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The Novus Ordo represents, both as a whole and in its details, a striking departure from the Catholic theology of the Mass.
– Cardinals Ottaviani and Bacci, Council Fathers, A Brief Critical Study of the Novus Ordo Missae, September 25, 1969
The Mass developed organically from the night of the Last Supper until 1962, when the last Missal according to the Old Rite was published, although this statement must not obscure the fact that what took place that night itself already had a very ancient ritual history. During these two millennia, the extremely gradual changes that took place were only permitted if they aligned perfectly with the accumulated teaching of the Church, the Deposit of Faith, which itself only developed organically. Most importantly, the development of Church teaching and therefore of the Mass itself strictly followed the principle of non-contradiction, in other words, no new teaching and no element of ritual could be added which contradicted previous teaching.
The Mass is thus not to be seen as a kind of appendix to Church teaching: it is Church teaching, theology in motion. Protestants now tend to think of their Holy Communion rather as a Regiment might look at a regimental parade: important, moving, commemorative, even spectacular, but not really part of the war. This is not the Catholic view: the Mass is the war.
The Protestant Reformers understood this (as do modern reformers such as Cardinal Roche). The exact alignment between the Church’s teaching and her ritual was very striking and universally recognized. Consequently, when they introduced their new ideas, it was obvious to them that their programme required a reorganization and reshaping of their liturgy to match the new doctrine they were proclaiming. Crucially, even the new liturgy which replaced the Mass was decoupled from the ordinary spiritual life of the protestant Christian, for very good reasons: the Mass stood as a rock and beacon of the ideas that they found so objectionable.
The most important Catholic ideas which (in general) Protestants found, and continue to find offensive are:
- That a priest has powers which a layman does not.
- Transubstantiation, since this is effected only by a priest.
- The Mass is a sacrifice. Clearly, if there is no transubstantiation, then the ceremony of the Eucharist is purely commemorative, since there is nothing to sacrifice.
- Purgatory, since this implies the need for confession and absolution by a priest.
- The intercession of saints, including Mary, since this implies that the individual’s faith alone is insufficient.
The Anglican and Lutheran liturgies were developed precisely with these objections in mind. They found, however, that the main Ordinaries—the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, Pater Noster and Agnus Dei—could all be retained without alteration, because nothing in them overtly contradicted their new ideas.
In the 1960s, the Second Vatican Council had the lofty ambition of reuniting Christendom. This new ecumenism focused on finding the common ground with mainstream Protestantism, especially the Lutherans and Anglicans. Naturally this led to a desire to create a liturgy which, without actually contradicting previous Catholic teaching, so far as possible would not contain anything which was overtly offensive to these Protestant denominations. To achieve this, a 50-man Consilium, mostly consisting of bishops, but largely without any liturgical expertise, and led in effect by Fr. (later Archbishop) Bugnini, was set up. Its meetings were chaotic. The documents under discussion were seldom presented more than a few hours in advance to the members, who were then invited to vote by show of hands. They were never told if changes were to be approved by simple or two-thirds majority. No record of the votes was kept and no minutes taken. This shambolic modus operandi left Fr Bugnini with an almost free hand to design the new Mass according to his personal taste.
He took as a basis an architecture which was common to both Catholics and Protestants because it used the Ordinaries listed above which were already acceptable to both. This was the easy part. It was also not hard to introduce changes which, though not explicit in their doctrinal meaning, nevertheless gave a more Protestant-friendly look to the liturgy, most obviously the introduction of the vernacular, the priest facing the laity, removal of altar rails and pulpits and other elements suggestive of a difference between shepherd and flock. More difficult were the details and especially, the Canon, which is the aboriginal DNA of the Mass, and the prefaces leading up to it which contain purely Catholic doctrine. Besides the Ordinaries, the Propers (i.e. the prayers and prefaces which vary from day to day) received a thorough combing through, as well as the Biblical readings. On the pretext of incorporating more scripture into the liturgy – itself a gesture of appeasement to sola scriptura Protestantism – the selection of scriptural readings was now focused away from central Catholic doctrines.
The new missal which emerged in 1969 was approved by Pope Paul VI in a document which he signed without reading. In the end there were hundreds, if not thousands, of changes both large and small, which took place in the space of a few years to alter the Mass which had been developed over centuries. What follows is therefore necessarily only a selection of the present differences between the two expressions of the Roman Rite, which a person who is unfamiliar with the subject may find helpful, especially perhaps the table at the end of this article.
1. The Sense of the Numinous
The English word Holy, and its Latin (sanctus), Greek (hagios) and Hebrew (kadosh) equivalents, all have the same underlying force. At root the word means “set apart.” God is holy because, as the opening to St John’s Gospel puts it, “the Light shineth in the Darkness,” and is not comprehended by it.
This separateness applies to anyone and anything that is intended to be holy. Thus, the altar in a church was placed in its own area, the Sanctuary, separated by an altar rail whose gates could be shut. From the beginning the language used was formal, not everyday, creating a verbal separation; this was true even at the Last Supper itself, where Jesus followed the formalism which, then as now, is associated with the Pasch. The hymn mentioned by St Matthew which Jesus and the Apostles sang after the Last Supper was the Hallel, a group of Psalms sung not in vernacular Aramaic but in Classical Hebrew or Greek at the end of the meal. Over time the language of the Mass naturally became more pointed as the vernacular progressively distanced itself from the language of the liturgy, which remained unchanged.
Vestments also make the point. In the Traditional Mass the Priest dresses himself with six separate vestments (amice, alb, cincture, maniple, stole, and chasuble), each of which he dons with prayers which show their meaning and remind him of his need for personal holiness, and which again create a separation between his everyday life and his action at the Mass.
Lastly, in the Traditional Mass, only the Priest drinks the Precious Blood, a fact which dramatically separates his role from that of the laity.
2. Contemplation and Silence
The Second Vatican Council exhorted the “actuosa participatio” of the laity. This Latin phrase means “engagement” and indicates that the faithful should put their hearts into what was taking place. It does not mean that their participation should be “active” for which the Latin word is “activa.” If this phrase is correctly interpreted, the Traditional Mass comes much nearer to the intentions of the Council than the later Mass. This is noticeable in the many occasions when the laity perform silent gestures which have been abandoned in the New Mass, which are wordless aids to contemplative worship and prayer. Silently, the people kneel at the words in the Creed “and was incarnate…,” the central mystery of the Christian faith. Silently, they bow their heads at every mention of Jesus (at which, during the sermon, the priest lifts his biretta). They beat their breasts at the words in the confession “through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault” and at triple petitions in the Agnus Dei and the Domine non sum dignus. Above all, they kneel silently (they do not say “amen”) to receive the Host on the tongue from the priest’s hands, which are consecrated whereas theirs are not. In this way the people are enabled to become holy themselves, detached from their personal interests and tastes, quite different from the idea that Mass should be entertaining according to the latest fad.
Silence is a feature of the Canon itself, which the priest says so quietly that only the server can hear him. Even at the Canon of the Mass, the elevations of the Host and Chalice are seen by the faithful and marked by a bell, but the words of consecration are not heard. And this silence points to a way of understanding why the vernacular is unnecessary, and why the great missionaries of the world were so successful with the Latin Mass among the native peoples of six continents. The meaning of the words is important, but it is not essential that the people understand them, so long as they perceive in their hearts what is taking place. In this way, they are united, even if they do not understand the Latin or even, in this age of travel, each other. They are not required to speak Latin, as the server makes the responses on their behalf, leaving the faithful free to apply their hearts to what is taking place.
The silence is something else: it is another thing that separates the Priest from the People, in other words it is another manifestation of holiness.
3. Transubstantiation
The Anglicans and Lutherans do believe in the Real Presence of Jesus at communion, but they hold that this is due to their own subjective faith and not to the objective actions of the priest. For them, in the absence of the faithful, the bread is nothing more than bread and therefore, apart from certain catholicized movements, they do not reserve it in a tabernacle. To avoid giving offence to the “separated brethren,” therefore, following the Second Vatican Council the tabernacles were moved away from the high altar. This has an impact on the liturgy; it means that the Priest can face the people, as he is not turning his back on the Body of Christ, and furthermore he does not bow to the tabernacle at the opening of prayers, as he does in the Traditional Mass.
The theology of transubstantiation is much more apparent in the words and actions of the Traditional Mass than in the New Order. Theologically, the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ are fully present in every particle of both the bread and wine once consecrated. Therefore it is unnecessary for the faithful to take Communion in both kinds. Communion in one kind is thus an expression of the doctrine of transubstantiation and avoids the idea that the Mass could be merely (as the separated brethren believe) a dramatic but symbolic re-enactment of the Last Supper.
The Traditional Mass is suffused with consciousness of Transubstantiation. Once he has consecrated the Host, the Priest keeps his index finger and thumb together so that even the tiniest particle cannot fall to the floor. For the same reason he gives Communion directly onto the tongue of the faithful.
In the Traditional Mass, the mystery of Transubstantiation is announced by the words Mysterium Fidei, the Mystery of Faith. They appear during the words of consecration uttered by the Priest over the Chalice, in the midst of the words of Jesus himself “For this is the chalice of my blood of the new and eternal Testament.” Possibly these words were originally announced by the Deacon to the people, while the priest continued “which is poured for you and for many for the remission of sins.” But in those days priests said Mass every day, often alone, so these words became their own. And there they are, proclaiming the central mystery of the Mass. However, in the Novus Ordo the words “the Mystery of Faith” have been moved to after the consecration, and the people give them a new meaning by affirming a truth which Protestants too accept, that “We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again.” A beautiful truth: but not the central mystery of the Mass.
4. Sacrifice and Temple Theology
The doctrine of Transubstantiation does not teach that Jesus is merely present in a spiritual sense: it teaches that His body, blood, soul and divinity are present on the altar and are being offered there in sacrifice. Luther and the other Reformers asked how this could be possible, if He offered “one sacrifice for sins” and with “one oblation he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified” (Hebrews 10) at Golgotha? Article XXXI of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer states succinctly what all mainstream Protestants believe to this day, that “The offering of Christ, once made (i.e. made once), is the perfect redemption, propitiation, and satisfaction for all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual, and there is none other satisfaction for sin but that alone. Wherefore the sacrifices of Masses, in the which it was commonly said that the priests did offer Christ for the quick (i.e. living) and the dead to have remission of pain or guilt, were blasphemous fables and dangerous deceits.”
The Catholic answer is that the Sacrifice of the Mass is not a repetition but a perpetuated offering of the sacrifice on the Cross, since God stands outside time. Each Sacrifice at the Mass is united to all Sacrifices of the Mass, which are themselves all united to the Sacrifice on Calvary and indeed to the Sacrifice that takes place in Heaven, as revealed to St John in his Revelation of the Apocalypse. The twice-daily sacrifices of the Temple which Jesus witnessed during his life, were burned on the altar in such a way that the odour of sacrifice never ceased. They prefigured the sacrifice on the Cross and this fact is illustrated clearly in the language and structure of the Traditional Mass, though it is now barely visible in the Novus Ordo. It is worth elaborating this point.
The Temple layout indicated the cosmic significance of God’s presence within it and the unending sacrifice to Him that took place there. The First Temple had copied the layout of the Tabernacle set up by Moses on Mount Sinai, which was built over six days (Exodus 40), beginning on the first day of the first month, and each stage of its construction represented a day of creation. The veil of the Tabernacle, which was reproduced in both Solomon’s and Herod’s Temples, represented the firmament which separated all that had been created on the First Day from all that was created thereafter. So everything beyond the veil represented what was beyond the visible world and beyond time.
The layout of the Temple allowed for an ever-narrower category of persons to approach the Holy of Holies. Outside it, of course, was the whole world. Anyone who wished to approach the Temple would climb the “Holy Hill.” Reaching the top, the visitor would encounter a series of enclosures. The outermost, open to all, was the Court of the Gentiles, an open-air area surrounded by a colonnade, Solomon’s Portico. It was here that money-changers plied a trade, enabling Jews from abroad to buy the currency necessary to pay tribute to the Temple or to purchase sacrifices.
The grand gateway to the Gentiles’ Court was on the east side of the Temple Mount. Entering this way you would come through the Beautiful Gate to the Women’s Court, open only to Jews, including women. It was here that Mary and Joseph presented Jesus to the Temple and here that they found him teaching among the doctors. From here, the Nicanor Gate led to the Men’s Court, then the Priests’ Court where the altar stood, and finally, behind the Veil, the Holy of Holies.
The Altar was huge and upon it sacrifices burned ceaselessly night and day. Twice a day lambs were sacrificed; but other animals as well as meal and wine were offered, some to be entirely burned up, some to be consumed by the priests and the faithful. At Passover thousands of lambs were sacrificed on a single day. The smell of burning flesh rose over Jerusalem as a continuous presence – a “sweet savour to the Almighty.”
The theology of the Traditional Mass preserves this ancient Temple cult, both in the layout of the church, and in the structure and details of the liturgy. Anyone, regardless of faith, may enter a church as formerly they could go into the Court of the Gentiles. The restriction of the Court of the Women was formerly represented liturgically rather than spatially by the Mass of the Catechumens, which ends before the Canon. At that point the unbaptized faithful were compelled to leave and the doors were locked, for the most sacred part of the rite. The Men’s Court is represented spatially by the Sanctuary, where only priests and male servers are allowed during the liturgy. The Priest’s Court is again represented liturgically rather than spatially by the Canon, which effects the sacrifice that has replaced that of the Temple, and which only he can perform. Before him, as in the Temple, stands what is still called the Tabernacle, in which dwells the living God.
All this is done away with under the new dispensation. The Sanctuary is no longer distinguishable from the rest of the church, as there is no communion rail. Indeed, often the Altar is placed so that people can sit round it. Enthusiastic volunteers, men, women, boys and girls, throng the place which used to be considered proper only for dedicated servers and deacons. The Tabernacle is seldom anywhere near the altar – usually in a side chapel. And all this is done in order to reassure the separated brethren that the Mass is not a separate sacrifice from that of Calvary.
5. The Communion of Saints
In the Protestant view, all those who have faith are saints and proceed directly to Heaven when they die. Once there, they are unaware of events in Earth. Perhaps they pray for us but it is pointless to invoke them, because they cannot hear us, and potentially blasphemous to venerate them. For this reason, the designers of the new liturgy sought to reduce the references to saints as much as possible, mindful however of the fact that they would alienate Catholics if they abolished such references altogether. However, the new reformers successfully removed references to saints from the annex to the Lord’s Prayer, known as the embolism “Libera nos” which follows the Pater Noster. They abolished the prayer to the Holy Trinity in honour of the saints. They also reduced references to saints or made them optional in the Confession, the prayer Nobis quoque and the prayer Communicantes which comes immediately before the Consecration.
6. The Powers and Holiness of the Priesthood
Mainstream Protestants accept that ministers of religion receive special graces at ordination, but no special powers. On this view, there is (in general) nothing that they can do which any other faithful Christian cannot. This thinking has vital implications for the Mass and Fr Bugnini was very keen to make the differences between priest and people as invisible as possible. In the name of simplicity, numerous vestments of the Priest were combined into a convenient all-in-one garment, donned without ceremony.
To create, spacially, the feeling that the Priest is merely one among equals, “a priesthood of all believers” engaged in a common project, he was placed behind the altar, now often called the “table,” facing the people. The moment in the Traditional Mass when he physically turns round with the words “orate fratres” dramatically illustrates the difference between him and his flock; not in the Novus Ordo! Communion in both kinds is no longer for the priest alone, and apart from the gospel itself the readings can be done by anyone. Pulpits are removed, so that the sermon looks more like a friendly talk among equals.
Strikingly, the priest now confesses jointly with the people and instead of absolving them offers a pious prayer for forgiveness for all present, the same prayer that in the Tridentine Mass the server offers for him. The Mass no longer commences with a symbolic move away from the people from the foot of the altar to the altar itself. His physical actions relating to the consecration are curtailed, from 25 crossings of the species, to only one, from multiple genuflections to one.
Furthermore, since the implications of the liturgical reforms extend to everything the Church does, priests have taken to dressing more and more like the laity when not actually celebrating Mass. Cassocks have become so rare that priests get reprimanded for “clericalism” if they wear them. But even modern clerical dress is seen less and less frequently, so that priests can mix among the laity as if they were not priests. This does nothing to help them with their obligation to live chastely and soberly. The concept of a priest as sacerdos in aeternum is being eroded and there are increasing calls for priests to be allowed to marry, even from some conservatives who are alarmed by the manifestation of homosexuality among the clergy. This is to ignore the importance for holiness of a priesthood separated from the lay life, since marriage necessarily implies dating, flirting and all that may lead to it.
All of which brings us back full circle to the connection between the sense of separation and the Numinous. In 167 BC the Greek Seleucid Antiochus IV interrupted the twice daily sacrifice in the Temple and replaced it with his own idea of what would be acceptable to the cosmopolitan culture from which he arose. The horrified prophet Daniel exclaimed: “Behold, the abomination of desolation, standing where it ought not.” Not every Novus Ordo Mass could be characterised in this way, but some undoubtedly could, for the door has been left open. By contrast, in the Traditional Latin Mass, the door to the Holy of Holies remains firmly locked to impious practices. The Traditional Mass is a safeguard and an insurance policy, that the Mass will be recognizable, uniform, dignified and valid. It converts hearts; this was the Mass which, without the vernacular, swept the indigenous peoples of the world into the Church. Its demise has coincided with the greatest collapse in Church attendance in history.
TABLE OF IMPORTANT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TRADITIONAL AND MODERN MASS
| TRADITIONAL MASS | NEW ORDER OF MASS | |
| PRAYERS AT FOOT OF ALTAR | Psalm 42, Judica | All the Prayers at the foot of the altar are abolished, to erase implication that one part of the Church is more holy than another. Judica was unacceptable to Protestants due to its reference to the Altar of God. Replaced with greeting after Priest goes straight to altar and kisses it. |
| Priest’s confession (identical to people’s confession below except “you my brethren” is substituted for “you father”) | Abolished, to avoid suggestion that priest is different from people | |
| Prayer by people for the priest to be pardoned | Abolished, to avoid suggestion that priest needs to be more holy. The priest instead prays this prayer for himself and for all. | |
| People’s confession to God, Mary, Michael, John the Baptist, Peter, Paul, all the saints and the Priest | Priest joins people. Confession is made to God and each other, not to Mary, nor to Michael, John the Baptist, Peter, Paul, the saints or the Priest, to avoid offence to Protestants. Mary, the Angels and saints are asked merely to intercede. | |
| Prayer by priest for people to be pardoned | Abolished, to avoid suggestion of priest’s powers | |
| Absolution | Abolished for same reason | |
| Completion of prayers at foot of the altar | Abolished | |
| PRIEST GOES UP TO ALTAR (aufer a nobis) | Prayer aufer a nobis for worthiness to enter Holy of Holies | Abolished, as the concept of holy spaces is already abandoned and the prayer refers to the priest’s role as sacrificer |
| Oramus te Domine | Priest kisses altar and invokes saints whose relics are contained therein | Abolished, as often there are no relics |
| KYRIE | 3 X 3 invocation. Together the 9 invocations are symbolically united with the 9 choirs of Heaven | 2 X 3 invocation. The symbolism of unity with the Heavenly Host, uncomfortable for Protestants, is lost. |
| GLORIA | No change, except that the gestures (bowing at mentions of worship, Jesus, prayer, and sign of the cross at end) have ceased | |
| COLLECT | Collects have accrued over centuries | Collects toned down to avoid offence |
| EPISTLE | Epistle selection has grown organically over time, reflecting the wisdom of the Church | Epistles have been chosen which de-emphasise hard sayings about judgment, sacrifice, sin, Hell and salvation within the church alone. |
| GOSPEL | Priest prays for worthiness to read Gospel. A gradual is sung while the Gospel is transferred to the North to be read, emblematic of the light shining in the darkness | Priest’s prayers for worthiness abbreviated. The Gospel is read from a podium or lectern (ambo), so there is no gradual. |
| SERMON | From pulpit if there is one, in which case the priest removes his maniple and usually also the chasuble and maniple prior to the sermon. | Pulpit has been removed to blur distinction between Priest and People, and the lectern (ambo) is used instead. The Priest is not wearing a maniple anyway and rarely if ever removes the chasuble. |
| CREED | Unchanged. However the custom of Kneeling at the Incarnatus, begun by St. Louis IX, has been replaced with a bow, and that of bowing at references to Jesus and Worship has disappeared. | |
| OFFERTORY Offering of Host | Suscipe, Sancte Pater referring to “spotless Host” offered by priest for himself and faithful both living and dead Deus, qui humanae | “fruit of the earth and work of human hands” becomes “bread of life” in ways unexplained. |
| Offering of Chalice | Offerimus tibi, Domine referring to “Chalice of Salvation” In spiritu humilitatis Veni, sanctificator | “fruit of the vine and work of human hands” becomes “spiritual drink” in ways unexplained. |
| LAVABO | Long prayer for worthiness and purity | Replaced by “Wash me O Lord from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” |
| PRAYER TO THE HOLY TRINITY | Priest offers the Oblation to the Holy Trinity in honour of Mary, John the Baptist, Peter and Paul and the Saints | Abolished, since it is offensive to Protestants |
| ORATE FRATRES | The people’s response calls the Mass a Sacrifice. | Unchanged. Proposal to abolish both the Orate Fratres and the people’s response was reversed after resistance at the 1967 Synod |
| SECRET | The Secrets vary. Where they contain sacrificial language, they have been watered down in the New Order | |
| PREFACE | Prefaces vary. The New Order prefaces often lay emphasis on matters of ecumenical interest. | |
| SANCTUS AND BENEDICTUS | Unchanged apart from custom of Sign of Cross at Benedictus | |
| CANON | opening | Unchanged, but old Canon is one option of four |
| Commemoration of the living | Unchanged | |
| Communicantes | Unchanged but most saints are optional | |
| Hanc Igitur, bell rung once | Unchanged, no bell | |
| Quam Oblationem | Not obviously an act of consecration. The words “consecrate” and “perfect” are replaced by “acknowledge” and “spiritual.” The Five signs of the Cross omitted. | |
| Consecration of the Host | No change | |
| Consecration of the wine | The words “as often as you do these things” are omitted before “do this in memory of me”. The effect is to emphasize the memorial nature of the consecration. The words “Mystery of Faith” are placed after instead of during the words of consecration, where they had directly referred to the mystery of Transubstantiation, and are instead explained by a new phrase such as “We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again.” | |
| Commemoration of the Dead | No change | |
| Nobis quoque peccatoribus (phrase spoken aloud) | Everything is spoken aloud. The post apostolic saints are optional | |
| PATER NOSTER With Libera nos | Said by priest alone except for final phrase | Said by all together, to emphasise priesthood of all believers. The invocation of Mary, Peter, Paul, Andrew and all the Saints is omitted in the Libera nos. This is because among Protestants, this is interpolated into what they consider to be part of the Lord’s Prayer, so they are even more likely to be offended by invocations of saints here than elsewhere. |
| PAX | A brief verbal exchange | After the verbal exchange, the Priest calls on all present to offer one another a sign of peace, followed by the physical shaking of hands or embrace. |
| COMMINGLING OF BODY AND BLOOD | Haec commixtio prayer | Retained without the word “consecrated” |
| AGNUS DEI | The prayers which follow have been truncated and omit two references to the Holy Trinity | |
| COMMUNION | First the Priest takes Communion with a series of prayers to overcome his unworthiness | One of three said aloud, Domine Iesu Christe retained, the third abolished. |
| Ecce Agnus Dei | The response “Lord I am not worthy” is said only once, so that the triple strike of the breast has naturally disappeared. The Priest consumes the Host and immediately administers it to the people. | |
| Communion of the people kneeling, on the tongue, Host only. The priest prays that the Host will keep the faithful soul to everlasting life and says Amen, the people are silent. | (Usually) Communion standing, on the hand (to blur distinction between priest and people), Host followed by Chalice. The priest says “the Body of Christ” without explanation and it is the people who say “Amen,” to indicate the co-operation of their faith, a gesture towards the Lutheran understanding of Consubstantiation. | |
| ABLUTION | Prayer Quod ore refers to Real Presence | It was abolished but restored, as not offensive to Protestant doctrine of Consubstantiation |
| COMMUNION VERSE | Abolished, or replaced with a verse of a psalm | |
| POSTCOMMUNION PRAYER | The modern postcommunion prayers have been tailored to suit ecumenical considerations. | |
| PLACEAT TIBI | Abolished. It is totally unacceptable to Protestants as it clearly labels the Mass as a sacrifice | |
| BLESSING AND DISMISSAL | First, “Ite Missa est” then blessing. | First, Blessing, then “Go the Mass is ended” |
| LAST GOSPEL | John Chapter 1 | Abolished. The association of the Johannine Incarnation narrative with the Mass was felt to make Protestants uncomfortable, since it attributes to the Mass a cosmic rather than memorial meaning. |
| PRAYERS AFTER LOW MASS | Ave Maria Salve Regina, Sancte Michael, Cor Jesu | Abolished |
