"Active Participation": What It Means and Why the Latin Mass Better Supports It

This lecture was delivered at Prince of Peace Catholic Community in Houston, TX, on November 23, 2019. In it, I explain what is meant by "participation" in the Mass and then explain how the "Extraordinary Form" of the Roman Rite (the traditional Latin Mass) actually fosters a fuller and more perfect participation than its modern replacement. 

The liturgical reform put the laity's participation above everything else, but ironically, by not letting the focus remain on the primacy of the action of Christ the High Priest and the higher human faculties, it ended up producing a liturgy that works against, rather than in favor of, the transformation of the believer in(to) Christ. The Tridentine Mass, in contrast, has a multitude of ways of drawing us in and plunging us deeply into the mystery.

This lecture became, in a rewritten form, chapter 3 of my book "Reclaiming Our Roman Catholic Birthright: The Genius and Timeliness of the Traditional Latin Mass." The book is available from Amazon and its affiliates: https://www.amazon.com/Reclaiming-Our-Roman-Catholic-Birthright/dp/1621385353