Motu Proprio mania

Yes, I know the text of the motu proprio has been obtained and analyzed in the blogsphere. But no, I will not link, nor will I comment on that analysis or the text itself until the motu proprio is officially released on Saturday. Visit the site of someone with lesss journalistic integrity if you want to know more.

Enough said.

Until then, here are some "rules" of engagement for lovers of the Old Rite:

Fr. Z’s 5 Rules of Engagement for after the Motu Proprio is released:
1) Rejoice because our liturgical life has been enriched, not because "we win". Everyone wins when the Church’s life is enriched. This is not a "zero sum game".

2) Do not strut. Let us be gracious to those who have in the past not been gracious in regard to our "legitimate aspirations".

3) Show genuine Christian joy. If you want to attract people to what gives you so much consolation and happiness, be inviting and be joyful. Avoid the sourness some of the more traditional stamp have sadly worn for so long.

4) Be engaged in the whole life of your parishes, especially in works of mercy organized by the same. If you want the whole Church to benefit from the use of the older liturgy, then you who are shaped by the older form of Mass should be of benefit to the whole Church in concrete terms.

5) If the document doesn’t say everything we might hope for, don’t bitch about it like a whiner. Speak less of our rights and what we deserve, or what it ought to have been, as if we were our own little popes, and more about our gratitude, gratitude, gratitude for what God gives us.