Celebrating Ten Years
of the
Traditional Roman Rite
at
Holy Trinity German Church,
Low Sunday, April 30, 2000

On this Sunday ten years ago, the traditional Roman rite returned to Holy Trinity Church and to the Archdiocese of Boston. A group of Catholic laymen called the Bishop Cheverus Society had, in 1988, petitioned Bernard Cardinal Law for a Tridentine Mass in the Boston area. Two years later Cardinal Law granted such an indult and assigned the place of celebration to be Holy Trinity German Church. Holy Trinity saw its first indult Mass on Low Sunday, April 22, 1990, and has hosted a Latin Mass each Sunday and on most holy days of obligation ever since. In the process, a growing Latin Mass community has been grateful to call Holy Trinity home.

To commemorate this special event, a Solemn High Mass is being offered to God in honor of the saints and in thanksgiving for His untold benefits. It may be surprising to learn that the Solemn High is actually the oldest and most basic form of Mass: other variations, such as the Low Mass and the Missa cantata, are later additions made for the sake of expediency. The Solemn High most vividly encapsulates the "cumulative" character of every Mass. Just as all true sacrifices since the founding of the world are subsumed in the one Sacrifice of the Cross, so too are they ritually represented in the Solemn High. The office of deacon and subdeacon are of special note in this regard. The deacon, who wears the dalmatic, a symbol of joy, is ever at the priest's side assisting him. Just as the priest represents Christ, the deacon can be said to represent the Apostle John, who lay on His master's breast during the Last Supper and stood faithfully at the foot of the Cross. (The diaconate, which stretches back to apostolic times, is also reminiscent of the assistants to the high priest in the Holy Temple.) The subdeacon, on the other hand, wears a tunic and assumes a role that hearkens back to the Passover ritual. The humeral veil he wears while holding the paten, for example, is akin to the prayer shawl once worn by the young man who held the holy bread at the Seder meal. The subdiaconate was one of the three Major orders in the Roman rite (after the priesthood and diaconate) from the 200s until its abolition in the late 1960s. The role of subdeacon at Mass, however, may also be performed by a layman.

The Solemn High Mass also contains the ceremonial kiss of peace, which is communicated from the celebrant (who has just venerated the altar near the Host), through the deacon and subdeacon, to the servers and/or congregation. The traditional Roman kiss is therefore the perfect symbol of how true peace is mediated only through the Church's sacraments, hierarchy, and faithful.

Happily, our rejoicing this afternoon is made on a day of manifold celebration. Today is the day that a doubting Thomas became the first disciple to explicitly proclaim Christ's divinity with the famous words, "My Lord and my God." It is the day that Christian initiates of old put aside the white garments they had been wearing since their baptism on Holy Saturday (the Latin name for this Sunday, Dominica in albis deponendis, comes from this practice). And it is the great day that completes the Church's Paschal celebration, the last day to fulfill the Easter obligation (hence the English name Low Sunday as a contrast to the high mark of Easter). Little wonder, then, that the Church Fathers considered this the most privileged Octave-Day of the year.

Today is also the day, according to the testimony of Sr. Faustina Kowalska (who was canonized earlier this morning by Pope John Paul II, making her the first saint of the new millennium-- another cause for celebration), that our Lord wishes to be celebrated as the Feast of Divine Mercy. Jesus told St. Faustina that anyone who goes to confession and receives Holy Communion today will be released of all sin and punishment. Moreover, He intimated to her that such a feast was already an implicit part of the Tradition concerning this day (Diary, 340). Today's Mass propers help us see how. One of their most striking images is Thomas' description of how he would like to insert his whole hand into Christ's lanced side (Gospel). This was the wound from which flowed blood and water, symbols of the sacraments of the Eucharist and Baptism (Epistle), God's preeminent signs of mercy and our means of "overcoming the world" (ibid.). It is also the wound closest to Christ's heart, fount of the oceans of mercy from which we, like helpless babes, take our sustenance (Introit). Significantly, all of this is dramatized in St. Faustina's Image of Divine Mercy. The wounded side of the risen Christ, and Thomas' reaction to it, remind us most poignantly of the extent of God's merciful love.

As newborn babes, alleluia, desire without guile the rational milk, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. Ps. Rejoice to God our helper: sing aloud to the God of Jacob. V. Glory to the Father.

Quasi modo geniti infantes, alleluia: rationabiles, sine dolo lac concupiscite, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. Ps. Exsultate Deo adjutori nostro: jubilate Deo Jacob. V. Gloria Patri.

Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God, that we who have completed the paschal feasts may by Thy bounty keep it in life and in conduct. Through our Lord Jesus Christ who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.

Praesta, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus: ut, qui paschalia festa peregrinus haec, te largiente, moribus et vita teneamus. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christ-um qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.