Jesus into everyone (1 John 4:2-3), as we discussed in Antipope John Paul II: Final Antichrist Revealed.   The Novus Ordo religion that man is Christ is also inculcated in a ruling laid down regarding the way the Novus Ordo “Communion” must not be distributed.

Michael Davies, Pope Paul’s New Mass, p. 340: “Many readers will be shocked to learn that the American hierarchy is actually preparing the way for Catholic acceptance of the concept that the sacrifice in the Mass is that of Christ being offered in virtue of His presence in the congregation who offer themselves.  In the official Newsletter of the Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy, a ruling was laid down that when distributing Holy Communion a priest must not say: ‘Receive the Body of Christ’ or ‘This is the Body of Christ.’  The reason given is that the congregation itself is the Body of Christ. [Bishops’ statement]: ‘The use of the phrase The Body of Christ.  Amen, in the Communion rite asserts in a very forceful way the presence and role of the community… The change to the use of the phrase The Body of Christ rather than the long formula which was previously said by the priest has several repercussions in the liturgical renewal.  First, it seeks to highlight the important concept of the community as the body of Christ…’”

This is also reflected in the Novus Ordo Seminaries.  At many of these Seminaries, devotion to the Blessed Sacrament [the Real Presence of Christ is not present in Novus Ordo, by the way] is discouraged because it fails to recognize the presence of Christ in everyone!

Michael Rose, Goodbye, Good Men, p. 121, an exposé of Novus Ordo Seminaries: “The [Novus Ordo] seminarian who kneels and receives Communion on the tongue is guilty of three things: respect, reverence, and piety, which are indicators that the seminarian has ‘outdated’ understanding of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.”

Here we see that the Novus Ordo apostate Seminaries have fully imbibed the doctrine of the Antichrist, that man is Christ.  Those who even kneel for what they deem to be the Blessed Sacrament at many of these Novus Ordo Seminaries are rebuked for their “outdated” understanding of the Real Presence of Christ, i.e., “failing” to “understand” that Christ is present in everyone!  We know someone who no longer goes to the Novus Ordo but who, many years ago, had visited a Novus Ordo Seminary in the Philadelphia area.  When he was there he complained to Seminary authorities that their antics at “Mass” were not reverent to the Blessed Sacrament.  The Seminary authority actually replied, “But what about Christ who is present in each person?”

Michael Rose, Goodbye, Good Men, p. 121: “Sister Katarina Schuth of St. Paul’s Seminary in Minnesota explains that ‘students may accuse faculty of not supporting their devotions or loving the Blessing Sacrament, to which faculty respond that they are simply asking students also to see Christ in others…”

These people fail to realize that Pope Pius XII expressly condemned confusing the Mystical Body of Christ (the members of the Church) with the actual Body and Person of Jesus Christ.

Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis Christi #86, June 29, 1943: “For some there are who neglect the fact that the Apostle Paul has used metaphorical language of speaking of this doctrine [of the Mystical Body], and failing to distinguish as they should the precise and proper meaning of the terms the physical body, the social body, and the mystical Body, arrive at a distorted idea of unity.  They make the Divine Redeemer and the members of the Church coalesce in one physical person, and while they bestow divine attributes on man, they make Christ our Lord subject to error and to human inclination to evil.  But Catholic faith and the writings of the holy Fathers reject such false teaching as impious and sacrilegious; and to the mind of the Apostle of the Gentiles it is equally abhorrent, for although he brings Christ and His Mystical Body into a wonderfully intimate union, he nevertheless distinguishes one from the other, as Bridegroom and Bride.”

The following mind-boggling story of what occurred in a St. Mark’s Novus Ordo Minor Seminary takes this doctrine of the assembly as Christ – i.e., man as Christ – to its full conclusion.  It also illustrates how unspeakably demonic the Vatican II sect, the New Mass and the Novus Ordo Seminaries are:

Michael Rose, Goodbye, Good Men, p. 166: “One of the most memorable moments for Trigilio came during a rare benediction of the Blessed Sacrament prayer service [at St. Mark’s] in the chapel.  ‘The priest took the monstrance,’ Trigilio recounted, ‘and held it at waist level, walked over to the tabernacle, and replaced the Blessed Sacrament.  Then he took a clay pot that looked like a Grecian urn, holding it much higher than he had held the monstrance, carried it over to the altar, and placed it in the spot where the Blessed Sacrament had been; he then incensed the pot and knelt before it, saying, ‘Abba, you are the potter, we are the clay.’  There was nothing in the pot, but the priest was incensing it, and praying to it…’  This, said Trigilio, was the attitude of many of the formation team at St. Mark’s: in short, idolatrous.”

The worship of man (the assembly) as Christ in the New Mass so fully consumed this apostate Novus Ordo “priest” that he  worshipped the clay pot, just as he worships the assembly of people in the New Mass.  And this is precisely what the Novus Ordo/Vatican II religion of John Paul II is all about.  That is why the Assisi-interreligious abomination has been accepted whereby all religious leaders, including Christ-deniers, are accepted.  They are invited and accepted because their dignity as men is more important than the fact that they reject Christ.  This worship of man is also the reason that the Novus Ordo “priesthood” is a cesspool of abomination, homosexuality and unspeakable perversion.  A study of the missionaries reveals that where idolatry is common (such as in mission territories fully under Satan’s yoke), homosexuality is common.  The idolatry of the New Mass is a major factor in the massive perversion of the Novus Ordo “priests.” Obviously, these facts should show us once again why the Novus Ordo Mass can never be attended for any reason under pain of grave sin.

Pope St. Pius X, E Supremi Apostolatus, Oct. 4, 1903: “While, on the other hand, and this according to the same apostle is the distinguishing mark of Antichrist, man has with infinite temerity put himself in the place of God.”

For more see: Heresies of the Week – Miscellaneous Articles and Issues