Today, 496 years later, Catholics and Lutherans are discovering how close they really are in matters of faith and worship. There is Christian love among them. But in those days there was a lot of confusion and fighting.
Martin Luther was born in 1483 into a German farm family. His parents were very strict with him. They were determined that Martin Luther should make something of himself, so they sent him to school. The schoolmaster was so strict that he once gave Martin fifteen spankings in a single day. When he was fifteen, he went to live with an uncle also was a hard man. He often made Martin study for long hours without anything to eat. As soon as he was old enough, Martin attended the great German university at Erfurt. It was at this time that he had several painful experiences. First, a good friend of his died suddenly. Next, a contagious disease spread throughout the university city and caused many deaths. Finally, Martin himself was caught in a thunderstorm and knocked down by a lightning bolt. Sixteen days after the shock of the thunderstorm, he entered the Augustinian monastery in Erfurt. It was the year 1505. Two years later he was ordained a priest and celebrated his first Holy Eucharist/Holy Mass on April 4, 1507.
As a young monk, Martin Luther worried about his sins, afraid he would go to hell, and because his father had been rough with him, he had fearful ideas of God the Father. One night while Martin was worrying, the idea suddenly came to him that it is wrong to think we can earn our salvation by what we do. All that is necessary is to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Martin Luther began telling other people his idea. At first, not many people listened. Then, in 1517, ten years after Luther became a priest, a Dominican friar named Johann Tetzel came to Germany. Tetzel preached in the Church and asked for donations to help build Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. Tetzel told the people that if they gave a donation, they could get their dead relatives and friends out of purgatory and into heaven. From what Tetzel said, people got the idea that they could buy their way into heaven if they had enough money.
When Martin Luther heard this strange doctrine, he began to preach against it. Luther also wrote a long list of statements - his famous Ninety-five These - and nailed them onto the doors of the castle Church in the city of Wittenberg. Luther's Ninety-five These became famous. Soon, in Germany and in other places in Europe, people began to take sides. The pope read the Ninety-five These and told Luther to take back the ones that were against Church teaching. When he refused, the pope excommunicated him - put him out of the Church.
Now Martin Luther and a friend named Philip Melancthon organized a new form of worship to take the place of the Roman Mass. He did away with Latin; he used the language of the people in his new prayer service. As a result, every Lutheran church became a national church - German in Germany, Swedish in Sweden, Danish in Denmark.
In 1533, a man named John Calvin became dissatisfied with the Catholic Church. He, too, thought some Catholic doctrines needed reform. He broke away and began his own church in Switzerland. His followers were called Calvinists. A year after Calvin's breakaway, king Henry VIII of England started the Anglican church, the church of England. Henry's split with the Catholic Church had nothing to do with reform. He was angry with the pope for not allowing him to divorce his wife and marry another woman. So it was that within twenty years Luther, Calvin, and Henry VIII build their own church.
For Europe, the sixteenth century was an age of discovery and exploration. It was also a time of colonization and missionary activity. Wherever the colonists settled, the missionaries were among them. Besides Catholic missionaries, there were also Lutherans, Calvinists, and Anglicans.
Lutheranism, in its early days, was limited more or less to countries that speak German. These countries were not interested in colonization, so there was little growth of Lutheranism outside Europe. Gradually, however, Lutheranism spread from its German homeland into other countries. Today there are many Lutherans in the world.
Calvinism. In the church of England there was a group of people who decided that Anglican worship was still too Catholic. To change this, they adopted Calvin's ideas into their religious belief. Because they wanted to 'purify' the church of England, these English Calvinists were called Puritans. The queens and kings who headed the church of England wanted the Puritans to accept Anglicanism just as it was. The Puritans refused. A small group of them left England and fled to Holland, where they could worship God as they pleased. Later, some of these Puritans and another group from England embarked on the Mayflower and sailed to America. They planned to settle in Virginia, but storms drove their ship farther north. On December 21, 1620, they landed at Plymouth Rock in the Cape Cod region of United States.
Catholicism. The Catholic Church also took advantage of the colonization that was going on in the sixteenth century. Catholic missionaries sailed along with Spanish explorers to the new World, America. Soon Catholicism was firmly planted in all of South and Central America. Later, from Mexico it spread to the West Coast of North America. California's largest cities are reminders of the early presence of Catholic missionaries; they have names such as San Diego (Saint James) Los Angeles (The Angels) and San Francisco (Saint Francis)
In the northeastern part of North America, the large Canadian province of Quebec became Catholic because of French missionaries who traveled with the explorers sent by kings of France. Some of these missionaries gives their lives as martyrs for the Christians faith. Because of their work and sacrifices, Quebec today is more than 70% are Catholic Christian.
Missionaries also accompanied Portuguese explorers to India. In India, the Catholic Church took strong hold in province of God. One of the missionaries who went to India was the Jesuit priest, Saint Francis Xavier. After preaching to the people of Goa, Saint Francis Xavier set out for China, but he died before he reached the Chinese mainland.
In Martin Luther's time the Catholic Church, indeed needed reform. Many Catholics, including bishops, priests, monks and nuns, were not living serious Christian lives. In order to correct these abuses, the pope and the bishops of the Catholic Church decided to have a ecumenical council. The great meeting began at Trent, a little town in northeast Italy, in the year 1545. During its twenty-five meetings, the members of the Council laid down rules to correct problems in the Catholic Church. It is also because Martin Luther had challenged many Catholic Church doctrines, including teachings about the Holy Eucharist/Holy Mass, the bishops spent much time discussing the liturgy and the Holy Eucharist/Holy Mass. Here are some of the teachings the bishops agreed on at the Council of Trent:
1. - The Lord Jesus Christ remains in the consecrated Host even after Holy Eucharist/Holy Mass is over. So it is proper to have processions of the Blessed Sacrament and to adore the Lord Jesus Christ in the consecrated Host.
2. - The Lord Jesus Christ is totally present under the form of bread and also under the form of wine. So, if a person receives the Lord Jesus Christ only under one form, bread of wine, that person receives the Lord Jesus in Communion.
3. - Holy Eucharist/Holy Mass may be offered for the living and for the dead.
4. - The Lord Jesus Christ ordained priests to offer his body and blood, so only an ordained priest has the power to offer or preside the Holy Eucharist/Holy Mass.
5. - The Council of Trent began in the year 1545. It lasted eighteen years, and ended in 1563.
At the Council of Trent the bishops had wanted to reform the liturgy, but they realized that this work could take years, and the Council had already gone on too long. So they decided to have the pope, take care of liturgical reform after the Council was over. Within years after the Council of Trent, Pope Pius V had the new Roman liturgy ready. Every Catholic bishop and priest in the world had to follow the new liturgy of Trent. This liturgy was in Latin, and no one was permitted to change it into any other language. "Let no one change anything!" warned the pope.
For the next four hundred years - until the Second Vatican Council - the liturgy of Trent from Pope Pius V was used in the Catholic Church. It told the priest exactly how he was to celebrate Holy Eucharist/Holy Mass; how far apart to hold his hands at certain prayers, how deeply to bow, when he was to kiss the altar and the book of the Gospel, and on and on. All these directions were printed right in the priest's missal.
The Mass of Pope Pius V was good news in several ways. In Church where false teachings had crept into the Holy Mass, the new liturgy was an improvement. It also brought order to Church where the liturgy had become disorganized. The new liturgy also reinforced some negative features. For example, it allowed the Holy Eucharist/Holy Mass to be celebrated only in Latin, but the problem with Latin was that most people did not understand of know it. As a result, people could not really take part or fully participated in the Holy Eucharist/Holy Mass. All they could do, was watch the priest and hear him say words they did not understand. So what people did was, to termed it, "hearing" Holy Mass.
Another regulation was that people had to fast from all food and drink from midnight until after going to Holy Communion just as the priest had to do. And at high Holy Masses and funeral Masses the people were not permitted to receive Holy Communion. It is because of these regulations fewer people received Holy Communion.
But Martin Luther had his public prayer services in the language of the people. However, Pope Pius V said the Holy Eucharist/Holy Mass must be celebrated in Latin. At the time, no one realized the effect this policy would have on the Catholic Church, especially in China. For hundreds of years China had been closed to Catholic missionaries. During the 1850s, a Jesuit priest named Matteo Ricci finally got into the country, because he knew that the Chinese admired educated people, Matteo Ricci came to China as a scholar, dressed in silken robes like a university professor. He presented himself at the emperor's court, where everyone was astonished at Ricci's knowledge of astronomy and geography. The emperor himself was so pleased that he gave the Jesuits permission to enter China as missionaries.
In 1610 when Matteo Ricci died, other educated Jesuits continued his work, teachings and proclaiming the Good News. Within a few years there were 150,000+- converts, many in the emperor's own family. Some young Chinese men became priests. When the Jesuits saw how many Chinese people were becoming Catholic Christian, they asked Pope Paul V to give them permission to celebrate Holy Eucharist/Holy Mass in the Chinese language. The pope agreed.
For a long time the Jesuits were the only Catholic missionaries, preaching and teaching the Good News in China. However, other missionary groups came. Among these new missionaries, many did not understand the ways of the Chinese people nor the methods of the Jesuits. Instead, of accepting Chinese customs, some of the new missionaries considered everything Chinese practices are idolatry or paganism. Since the Holy Eucharist/Holy Mass was celebrated in Chinese, there were sure there was idolatry in the Holy Mass, too.
One Spanish missionary, a Dominican who had been put out of one other country and then out of China, went to Rome and complained about the Jesuits. The Jesuits heard of this and sent one of their own men to Rome. In Rome, the Jesuits explained that missionaries had been celebrating the Holy Eucharist/Holy Mass in Chinese for a hundred years. There was no idolatry in it. But Pope Clement XI began to think it had been a mistake for Pope Paul V to have allowed the Holy Eucharist/Holy Mass in Chinese. The pope ordered all missionaries to start celebrating the Holy Eucharist/Holy Mass in Latin again. Even worse, the prayers the Chinese people said during Holy Mass were no longer allowed to be the same prayers the priest said at the altar.
The Jesuits obeyed the pope, but they were afraid that their success at winning or beget the Chinese to the Lord Jesus Christ would end. They were right. The Chinese emperors, who had been friendly toward the Catholic Church, became furious. For almost two centuries they imprisoned and put to death hundreds of bishops, priests, and religious men and women. In spite of all this, the Catholic faith remained rooted in China, and it is still there today. Many thanks to the Jesuits.
The Council of Trent did many good things. It put an end to some abuses. It explained clearly what the Catholic Church taught, and stirred up Christian devotion to the Holy Eucharist/Holy Mass.
As centuries went on, critics found fault with the liturgy of Trent, especially the 'Roman Missal.' Everything in it was "frozen" in the same form it had in the sixteenth century, said the critics. Little by little the popes themselves began to see that this was true. Over the years they amended or changed some of the old strict rules of Pope Pius V. In 1898, a translation of the Holy Eucharist/Holy Mass prayers was officially permitted. In our own century Pope Pius X urged the people to receive Holy Communion daily, and in 1910, he permitted little children to receive the Holy Eucharist.
When John XXIII became pope in 1958, he sent out a new set of rules for the Holy Eucharist/Holy Mass. Shortly afterwards he announced a new Council, that is, the Second Vatican Council. Just as Pope Pius V had done after the Council of Trent, the Second Vatican Council revised the Roman Missal and gave the Catholic Church the liturgy we have, the 2nd Edition, and today the Catholic Church used the Roman Missal (3rd Edition)
On October 11, 1962, the Second Vatican Council met for the first time. There are more than 2,000 cardinals and bishops were present. There were also ambassadors from various countries, representatives of global organizations, and delegates from other churches. The Second Vatican Council was held in the Basilica of Saint Peter in Vatican City, and because another Council had already met in the same place years before, this new one became the Second Vatican Council.
Pope John personally opened the Second Vatican Council in 1962, but he was not there when it closed in December 1965. He passed away on June 3, 1963, and a new pope - Pope Paul VI - carried on the Second Vatican Council. It is Pope Paul VI that began the liturgy reforms in 1960s.
The Order Of The Holy Eucharist/Holy Mass/Holy Communion or in short; Liturgy - was the first item of business at the Second Vatican Council. After nearly a year, the Council bishops approved the final document. It was called the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy and was published by Pope Paul VI on December 4, 1963.
The document says that liturgy is very important in the life of the Catholic Church and that we need to revise and adapt our liturgy to the needs of today's people. The key word in the Liturgy Constitution is participation. The liturgy is "an action on the Lord Jesus Christ and of His Body which is the Church" this document states. Liturgy is not something that we sit and watch the priest do. It is something we do with the Lord Jesus Christ.
The major reforms in our liturgy has been the change to the language of the people. The Last Supper was in Aramaic, the language of Jesus and the Apostles. In the third century, when the Roman Liturgy was in Greek, Pope Callistus changed it to Latin because that was the language most Romans understood. Now, in our own time, the liturgy is once again in the language of the people/parishioner. If you go to attend Holy Eucharist/ Holy Mass/ Holy Communion in any Catholic Church in the world you will see Catholic Christians participating with the priest because they know and understand what they are saying and singing. The language change makes it possible to have full and active participation.
The Roman Missal (3rd Edition) of the Holy Mass is as appended below:.......
Page 3
If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
No comments:
Post a Comment