My New Hero...

I don't know who Fr Newman is, this thread:
http://web.mac.com/jayscottnewman/iWeb/jayscottnewman/Random%20Thoughts/9B5D0A70-9782-4B69-A332-2E0D9289C1EB.html#comment_layer
being all I've ever read of his or him, (and I shall certainly explore his blog further,) but,

EUREKA!
SHAZAAM!
(Is
ZOUNDS!
blasphemy?)

I have had such a ...... a moment!
If I'd been on a horse riding to Damascus, I'd be sitting in the mud, if I'd been in the bath I'd be running down the street naked and smiling, if... well, you get the point.
This is what struck the chord:I have often taken great comfort in being in a dark corner of a grand church, far away from the altar, as the sacred mysteries are celebrated. This is the place of the Publican, and it is a supreme consolation to be able to cry with him "Lord, have mercy on me a sinner!"
Yes.
Yes.
Yes, yes, yes, yes.

That crystallizes my uneasiness, my constant, vague, can't put into words what's wrong but I know it's wrong, nagging feeling about 99% of the Masses I have been to in my life.

Could the Mass in which you participated this morning make a space for the Publican? Or would he have had to flee in discomfort?
Too much of liturgy, and the overwhelming majority of the But-we-LIKE-it! category of currently popular sacred music denies us the chance to play a very important role we all must play at least some times.
Some of it is so self-congratulatory it practically forces us into the role of Pharisee, but even without going that far -- it fails to allow us to be the Publican!
That is what is wrong with it!
What is the chief complaint the less than perfectly devout have when the at-wit's-end priest asks why they don't come to Mass?


Hmmm?

Exactly!

Well, no wonder so many people say that, they "get nothing out of it!"

Jesus could as well have ended His parable, "And which of the two went away thinking he'd gotten something out of it?"

Let us get something out of it! Please!
Let us be the Publican!
Stop bullying us to clap and shout and get into the whole festive pep rally atmosphere!

Thank you Fr Newman!