Benedictus makes beauty accessible
As a priest, I've often been frustrated that the liturgical life of the Church is under-resourced. I know that sounds like a perfectly ridiculous thing to say when, in fact, parishes are neck-deep in an avalanche of resources – worship aids, hymnals, devotionals, and so on.
I ask you this, though, if you want to begin attending an Extraordinary Form Mass, how do you begin? Let's say you are eager to learn and participate but you're a novice. You don't possess your own Missal, which can be expensive, is available online in many different versions that all seem to be slightly different, and take practice to learn how to use. You don't know when to stand or sit during Mass and feel embarrassed. You don't know how to recollect yourself to the prayers at the altar because, even though you're very interested in what's happening during the Mass and intuitively sense its sacredness, you have very little understanding of what the densely layered symbols and actions actually mean.
After a long, intense search of the internet, you might find a few downloadable booklets that partially reveal what's going on during the Mass. In my experience many of these booklets contain errors due to the oddity of local customs. In any case, they tend to deal only with the basic structure of the Mass and don't provide the daily readings and prayers in translation.
Enter Benedictus, the traditional Catholic companion.
Published by Sophia Institute Press, Benedictus is a monthly worship aid that is easy to follow, informative, and full of little extras. In the introduction, which asks, “Why Benedictus? Why Now?” the publishers write, “Priests and laypeople around the world are being drawn to the Traditional Latin Mass, as well as the clear and authentic Catholic teaching and morals that inform and flow from it....Benedictus is an attempt to assist the faithful in their daily spiritual lives by making the riches of sacred Tradition more immediately accessible and practicable than ever before.”
The focus on accessibility is what I particularly appreciate. Catholic culture is lived and breathed. It is natural. It forms us as a mother forms her child. With the liturgy and Catholic culture more broadly speaking, there's always a tension between the immediate, visceral beauty of the faith, on the one hand, and the hidden treasures that require attention and sustained effort to acquire, on the other. The pearls are there, right there to be picked up. The beauty of the Mass and the devotional life of the Church is transparent and available. But, if you were to start digging, how much more is there to be uncovered? For those who put in the effort, how many more treasures does the Church wish to bestow?
The faith is complex, a never-ending source of growth, a never-exhausted font of love, but we all must start somewhere. Sometimes that first step is the most difficult. In this sense, parishioners who are interested in learning about the Extraordinary Form shouldn't be expected to arrive at Mass armed with their own shovels. The Mass has didactic elements, but it isn't a purely intellectual pursuit, it's a mysterious tradition, handed down generation to generation. We dig together. We find the Pearl of Great Price together.
Thus, to my mind, I am a grateful pastor for the resource that is Benedictus. All the Mass readings and collects, including daily Mass, are collected here in one easy-to-follow format with an English translation. The booklet contains well-chosen, spiritually challenging meditations on the daily Mass. It even contains a smattering of trivia facts. For instance, in the issue I was looking at, a pictorial guide to the vesting prayers the priest prays in the sacristy. Best of all is the inclusion of cultural pieces such as a commentary on the history and meaning of the Hail Mary. There's even a poem! In this case, “O Fruitful Garden,” by John Donne.
If you love the beauty of Catholic culture and the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, you'll want to check out Benedictus.
