Lovers of the Traditional Latin Mass
Lovers of the Ancient Rite because for Ignatians the sacred traditional liturgy is the mystic portal through which they pass into order to enter into union with the Most Holy Trinity, “my God”, “the strength of my heart [who] is mine forever” (Psalm 73)
Here is where the mystic heart of the Ignatian is formed through entering into deepest union with the Most Holy Trinity through the Mystical Body of Christ.
Here is where his heart becomes dedicated to the to the heroic Heart of Jesus Christ.
Here is where his admiration for the Divine Truth, Goodness, and Beauty fires his resolve to create creative minorities for pro-convert outreach and the creation of a Catholic soul in society unto the recognition of Jesus Christ as Lord of culture, all converge, draw inspiration, are invigorated.
Here is where they become intimately convinced that it is to this ultimate and deepest level of reality into which they have entered through the sacred liturgy that they must dedicate their energies to guiding the greatest possible number of men and women to enter.
Hence, they pass through the portal again to fulfill their mission, making the sacred liturgy the center, summit, and heart of their projects and apostolates.
Enacted with dignity, with love, with beauty, firstly so that Catholics deepen their Catholic identity and become creative minorities for the creation of a society with a Catholic soul, and secondly, so that it becomes a magnet to attract non-Catholics to Christ.
Ignatians: Bonded To Christ Crucified By Traditional Mass
The Ignatian focuses his existence through the prism of the contemplation of Jesus Christ Crucified. Ever does he seek to align his way of looking on the world, time, and eternity with the vision of the Hero of Calvary who gazes on mankind through the ages from the Cross and calls to Himself men who will prolong his salvific mission.
It is above all in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that he achieves this transformation of his heart.
For growth in union with Jesus Christ occurs through the Sacrifice and the sacraments for “whatever was visible in our Savior has passed over into the sacraments” (Pope St. Leo the Great). It is through the reenactment of the Sacrifice of Calvary that he reinforces his own Christian identity. Through his sacramental communion with his Lord his identity as comrade-in-arms of the heroic Savior intensifies. With the “bread of the wayfarer” he acquires the strength of the strong for spiritual warfare.
By intensely living the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as the re-enactment of the Heroic Christ’s passion for the salvation of souls on Calvary, the Ignatian becomes a man of passion: in passionate love for the Hero and with a willingness to be a staunch comrade-in-arms of the Hero, no matter the wounds suffered during the campaigning.
By living the Sacrifice the Ignatian knows that he fulfills the most necessary act for the building up of the Church and the salvation of souls.
And, the more he penetrates the meaning of the Mass, the more he understands the priesthood. This fact is well illustrated by a biographer of the Curé of Ars, Saint Jean Marie Vianney, in his description of the priest’s boyhood experience at the Masses he attended amid the bloody persecution of Catholics during the French Revolution of 1789:
“The persecution began. The proscribed priests were hidden. They were given shelter, a disguise, provisions. The people used to appoint secret places for Sunday Mass – secret places and far off, with much journeying by night. A barn did for a church, a bread box was the altar. It was forbidden to pray aloud, since the priest was risking the scaffold and his congregation the galleys. It was really worth while to be a Christian in those days.These were no ordinary Masses that Jean-Marie heard. It was the same sacrifice, but at its highest value, since the gift of the Blood of God bore with it the gift of oneself. “What is a priest?” the child queried. “A man who accepts death in order to remain one”. Obviously, the priesthood was a very high, very splendid function – death certainly gave a wider meaning to life.” (Henri Gheon, The Secret of the Cure D’Ars)
Thus, the Ignatian recognizes that the priest must be, to an extraordinary degree, a Christian radicalized by the Supreme Sacrifice, by the Sacrifice of the Hero of Calvary.