I’m not going to lie. Nervous Oreos in a room full of trads come off like space aliens. I don’t mean any hate. They’re just full of false narratives, platitudes, and anti-Catholic slogans and they don’t even know it. It’s not their fault. The non-believing sociopathic revolutionaries that created the Novus Ordo created with it these non-Catholic sentiments that sound good, but are built on virtue signaling and false humility. Novus Ordos don’t even know it. They just parrot what they’ve been told.
Addressed today is probably the most egregious stripping away of Catholicity: gestures and postures.
I recently attended a Nervous Oreo and was astonished. I’d not been to this parish before. There was a group of women in the congregation finishing their retreat and all sitting together. The priest processes up the aisle, songsheet in hand, sauntering with the music. Two in the congregation bowed toward him, the retreat women genuflected as he passed, and the other 2/3 of the congregation stood, but otherwise made no motion. This is just the beginning of Mass.
THEY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY’VE LOST
Traditionally, every Catholic genuflected whenever the Incarnation was mentioned (the WORD was made flesh and dwelt among us), both at Mass and during prayer like the Angelus. The Novus Ordo cut out this tradition entirely. If you don’t know the Angelus, look it up. It’s the commemoration of the Incarnation prayed at 6, noon, and 6 every day by Catholics around the world. A number of these pious acts have been completely eliminated, basically reducing Catholic Tradition into Protestant tradition.
For the record, you bow when the priest enters and leaves. Genuflect when sprinkled with holy water during the asperges (something else they cut out of the Novus Ordo.
THINGS MEAN THINGS
Catholics who go to the Novus Ordo often complain that Latin Mass-goers think they’re better or holier. Here’s the raw you-know-what: If you want to be stronger, you do more pushups. If you want to be holier, you offer more prayers and acts of piety toward Christ. Plain and simple. The prayers in the Latin Mass are asking for things the Novus Ordo eliminated. The TLM priest, before ascending the altar, prays prayers to purify his soul and asking to be made worthy to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The priest at the Novus Ordo doesn’t. He’s not washing his hands before dinner, thus his hands/soul is unclean.
Basically, if you don’t ask for it, you’re not going to receive it, and many more things are requested at the TLM than the Novus Ordo. All other things being equal, at the NO, you will receive fewer graces because of the fewer acts of piety, the fewer prayers, and more generic prayers. The propers are eliminated as well (those are the prayers specific to the day, most of which are taken from scripture, and which at the NO have been replaced by hymns that are not so prayerful.
It’s not that TLM goers are better, but they are engaged in greater acts of piety and prayer than Novus Ordo goers. Our Mass is just better. Period. It’s not up to personal preference, and it’s not a matter of whether or not you’re “being fed.” That’s not the point of the Mass. It used to be called “The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass” before the Conciliar Church renamed it “the Mass” or “the Communion Meal”, which is Protestant. The complaints from the Novus Ordo goers of “you think you’re better” smacks of projection, meaning the Novus Ordos goers have a sense of inferiority, but they project it onto the TLMers as being “better than.”
The other part, is TLMers generally tend to live outside of the secular culture. They dress nicer, the women are more modest, swimming attire does not include bikinis, and the young women don’t wear much makeup, especially in Jr High. Leggings and yoga pants are highly frowned upon at social events. There’s a stricter code of conduct. Novus Ordos generally speaking have more worldly culture and don’t even realize it.
It is common to find NOs who do the things that the TLMers don’t. The NO watch the popular shows and movies with inappropriate sexual content, blasphemy, etc.. They send their kids to “Catholic” schools which are only as Catholic as the feminist teachers. Then they send their kids off to university where they come back at Christmas break with tattoos, shaved heads, lost virginity, and/or a homosexual relationship. The parents shake their heads and wonder where they went wrong. The parents aren’t evil, just poorly formed and being eaten alive by the culture.
What to do for your Novus Ordo friends?
Invite them to Mass. Trads are great at this. 8 weeks and they’ll never go back to the Novus Ordo.
Encourage them to buy a Baronius Press 1962 Missal just to have the prayers in preparation for Mass, and the prayers before and after Holy Communion, and encourage them to pray them.
Have the courage to continue those friendships, and the courage to admonish them when they tell you they’re watching those movies and tv shows and living the other aspects of the secular life.