STOP THEM AT THE ALTAR RAIL

Do Not Look in Eyes of Priest

Richard Salbato

When you first read the title of this Newsletter, you will think this is a stupid subject for an article, but it is not. You have to go back in history to the start of all our problems with the Liturgy of the Mass since Vatican II, What many do not know is that long before Vatican II, there were heretics who infiltrated the Church from Communists and Masons, who wanted to destroy faith in the Liturgy (the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist), because that is the heart of the faith. They started by taking little steps of irreverence and promoting these things around the world. They wrote books changing the meanings of Transubstantiation by promoting books like Christ among Us and sending these out to the Seminaries. They then promoted Pluralism (the heresy that all religions are equal) as part of their plan to destroy or transform the Church.

One very small thing but not without great importance was the teaching in the Seminaries before 1966 that priest never look into the eyes of communicants but only at Christ in the Eucharist they were passing out. Now priests are taught to look into the eyes of communicants and smile, distracting the communicant from worshiping the God they are receiving.

Their ultimate goal was to change worship of God in the Eucharist to worship of each other. To do this they planed to take step by step to:

First: remove the Altar Rail, (See my article Stop Them At The Altar Rail )

Second, lower the altar and change it to a table, (At one time all altars were seven steps high)

Third, crowd the altar with lay men and women, (At one time not even an Emperor was allowed)

Forth, have lay men and women help in the Mass, (At one time only Deacons and Altar boys could help the priest)

Fifth, move the altar to the center of the pews so that people would be looking at each other instead of God in the Eucharist, (I have seen this happen in San Juan Capistrano, but Rome made them shut is down.)

Sixth, stop all physical reverence. (This means kneeling and praying and silence)

These movements prompted Pope John XXIII to call together Vatican II to address these heresies and to promote the Ecumenical Movement to bring back heretics (that we would now call separated brethren). During the Council many Bishops voiced their desire to have more regional control over their territory and less direct control from Rome. Theologically this could not be done on three things, which are the exclusive jurisdiction of Rome: Faith, Morals, and Sacraments.

However, they did form National Councils of Bishops in countries for the sole purpose of working out Ecumenical movements (methods of dialoging with non-Catholics). And so in 1966 the NCCBs (National Council of Catholic Bishops) was born.

During Vatican II, in a secret meeting, 11 English Speaking Nations got together and formed the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL).

They convinced Rome to let them come up with an English translation from the Latin of the New Mass, which Rome would approve after they were done. However, right after their so-called liturgists came up with the inaccurate (and divisive) translation of the Mass that weve had to endure, they published Missals and instigated the new translation without Romes approval.

They made the Mass sound bland and casual instead of what its supposed to be: sacred. But these liturgists have been in charge of the translation of the Mass for decades, without Rome approval. They have caused bitter and highly unnecessary divisions in our Church.

Without approval of Rome, and even without the knowledge of Rome until after implemented these liturgists, mostly lay people, have:

� Turned altars around so that the priest faces the people;

� Turned the altar into a table instead of a sacred altar

� Lowered the steps of the altar to almost the level of the people.

� Ripped down Communion rails;

� Moved lay people, men, women and choirs onto the altar

� Removed scarves off the heads of women

� Removed the Tabernacle from the center of the Church

� Removed statues and other signs of architectural reverence

� Used Extraordinary Ministers as Eucharistic Ministers

� Eliminated much of the physical reverence of kneeling and bowing

� Communion in the hand

� Distributed Communion standing, rather than kneeling;

� Latin outlawed in the Mass;

� The liturgy took second place to what they called social justice;

� Christs humanity took first place over reverence for the divinity of Christ, and there was a shift in emphasis from a vertical relationship with God to a more horizontal relationship to God in the community;

� Perhaps most important for average churchgoers, everyone became priests, diminishing the importance of real priests.

None of these changes originated from Rome where they should have, even if Rome later capitulated.

On the other hand, there were traditionalists most notably the Society of St. Pius X, which was founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. The traditionalists had many complaints about the New Mass some valid, some not-so-valid. And I have addressed the valid and not valid in my Newsletter - The Old Latin Mass

Over the years I have addressed the abuses by parishes and bishops in Newsletters over the past 20 years - Catholic Rights and Obligations - Kneeling For Communion - Stop Them At The Altar Rail - The Cookie Jar - Facing God

The Reform of the Reform

The reform of the reform began in earnest in a secret Vatican meeting in 1997 called together by Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Ratzinger and a handpicked small group of men who in two weeks undid the work that had taken dozens of years for ICEL to mess up.

Earlier Cardinal Ratzinger had complained of the decentralization of liturgical decision-making. of fundamental innovations- and that innovation was a new independent authority for national conferences of bishops.

The first thing that Pope John Paul II did after this meeting was to clip the wings and authority of the national conferences, and most especially the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The first thing he did was to publically say that they had no authority whatsoever.

He next had experts investigate Pope Paul VI and the suppression of the Tridentine Mass and he found that he never suppressed the Mass, but just made the NO the prime and the TM the extraordinary.

He then ordered that no Bishop anywhere in the world could deny a priest the choice of offering the Tridentine Mass and that if even a small amount of people in a parish wanted the Tridentine Mass, it must be offered at least once a week.

He recommended restoration of kneeling, genuflecting, bowing or even lying prostrate on the floor as gestures that express making ourselves small before God.

Conferences not under control of the Vatican, have essentially been supplanted by the Vatican, with revised statutes and new personnel to be more in line with Vatican wishes and the 2001 Vatican document, Liturgiam Authenticam.

John Paul II declared the English Translation of the Mass null and void, and that without input from these bishops it would do the English Translation itself.

Next he ordered immediate changes to the NO in Redemptionis Sacramentum where he insists that abuses stop immediately like Extraordinary Ministers and running around the church shaking hands. But as I pointed out in a Newsletter eight years ago, these bishops did not obey anything in this document: Redemptionis Sacramentum and Clergy Obedience

In late January, Vox Clara released a statement saying its work on a new English translation of the Roman Missal, the book of prayers used at Mass, was nearly complete and must be implemented. Rome is even going to pick its own publishers and distribute its own Missals and Sacramentaries.

Rome has set out to correct the mistakes in the translation so that the Church will not be torn apart over something as simple as a bad translation. The new translation is already in Rome s hands, and it may give it final approval at any time to be used in the entire English-speaking world.

Rome has spoken. The matter is finished.

Why was this so important to the last five popes?

The temple was the most sacred place for the Jews of the Old Testament since it housed the ark of the covenant and was the place where the priest offered sacrifice (the blood of goats and bulls) for the atonement of the peoples' sins (Hebrews 9:3-5). Thus, the Old Testament Scriptures report: "The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place beneath the wings of the cherubim in the sanctuary, the holy of holies of the temple" (1 Kgs. 8:6).

All of this was a foreshadowing of the New Covenant and the sacrifice made by Christ "the high priest . . . once and for all . . . not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood" which "achieved eternal redemption " (Heb. 9:11-12). It was a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ who "remains forever" and of his "priesthood which does not pass away" as it is eternally celebrated by the Church in the Eucharist (Heb. 7:24). And the new "holy of holies" is the tabernacle of the Catholic Church where the Real Presence of Jesus Christ is reserved under the appearance of bread.

Now, the Book of Daniel states about the Antichrist during the end times that "Armed forces shall move at his command and defile the sanctuary stronghold, abolishing the daily sacrifice and setting up the horrible abomination" (Dan. 11:31). The reason why the reader knows that Daniel is speaking about the end times and the Antichrist is because Jesus Himself refers to this passage when He states: "When you see the abominable and destructive thing which the prophet Daniel foretold standing on holy ground (let the reader take note!), those in Judea must flee to the mountains" (Mt. 26:15-16). And also St. Paul states:

On the question of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . Let no one seduce you . . . Since the mass apostasy has not yet occurred nor the man of lawlessness been revealed--that son of perdition and adversary who exalts himself above every so-called god proposed for worship, he who seats himself in God's temple and even declares himself to be God. . . " (2 Thes. 2:3-4).

Consequently, it was thought that during the end times, the Antichrist will take over the Jewish temple and replace the Ark of the Covenant with an image of himself to be adored.

While this may occur in the end times, it is probably not the primary and proper meaning of the abomination of the "holy of holies." When the Author of Hebrews speaks about the inner and "outer tabernacle" and the Jewish high priest who used to enter the inner tabernacle called the "holy of holies" (Heb. 9: 3-6), he states: "but only the high priest went into the inner one, and that but once a year, with the blood which he offered for himself and for the sins of the people" (Heb. 9:7). The Jews, therefore, only sacrificed for sins in the "holy of holies" on a yearly basis at the temple -- not on a daily basis. Once more, the Jewish yearly temple sacrifice ended with the destruction of the Jewish temple in 70 AD shortly after the death of Jesus. So, because the Scriptures state that the Antichrist will abolish the "daily sacrifice" on "holy ground," this Scriptural passage is more likely a reference to the Antichrist abolishing the daily sacrifice of the Mass in what will appear to be the Catholic Church and to his replacing the Real Presence of Christ in the tabernacles of the Church with his own image. One can see this more clearly if one examines the writings of St. John the apostle in relation to the Eucharist and the end times.

The Antichrist and Jn 6:66

The doctrine of the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist in the writings of St. John the apostle is related to St. John's teaching on the antichrists and the coming of the Antichrist. First of all one must realize that the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist is the extremity of the "substantial" presence of Jesus Christ in the world. It is the extremity of the Incarnation, or Jesus Christ coming in the flesh.

Consequently, to deliberately exclude all acts of latria from the Eucharist, would be to refuse to acknowledge the Incarnation or Jesus Christ coming in the flesh. And, St. John says about "men who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh" that "such is the antichrist" (2 Jn. 1:7) and his "spirit" is "already in the world" (1 Jn. 4:3). These are the "weeds" which the enemy has sown among the "wheat" (Mt 13:25). They make a "pretense" of being Christian by pretending to "belong to us," but soon they will leave and we will see that "none of them was ours" (1 Jn 2:18-19). But, we have already pointed out that the doctrine of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist is the basis for remaining with Christ or leaving Him. For, after Our Lord "solemnly" taught that "my flesh is real food, my blood real drink" (Jn. 6:53-55), St. John's Gospel relates: "From this time on, many of his disciples broke away and would not remain in his company any longer" (Jn 6:66). The antichrists, then, are those who deny the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

This information, however, is also related to the coming of a single man, the Antichrist. For St. John gives us a clue in his Book of Revelations how we may recognize the "beast" or the Antichrist when he comes: "A certain wisdom is needed here; with a little ingenuity anyone can calculate the number of the beast, for it is a number that stands for a certain man. The man's number is six hundred sixty-six" (Rev. 13:18). It is no mere coincidence, therefore, that the number of the verse in John's Gospel, which reports the disciples breaking away from the Lord over the doctrine of His Real Presence in the Eucharist, comes out to be 666, the very number which symbolizes the "beast" or the Antichrist.

Perhaps, then, part of this "certain wisdom needed here" for knowing who is the Antichrist, as mentioned in the Book of Revelations, is connected to John 6:66. In other words the antichrists will be those who spearhead the "mass apostasy" from the Church during the end times by denying the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and the Antichrist will be that "man of lawlessness," who then "seats himself in God's temple, and even declares himself to be God" (2 Thess. 2:3). So, this is how the "man" will "defile the sanctuary stronghold, abolishing the daily sacrifice and setting up the horrible abomination" (Dan. 11:31).

This information about the Antichrist and the rejection of the dogma of the Real Presence is most important for us today. For both Paul VI and John Paul II suggest in their non official writings that we are in the last period of history when the Antichrist comes.

Paul VI has stated:

"There is a great uneasiness, at this time, in the world and in the church, and that which is in question is the faith. It so happens now that I repeat to myself the obscure phrase of Jesus in the Gospel of St. Luke: "When the Son of Man returns, will He still find faith on the earth?" It so happens that there are books coming out in which the faith is in retreat on some important points, that the episcopates are remaining silent and these books are not looked upon as strange. This, to me, is strange. I sometimes read the Gospel passage of the end times and I attest that, at this time, some signs of this end are emerging."

So, does this mean that we have arrived at the end of the world? Paul VI continues:

"We must always hold ourselves in readiness, but everything could last a very long time yet. What strikes me, when I think of the Catholic world, is that within Catholicism, there seems sometimes to predominate a non-Catholic way of thinking, and it can happen that this non-Catholic thought within Catholicism, will tomorrow become the stronger. But it will never represent the thought of the Church. It is necessary that a small flock subsist, no matter how small it might be."

Again, Paul VI stated about the sign of the sun spinning and falling to the earth in the 1917 apparition at Fatima that "It was eschatological in the sense that it was like a repetition or an annunciation of a scene at the end of time for all humanity assembled together." And, John Paul II, as Karol Cardinal Wojtyla, stated:

"We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has gone through. I do not think that wide circles of the American society or wide circles of the Christian community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel versus the anti-Gospel."

So, are we at the point of the "great apostasy" which St. Paul speaks about in Second Thesalonians? It all depends on whether or not we can turn this lack of faith in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist into belief in this Presence. If we do turn it around, then perhaps it will be some time yet before the final battle. If we do not, then we probably have arrived at the final battle of the end time.

But, whatever the case, there is no reason to fear, for the Scriptures state: "They (Gog and Magog) invaded the whole country and surrounded the beloved city where God's people were encamped; but fire came down from heaven and devoured them" (Rev. 20:8-9). So, even if most so-called Catholics apostatize and set up a "harlot" church larger than the true Church, this little Church made up of the Pope and a remnant will be victorious in the end (Rev. 17:16)!

So, there is even reason to rejoice if we have arrived at the end times. For that time will be the time when God will raise up the strongest and most courageous of Christians. These will be the "seed" of the "woman" (Mary and the Church) and they will defeat the "seed" of Satan in the triumph of the "woman" over the "dragon" (Gen. 3:15; Rev. 12:1-3). St. Louis de Montfort expressed the spirit of longing that each Christian should have in expectation of the end times when he said about the valiant soldiers that God will raise up in the last days:

Such are the great men who are to come. By the will of God Mary is to prepare them to extend His rule over the impious and unbelievers. But when and how will this come about? Only God knows. For our part we must yearn and wait for it in silence and in prayer: "I have waited and waited."

Until this time arrives, however, everyone ought to prepare for this "waited" moment by heeding the words of John Paul II when he said: "every genuflection that you make before the Blessed Sacrament is important because it is an act of faith in Christ, an act of love for Christ."

Prophecies:

Marie-Julie Jahenny, (1850-1941), Mystic of the Holy Catholic Church

On November 27, 1902 and May 10, 1904, Our Lord and Our Lady announced the conspiracy to invent the "New Mass":

I give you a WARNING. The disciples who are not of My Gospel are now working hard to remake according to their ideas and under the influence of the enemy of souls a MASS that contains words that are ODIOUS in My sight.

When the fatal hour arrives when the faith of my priests is put to the test, it will be (these texts) that will be celebrated in this SECOND period... The FIRST period is (the one) of my priesthood which exists since Me. The SECOND is (the one) of the persecution when the ENEMIES of the Faith and of Holy Religion (will impose their formulas) in the book of the second celebration.. These infamous spirits are those who crucified me and are awaiting the kingdom of THE NEW MESSIAH.

(June 1881).

"In their [priests] aberration, they will break their oaths. The Book of Life contains a list of names that rends the heart.

"Because of the little respect it has for the apostles of God, the flock grows careless and ceases to observe the laws. The priest himself is responsible for the lack of respect because he does not respect enough his holy ministry, and the place which he occupies in his sacred functions. The flock follows in the footsteps of its pastors; this is a great tragedy.

"The clergy will be severely punished on account of their inconceivable fickleness and great cowardice which is incompatible with their functions.

"A terrible chastisement has been provided for those who ascend every morning the steps of the Holy Sacrifice. I have not come on your altars to be tortured. I suffer a hundredfold more from such hearts than any of the others. I absolve you from your great sins, My children, but I cannot grant any pardon to these priests."

She mentions a pope who, at the last moment, will reverse his policies and make a solemn appeal to the Clergy. (Now by Pope Benedict)

But the Pope will not be obeyed; on the contrary, an Assembly of bishops will demand even greater freedom, declaring that they will no longer obey the Pope. (US Bishops?)

Other Readings on this subject

Redemptionis Sacramentum and Clergy Obedience

The Problems with Selling Our Faith

Holding Hands In Church

Is Your Parish Dying?

How to Attend Mass, by Padre Pio

Learning the Tridentine Mass

Get Ready for the Tridentine Mass

Liturgy Wars Coming (2010)

True Priesthood, a Love Story (2010)

Leave the Church - No Salvation

Do Not Treat God Commonly