22 August 2009

Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Let us come with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and may find grace in seasonable aid. (Psalm) My heart hath uttered a good word: I speak my works to the King. Glory be to the Father... Let us come...

One of my least favorite parts of the modern liturgical reforms (or deforms) is the shuffling of the liturgical calendar, and today we have another example of that. On the new calendar today's feast has been replaced by the queenship of Mary, which used to be celebrated on May 31, which is now the Visitation, which used to be July 2; the Immaculate Heart meanwhile has been moved to sometime in June and even the motherhood of Mary, which used to be October 11, is now celebrated on January 1 in place of the feast of the circumcision of our Lord.

Did the good of the Church "genuinely and certainly require" such innovations? Did they "grow organically from forms already existing"? It would seem not.

Vatican II, Sacrosanctum concilium (Constitution On the Sacred Liturgy), 23
: "Finally, there must be no innovations unless the good of the Church genuinely and certainly requires them; and care must be taken that any new forms adopted should in some way grow organically from forms already existing."

1 comment:

Jake said...

I don't know why the calendar was changed, but what they did doesn't make much sense to me either.