These have been active days for a summer vacation. Yesterday, during a break from a six mile walk across Northampton, I was able to attend Holy Mass. Although I am the only attendee without graying hair, Mass on Tuesday is usually better than the sacrifice on the Lord's Day. On Tuesday, we say a novena to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, (this is actually the cover of the prayer booklet), and Father Hamilton also is able to consecrate the Hosts with greater devotion and solemnity. Afterwards, I stay for Blue Army hour, which is quite productive, and conducive to true devotion. The only problem occured to me yesterday.
We say a prayer to Pope John Paul II. While he is almost certainly in Heaven, the prayer
I. States that the Third Secret of Fatima predicted the late Pontiff's attempted assassination. Despite what Cardinal Bertone has told us, this is an obvious lie. We also
II. Praised John Paul the Great for "giving" us his unnecessary Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary, which clearly break with the traditional connection of the Rosary to the psalms, as there are as many Hail Marys in a full, 15-mystery Rosary as psalms in the Book of Psalms.
After Blue Army hour, I asked the opinions of the four others there on the motu propio. Two of them, saintly and prayerful Christians who grew up with the Traditional Roman Rite of the Mass, seemed indifferent. Although they are both conservative, and at times attended a Latin novus ordo said once a month at a local parish [I haven't been, but will see what it's like next Thursday if possible], they held the view that "A Mass is a Mass".

Maybe, but tradition and common sense tell us Holy Masses do more honor to God if they are said with more reverence (and the graces we receive depend even more on our personal devotion). In my humble yet informed opinion, only the very best New Mass will surpass the very worst Traditional Mass, due to the very different nature of the priest's prayers and actions, and also to the extra trouble we Trads usually go to to make the altar truly beautiful and worthy of Christ's renewed, nonviolent sacrifice. To be fair, St. Mary of the Assumption has retained its original, gorgeous altar of white marble (I'll get a picture sometime), but [and Father is quite fanatical about this] the Tabernacle has been pushed over to a nook on the left, and is encased in a relatively less beautiful wooden structure.

We pray that the "outrages and sacrileges" against Our Lord and Our Lady [the latter here being dishonored, along with all women, by the removal of the veil over the Tabernacle. The Remnant wrote a good article on this, but I can't locate it on the internet] will cease. I say we begin at our home parishes!