Is Nothing Sacred?
This post is more of a response to CurtJester's post "Things That Make You Scream". He was responding to the article about the hoopla made at Mass where Vice President Elect Biden was in attendance.
I am blessed to belong to a parish that suffers a minimal of such abuses, but it has its share. I have had to sit through the occasional round of applause for some minor accomplishment of someone. I have no problem with giving people their due- just not at Mass. Have we forgotten that the Mass is a Holy Sacrifice? Jesus Christ made the sacrifice, not any of us. The Mass is about Him, not us.
When I returned to the Church six years ago, I remember wondering about some of the things I was seeing; holding hands, or adopting the same hands raised posture of the priest during the Our Father, ushers playing "meet and greet" as they assist with the Communion line. Do we really need them to do this? Are we incapable of knowing when it is our turn to get out of our pew? And don't get me started on altar girls. And we wonder why some people think it's OK for women to be ordained. I will leave it to you to see the connection with that one. These are just to name a few of the things I didn't remember seeing at Mass during my childhood. Perhaps I'll deal with the incessant chatter before Mass, reading the bulletin, and the out of control sign of peace in another post.
When people attending Mass finally come to understand that they are at Calvary each time they are at Mass and that Jesus truly is present in the host- Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, then maybe we will see a return to the sacredness that the Mass deserves. Until then, I like many other Catholics may find ourselves journeying to the nearest Traditional Latin Mass, even if only on occasion. (I have been praying for the grace to do this- my fear of not knowing what to do when has kept me from it so far. I know it's a poor excuse.) I realize that I have done some ranting and raving in this post, but I would like to end by thanking first those priests who say the Novos Ordo with awe and reverence, and also those Catholics who assist at Mass with that same awe and reverence.
I am blessed to belong to a parish that suffers a minimal of such abuses, but it has its share. I have had to sit through the occasional round of applause for some minor accomplishment of someone. I have no problem with giving people their due- just not at Mass. Have we forgotten that the Mass is a Holy Sacrifice? Jesus Christ made the sacrifice, not any of us. The Mass is about Him, not us.
When I returned to the Church six years ago, I remember wondering about some of the things I was seeing; holding hands, or adopting the same hands raised posture of the priest during the Our Father, ushers playing "meet and greet" as they assist with the Communion line. Do we really need them to do this? Are we incapable of knowing when it is our turn to get out of our pew? And don't get me started on altar girls. And we wonder why some people think it's OK for women to be ordained. I will leave it to you to see the connection with that one. These are just to name a few of the things I didn't remember seeing at Mass during my childhood. Perhaps I'll deal with the incessant chatter before Mass, reading the bulletin, and the out of control sign of peace in another post.
When people attending Mass finally come to understand that they are at Calvary each time they are at Mass and that Jesus truly is present in the host- Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, then maybe we will see a return to the sacredness that the Mass deserves. Until then, I like many other Catholics may find ourselves journeying to the nearest Traditional Latin Mass, even if only on occasion. (I have been praying for the grace to do this- my fear of not knowing what to do when has kept me from it so far. I know it's a poor excuse.) I realize that I have done some ranting and raving in this post, but I would like to end by thanking first those priests who say the Novos Ordo with awe and reverence, and also those Catholics who assist at Mass with that same awe and reverence.
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