TLM - Why Latin Matters... A Lot

First things first - I'm a Catholic. But even more important, I'm one of those Traddies that Francis and the FBI warned you about. 

With that aside, even to thus very day, I keep hearing people asking "What's the big deal with Latin? How does it even matter? It's a dead language!"

In a nutshell; yes, it's important for a reason. But before I delve into why, let me take us back a handful of decades.

Even while the Second Vatican Council was underway during the 1960s, word on the street what essentially, "If anyone even considers playing fast and loose with the consecration, the last ones would be the Catholics."

Please keep in mind, with the exception of our Eastern Orthodox brethren, no one else has a legitimate consecration, period. I add this proviso due to all those defacto-Protestants who call themselves "Catholic" (The Old Catholics, the Liberal Catholic Church, High Church Anglo-Catholics, etc). 

I'll also add that yes, Latin is a "dead language," and thank God for that.

Think about it... with those "dead" languages such as Liturgical Latin, Koine Greek, Aramaic, Ge'ez, Coptic, etc., the words don't change meanings. What is said is meant, and what's meant is said. 

"Hoc est enim Corpus meum" is Latin meaning "For this is My body." 

Anyhow, the words to the consecration can't change. They're set in stone.

However, "live" languages change, they evolve, they shift meanings. Just look at the words "bastard" and "gay." Just a few short generations ago, they certainly don't have the definitions as they do now.

Is it possible that "For this is my body" could change to "For this may be my body" or "For this could be my body". Of course it could.

Something else, while Latin had a nearly word-for-word translation to English, Spanish, French, etc., that's because they all are Indo-European languages. 

What of the non-Indo-European languages? Is there anything even close to Hoc est enim Corpus meum" in Japanese, Navaho, Wolof?  Of course not.

The reasons why the Second Vatican Council switched the most sacred words of the mass to supposedly "help the Church move into the 20th Century."

I'm calling bullshit on that. I'm of the opinion that the true reasons are a damn sight more sinister, if not downright diabolical.

If I learned anything from my career in the Marine Corps, it would be that if you're ever faced with two differing written orders, always fall back on the more stringent.