Since our article criticizing the Life Teen Mass was posted we have had a surprising amount of responses, mostly from those involved with the Life Teen Mass.  While some have mentioned how much inspiration they receive by this style of liturgy, none have really addressed the fundamental reason for my criticism.  I suspect this is simply because there is no defense for open rebellion against the magisterial authority of the Church.  Although this letter was originally intended for one young man, due to the responses, we have decided to make this an open letter to all involved with Life Teen.

Dear Life Teens,

With heartfelt concern I would like to give you my own reasons why the “lively” Teen Mass is inappropriate.  The feel good songs of praise, the tambourine shaking and the hooting and hollering is well and good in another setting outside of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  The reason is this.  There is an extremely poor understanding of the Theology of the Mass, of knowing what exactly takes place at every Mass.  If every Catholic understood, the Church itself would be transformed.

Every time you enter into a Catholic Church and prepare yourself for the Sacrifice, you leave the world behind and enter into Calvary.  Time stands still and you are no longer in 2001 for the Mass is “other worldly”.  This is a mystery that you are not meant to understand but it makes this truth no less a reality.  You are present with Jesus and the Apostles in the upper room.  Jesus is getting ready to spill out His blood for your sins.  He is getting ready to suffer.  This was not a “happy” time for Him.  You are one of the apostles sitting at the table with Him.  You feel Christ’s sadness, see His distress, are ready to go to the garden, to pray and to watch with Him.

After that you begin to walk the road to Calvary.  And if you are one of the brave ones, as Christ’s Mother, St. John the Beloved, and St. Mary Magdalene was, you will walk the way with Christ and stand beneath the cross and see His blood spilled and His Life poured out for you alone.  We’ve often heard that if we were the only one in the world, Christ would’ve died for me.  This is a personal thing.  At Mass these realities should be every present to everyone there.  When the focus is on feeling good and having a good time we forget that Jesus is getting ready to shed His blood and our sins are what put Him on the cross.

If Jesus were to come in the clouds today or were to show up in your living room I don’t believe that you would play some “happening” music or shake your tambourine.  In Revelations St. John saw the “Lamb looking as if slain” and St. John “fell down as if dead”.  We too would fall down on our faces and cry, “Have mercy!”  We have an extremely poor understanding of the ugliness of every sin in comparison with the beauty of God and therefore we consider ourselves somewhat “worthy” of this redemption thing so we have no true fear of the Lord or appreciation for what actually took place on Calvary.  One tiny venial sin is so incompatible with the complete goodness of God that our tiny minds cannot fathom how ugly our souls must be compared to the perfection of Christ.  When we make the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass a “feel good” thing we take the emphasis off Christ and put it on ourselves.  One could easily say the Mass becomes a “self-worship” thing  instead of true worship of the Living God.  All our attention should be on God and absolutely nothing should bring attention to ourselves.  I say come down off that altar where no one belongs but the Priest who represents Christ, the great High Priest, fall down on your face and make reparation for your sins.  “A contrite heart, O God, you will not spurn”.

Hopefully you will better understand what takes place in every Mass.  If you love to sing songs of praise and dance to the Lord that is a wonderful thing.  But we must also be willing to forget ourselves, unite ourselves to Christ’s sacrifice and enter into the mysteries of our salvation.  We must go to Calvary at Mass, prepare our hearts to receive him by confessing our sins to a priest often and by spending much time in quiet prayer before receiving our Lord sacramentally in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  The Mass is primarily a Sacrifice and we can never lose sight of this fact lest our celebrations become “love feasts” with ourselves.  None of us would’ve been dancing in the aisles at the Last Supper.  Nor should we be at Mass.

In Christ’s love Your sister in Him,