Henry Walker is inspired by the number of young people attending the Traditional Mass
I looked around the Church, a place which had happily become a second home of sorts. Over the years many of the once unfamiliar faces had become regular features in my life and I was grateful for them all. But this time, as I gazed around the crowd, something struck me; something that has been a pleasant revelation since I had wandered into a Mass in the Extraordinary Form...
The Church seemed to be crammed full of young people like myself, it appeared vibrant, growing, new faces in the pews, young and old; each at different stages of their spiritual life, irrespective of age. The youngsters weren’t there to pay any empty lip service, or out of a custom, and they weren’t young enough – or so inclined – to have been dragged along by their parents or spouses!
They were present to worship God, in a form which they had taken on as their own, unique to only them; devotees of a tradition far too old and rare to have been embraced without a firm desire for it. They stand as a contradiction, an unpleasant disruption from the normal decline; ones who bear witness that the Mass of Ages can be both universal and unique: simultaneously ancient and timeless!
These youthful souls are the result of a silent and under-reported evangelization, largely a fruit of Summorum Pontificum, and the - relatively - widespread availability of the Traditional Latin Mass which resulted from it. As well as penning the apostolic letter just mentioned, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of a “silent apostasy…” a gradual falling away of monumental proportions. I now see evidence of a “silent evangelization” emerging, admittedly small, but budding, with a long-overdue summer in sight!
These young people are passionate, dedicated, and inflamed with a new love for the Old Mass, a Mass which many of their forefathers had both lived and died for, a phenomenon in this age that often seems unique to "traditional" parishes. It cannot be argued – as it often is – that the Usus Antiquior is a relic of the past, only made available for elderly folk who can’t shake off the remembrance of the past. The Mass of Ages is a gem that has been seized upon by a multitude of previously lost Catholics, who perhaps may even be converts, coming from families not at all inclined to religious practices.
"I brought my parents along once, they didn’t understand..." Similar sentiments as these were expressed to me by a bright-eyed young man at a gathering for young Catholics, where the Latin Mass was the point of common focus. He told me of how his own conversion was encouraged by the Latin Mass, and how his heart had been swept away with it; he even unveiled that his parents did not at all consent to this change. He was a normal man, in his early twenties. There was nothing different or "extraordinary" about him, yet this version of the Mass had awakened in him a lively Faith, and a total conversion of life. His story sounded familiar, it reminded me of my own, and many others which I have heard along the way…
"Your parents weren’t religious?" my confused friends often ask.
"No. They are now, but I was the first of the family to begin practising.
Their expression upon hearing this exudes confusion, as such a reality falls so far outside their frame of reference. In the modern era, religion is viewed as an unfortunate custom that you carry forward like a burden, if you are unlucky enough to be brought into the world by parents not yet free from its shackles. This could not be further from the truth in the young hearts which make up the small yet growing movement dedicated to the "Old Rite", the Mass of Ages, and we are convinced it is the most beautiful thing this side of heaven.
My own experience leads me to write this article... Finding the "Extraordinary Form" quickly changed my life and deepened the comparatively little Faith which I had already been graced with. I only hope that this movement will continue to grow, and will mutually foster support and understanding within all sections of the Universal Church, which gave us this treasure, and especially in this troublesome time; to this Church we owe our deepest gratitude and singular allegiance.