In 2017, the one hundred year anniversary of Fatima, I made the Traditional Latin Mass my priority. I also chose a Carmel that had exclusively the Latin Mass and Carmelite Rite of the Divine Office. I moved to a town specifically to have daily Latin Mass before entering Carmel. It changed my life! Everything changed. For choosing the Mass used since the time of Christ, I was showered with bucketful’s of grace, I never before experienced as a Catholic.

I started noticing the immense differences between the New and the Old Mass. Months prior to making my move to Littleton, Colorado’s- Our Lady of Mount Carmel Fraternity of Saint Peter Parish- my conscious kept telling me there were changes in the New Mass that were not pleasing to Our Lady. I started talking to priests who used to say both the New and the Old Mass, and who made a permanent switch to only celebrating the Latin Mass. These were holy priests, who’s opinions were very valuable in my eyes. Why did they do it?

That answer all started to unfold, when I moved to Denver. I started listening to talks on the third secret of Fatima, providentially during the same time I began attending the Latin Mass, daily. Past popes gave small hints at it’s controversial content, how Our Lady warned about the “suicide” of altering the faith in Her Liturgy. She even potentially warned of a Counsel that would go against the Holy Ghost’s demand. It began to grow so disturbing when I realized that the very words of Our Lady in the first few secrets warned that the third secret needed to be revealed in 1960, because “then, it would become more clear”. It was never revealed in 1960, nor anywhere in the distant horizon. If it directly went against Our Lady’s wishes..why reveal it, right?

The vision was released in 2000, but not the words of Our Lady explaining it. Is there something to hide? Two things happened in 1960- Vatican II and the New Mass created by Paul VI with the help of six Protestant pastors. That’s exactly what I found to be the burden on my conscious, when I attended the Novus Ordo… this was helped created by Protestants? As I immersed myself in daily Latin Mass, Catholic friends I went to college with would text me and say “happy feast day to Saint Therese.” Me, forgetting there were two different calendars for the saints for the Latin Mass and the New Mass- I would think to myself: her feast day is two days from now, even the feast days were different. Why the division? It’s so important to remember, that saints like Therese knew nothing apart from the Latin Mass- it was their life! Saints since the time of the apostles knew or celebrated only the Traditional Latin Mass. That, in itself was enough for me to understand the “suicide” of changing the Mass.

Sometimes, it actually began to feel like I was talking to Protestants when I talked to friends who didn’t attend the Latin Mass. What’s wrong with that picture? It only makes sense when I reflect on the New Mass being created by Protestants themselves. Two calendars and a New Mass that is offered in any language to fit the “need” of the people? Before Vatican II we all worshiped together with one unifying language. You could go anywhere and the universal language was Latin. We could come from all different cultures and languages, but the Mass was the one exception where we could set aside our differences and be unified in the ONE language in history specifically consecrated for God! FOR God. Not the need of the people, but God.

Many people ask, “do you speak Latin?” Of course not. But I don’t think about myself in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The Mass is not about me, it’s about God. That is why we have missals that translate the prayers and the readings. The New Mass does not even have missals. The New Mass is about a focus on the people.  The readings before the New Mass- were always read by the priests and deacons, not lay people. Lay people bringing up the gifts and even touching Our Lord as Eucharistic Ministers. It took priests seven years to make their hands holy to even touch Our Lord, now it takes the average lay person, what three days tops? Plus, now people are receiving Our Lord on the hand and even touching or holding the Most Precious Blood.  Today, the priest no longer faces Our Lord on the altar, but the people. These are dangerous small (but significant) changes that started to unfold before my very eyes.  Even moving Our Lord to the side of the Church often times.

I think of how Latin was used over the head of Our Lord on the cross. When I hear Latin, I immediately know it’s for God. How beautiful! An entire language for Jesus. Even Gregorian Chant, a whole style of music only for Our Lord. Chant is only for God, that’s why when you hear it, you’re automatically inclined to lift up your mind and heart to prayer. As a cloistered “choir nun”- we sang all the propers of the Mass. As the priest is saying the prayers, we are chanting it! Everything, and I mean everything, has a purpose in the ancient Mass. Nothing is said, done or sung without it directly having a special purpose, as say…serving a King on a throne!I beg of you to research the secrets of Fatima, the message is far from being over! We can’t ignore Our Lady any longer. Padre Pio says when there are problems in the world, there are problems in the Mass. Look around you. Do you see peace? Pio knew the dangers of altering the Liturgy, so much so that he received special permission to never say the New Mass.

It is humbling when you realize that the Mass is not about you. If you are a lay man or woman, the best way we can take part, is to sit humbly in our pews and let the priest perform his sacred duty. I, as a woman realized I just needed to sit in my pew, put a veil on and focus on my Beloved. All holy things are veiled. I wrote a blog post on this. The altar is veiled, the Tabernacle, the priest in his exquisite vestments…and women- because we too, are holy.  Pio even died before the New Mass was officially promulgated. It’s all a grace to understand the horrors of Our Lady’s warnings, but be not afraid! I promise you, She will take you by the hand and make you fall in love with the Mass celebrated even by Saint Peter. This is the Mass that helped shape the great saints and martyrs that came before us. Don’t be afraid of tradition, in these times; looking back to the great saints will help us to move forward.

Here is a very powerful testimony of a Catholic Husband and Father who made the switch to the Latin Mass and why: