Why we use Latin in our Liturgy

​There's one thing that can be confusing or even off-putting to newcomers to the traditional rites and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church. Why is everything in Latin? It's a reasonable question,why would you make all your prayers in a language that very few people understand? 

One of the first and foremost reasons we should still be using Latin in our liturgies is that it is the language of our fathers and our father’s fathers. As a language, Latin has not changed or developed in meaning at all since the time of the early church and the Roman Empire, where Latin was the common language of the people. Since this time, when St. Pope Damasus commissioned the Bible to be translated from Greek to Latin by St. Jerome, Latin has been the official language of the church. Since it has not changed, every word spoken means exactly what it did at the time of St. Jerome. If this original translation of the Bible were to be done in English, the texts of the scripture would read as something completely different today then in those days. We can even see this on a much smaller level when many people have a hard time understanding the Douay-Rheims translation, which is only written in English of the year 1610 while the Latin of the Vulgate is from the year 382 and still holds the exact same meaning.

The Latin language is a sacred language. Latin itself actually plays a similar role to the Iconostasis in the Eastern Churches. Both exist to veil something sacred from the laity during the Liturgy. In the East, it is a visual veil from the liturgical practices. In the West, Latin veils from our ears the Sacred words of the priest in persona Christi. This is something that can be traced all the way back to our Jewish roots with the veil in the temple. It separated from the rest of the temple, the Holy of Holies. All 3 of these "veils" create mystery, and it is that same mystery that fosters an awe and wonder of God. 

The last reason for Latin in the Liturgy I will discuss here, although there are many more, is one that seems counter intuitive. Not many people actually understand it, and that goes for priests too. The Liturgy being in Latin takes away any possibility for almost every priest to go "off the book" and improvise in the Liturgy, thus eliminating many illicities that plague our Church today. Our priests are forced to celebrate the Sacraments exactly according to how Holy Mother Church has prescribed and has been handed down by the Fathers of the Church.
The young people not only long for the return of the Latin language, but also the Traditional Latin Mass. The Mass in its full entirety, solemnity, and love for God. The Mass with no stripping of prayers, no improvisation, and with the priest truly leading the people of God in the perfect worship of the Holy Trinity.