Crucifixion to Creation

Roots of the Traditional Mass Traced back to Paradise

Author: Fr. James Mawdsley

Part of Series New Old Collection • Book 3

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Crucifixion to Creation shows that the roots of the traditional Roman liturgy can be traced back from the Crucifixion, through to the worship in Solomon’s Temple, and further back to the Tabernacle made by Moses and through to the Garden of Eden and even beyond.

This book examines certain eternal elements of Holy Mass, the immutable pattern underlying them, the personal cause of the unity in all Creation, and the greatest wonder on Earth. Before drawing suitable conclusions, the book surveys how drastic changes in the Catholic Church since the 1950s tear up the ancient roots, obscuring the Way to God.

What was lost by our first parents in Paradise was returned myriadfold by Christ on Calvary — we lost a fragile immortality but gained participation in imperishable, divine immortality. The Mass of Ages transmits to us that Life from the Cross which exceeds the life — on offer or forbidden — of every fruit in Eden. Crucifixion to Creation is written to elevate our participation in Holy Mass and to awaken the deepest love for Tradition, for this draws us into eternity, into divine charity and immediate knowledge of the love of all the saints and angels.

About the Author

Fr. Mawdsley

Born in 1973, James Mawdsley grew up in Lancashire, England. During 17 months of solitary confinement as a prisoner of conscience in Burma (in 1998 and 1999-2000), he received the Bible which helped turn his cell from “hell to heaven”, beginning a passion for studying Scripture. From 2003 to 2004 he served as Secretariat to the British-North Korean All-Party Parliamentary Group, sitting in on high-level political-military meetings in Pyongyang and London. Having met former prisoners and guards who had defected, Mawdsley’s priority in arranging these exchanges was to challenge the North Korean government for their gulag system. Slowly realising the futility of political attempts to overcome evil unless Jesus Christ is honoured as King of Kings, Mawdsley was surprised on 3rd September 2005 by a crystal-clear call to the priesthood. Fr Mawdsley was ordained a Catholic priest in 2016, celebrating the traditional Roman rite only. His New Old book series, a discovery of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament read in the light of the New, is offered both for spiritual nourishment and to address the problem of evil: personal (our own sin), global (look around!) and cosmic (satan). Christus vincit!