Not long ago the Vatican announced that the recently canonized St. John Henry Newman would be further honored with the title, Doctor of the Church. This means that he would join a small group of those considered to be some of the most important teachers in the Church’s two-thousand year history.
Newman wrote A LOT about a lot in his life. With him living recently compared to most Church Doctors, and with him being an English speaker, we are blessed to have his works widely available. One thing that Newman loved, reflected upon, and wrote about often was the Mass.
Check out these five great quotes from Newman on the Mass and where you can find them!
- “Forms of prayer are necessary to guard us against the irreverence of wandering thoughts.” (Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. I, Sermon 20)
While Newman recognized the need for praying from our heart, he also saw formal prayer as necessary for spiritual growth. These focus our prayer on God so they do not become about us.
- “To adorn the worship of God our Saviour, to make the beauty of holiness visible, to bring offerings to the Sanctuary, to be curious in architecture, and reverent in ceremonies,—all this external religion is a sort of profession and confession; it is nothing but what is natural, nothing but what is consistent, in those who are cultivating the life of religion within.” (Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VI, Sermon 21.)
Newman saw beauty in sacred spaces as essential for a life of prayer and worship. The “external” is meant to reflect the “life of religion within.” When we make efforts to beautify a church, or a form of worship, it shows our love for God.
- “We must begin, indeed, with the heart; for out of the heart proceed all good and evil; but while we begin with the heart, we must not end with the heart. We must not give up this visible world, as if it {came} of the evil one.” (Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VI, Sermon 21.)
Christianity is about the Incarnation of spirit into matter. This comes from our belief that Jesus is God taking on human nature. This showed the goodness of Creation. Newman knew that our prayer life should show this same connection between our soul and our body.
- “To me nothing is so consoling, so piercing, so thrilling, so overcoming, as the Mass, said as it is among us. I could attend Masses for ever, and not be tired. It is not a mere form of words,—it is a great action, the greatest action that can be on earth. It is, not the invocation merely, but, if I dare use the word, the evocation of the Eternal. Here becomes present on the altar in flesh and blood, before whom angels bow and devils tremble.” (Loss and Gain Part II, Chapter 20)
In this novel that tracks a conversion to Catholicism by a young student at Oxford, Newman was able to insert many of his own thoughts and struggles from his own conversion. Here, he shows through his character the immense love Newman had for the Mass and the spiritual power it contained.
- “The priests of the New Law are men, in order that they may ‘condole with those who are in ignorance and error, because they too are compassed with infirmity.’” (Discourses to Mixed Congregations, Discourse III: “Men, not Angels — the Priests of the Gospel.”)
Being a priest himself, Newman was well aware of the humanity in priests. While this included human weakness, it also allowed them to identify with the faithful and connect them to the Church, as well as her Founder.
There is so much we can continue to learn from Newman. When he is declared a Doctor of the Church, interest and devotion to him and his works will only deepen.
May our understanding of his teaching bring us to love the Church, the Mass and the Eucharist even more!
St. John Henry Newman, Doctor of the Church, pray for us!