Mass at St. Stephen’s Cathedral by Jindřich Tomec

Available from Refuge of Sinners Publishing

Book Length: 262 pages

Without a doubt, this will be one of the most important books I have ever read, and will ever review. The Mass is, after all, an integral component of our Holy Faith. Thus, it has been cherished throughout history by the good and holy, yet has also been subject to assault by reprobates and heretics. It is fitting that the Mass, which among many other things is an external expression of “…the love which made Him desire to die for us…” (34) as Rev. Kearney writes, is rejected by those who attempt to build lives, systems of thought, and whole societies in defiance of Christ, “the stone which the builders rejected” (Psalm 117:22). With this broad view in mind, we must narrow our scope to ourselves. Assuming that my readers are lay members of the household of the Faith, I invite such souls to consider their own attitudes towards the Mass and the level of their own participation—this being authentic participation, not the sorry excuse of “active participation” promoted by the Conciliar Church—whenever they assist at the Holy Sacrifice. Surely, the book will engage you more in such considerations than this review, but such an invitation will help one to better comprehend the sublime content of this work, which I shall delve further into.

There is a particularly moving and lengthy passage in the first chapter of this book which is worth at least a brief overview, for they explain with language that deeply animates the heart and mind as to what the aforementioned love of Christ means. In a skillful manner, the author connects the death of Our Savior on the Cross to its representation in the Mass, and how our piety ought to be attentive to this truth:

Jesus did not die because His Body was destroyed nor His bones crushed: “You shall not break a bone in Him,” said the scripture. He did not die because His brain was pierced—that piercing took place after His death. His vital organs were not injured, they failed to act because His Blood was almost entirely drained away and He was absolutely spent.

He died from the loss of blood with the intense pain that accompanied it, and the exhaustion caused by His position on the Cross.

…

In death His Blood was separated from His Body.

On the altar, in the separate consecration of the Body and Blood, we have a vivid memorial of all this blood-shedding: the chalice and the host are before us as separated…When we bow down at the double elevation, the death by separation of Body and Blood should come before us. During the Canon when the chalice and the host are separated on the corporal, we can think of the white bloodless Body and the red Blood which was taken from it.

(17-20)

May the Sacred Blood of Jesus be always present before us, especially at the Holy Mass! Though the Mass is ultimately mysterious, it is profoundly rich in significance, as the previous quotation demonstrates. It would be unreasonable to give all the explanations of the prayers and ceremonies in the Mass provided in this work, but these excerpts should suffice to give one a general idea:

The Ordinary is the expression of the state of soul one should be in when offering Mass; a disposition of profound reverence and childlike submission to God in union with the disposition of Jesus. The Proper on the other hand puts before us thoughts which are calculated to place our souls in this disposition and to keep them so.

(191-192)

The Psalm [said during the Lavabo] expresses the desire for purity, the appreciation of the privilege of being engaged in the worship of God and also the need of Divine Protection.

(213)

In considering the deeper meaning of the rites of the liturgy, we ought to (as is one of the main aims of this book) take this knowledge, treasure it in our hearts, and enable it to help us participate as we ought whenever we have the privilege to assist at Mass. Indeed, Rev. Kearney invites us faithful to offer the Mass—in unison with the priest, not as the equal of him who offers the Sacrifice in persona Christi, but as members united by the same mystical body. The author expounds on this point quite beautifully when he writes:

In offering the sacrifice of the altar Jesus Christ acts as head of His mystic body—the Church. We are members of the body, hence His acts belong to us, we can unite with His act of offering Himself. We can make His sacrifice ours. Each of us can say: “I offer to Thee, O Heavenly Father, this sacrifice.

(136)

Such an involvement, of internal sacrifice in union with Our Lord, is the proper way to assist at Mass, as opposed to the simplistic and surface level concept of worship as promoted by Protestant sects and by the Conciliar Church. Rev. Kearney’s teachings in this regard apply especially to our own time, in which the attitude he condemns so sharply is evidently cultivated by the New Mass. That sacrilege presents a special danger, for it ostensibly retains some aspects of Catholic worship, but adds in innovations alien to Catholic Tradition, and is dominated by a spirit fundamentally Protestant in nature.

If we lack the right intentions and the right disposition, our worship will be insufficient. We will find ourselves like Cain, whose insufficient offerings were the exterior signs of a soul that was lacking its devotion to God; therefore to these offerings Scripture informs us that the Lord “had no respect” (Genesis 5:4). To those who have grown up attending the false worship services of the Conciliar Church or the Protestants (or even both), in charity, give special regard to the following words:

The Protestant idea of the manner in which we profit by Our Lord’s Sacrifice on Calvary is that we need do nothing but believe and we shall be justified and shall be saved. They deny the truth that to profit much by the sacrifice of Christ, we must make the effort (often painful) to put our soul in a disposition of conformity to the attitude of dependence which Christ manifested on the Cross.

There is a real danger that this Protestant idea may influence Catholics in the way they assist at Mass. They may imagine that by the mere fact of their being present with faith in the Real Presence, they do practically all that is required to unite with the sacrifice of Christ and to make that sacrifice their own.

(137-138)

There are a great many other excellent details about the sacred liturgy which are touched upon in this book, especially concerning the four ends of Mass: adoration, thanksgiving, atonement, and petition. On a related note, covered at length in this work is the subject of sacrifice in the Old Testament, and how those rites prefigured the Holocaust of Mount Calvary. Moreover, let it not be forgotten nor overlooked that Rev. Kearney provides more than a few words concerning the role of the Blessed Mother in the Mass, as he dedicates a whole chapter on this topic—a highly delightful and necessary part of what is already a masterful book. Another particularly important inclusion in this book is that of Chapter X, “The Mass and the Youthful Mind”, which is a highly instructive series of ten short lessons. These condense the contents of this book into a study plan intended for instructing the youth, making this book a superb resource to priests, parents, and Catechism teachers. For these and for all Catholics, the reading of this book is highly recommended. I, though a mere slave of the Immaculate, unflinchingly state that if its contents are taken to heart by its reader, it shall prove an exponential and sure guide to advancing further in the spiritual life.