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Monday 10 September 2007

Either [the Liturgy] is Opus Dei, with God as its specific subject, or it is not."

Cant' you just hear some people's thoughts: Hmmm... what shall I do with MY Mass?
The Holy Father had this to say to some monastics in Austria:
"The interior disposition of each priest, and of each consecrated person, must be that of
putting nothing before the divine office.
The beauty of this inner attitude will find expression in the beauty of the liturgy, so that wherever we join in singing, praising, exalting and worshiping God, a little bit of heaven will become present on earth
In all our efforts on behalf of the liturgy, the determining factor must always be our looking to
God.
We stand before God – he speaks to us and we speak to him.
Whenever in our thinking we are only concerned about making the liturgy attractive, interesting and beautiful, the battle is already lost.
Either it is Opus Dei, with God as its specific subject, or it is not."

(Don't ya just love him?)
How loudly he must have needed to speak to be heard over some of the beyond-description-ugly vestments he was made to wear in various situations in Austria :twisted; And that monstrance!
But while it was very, very beautiful, I am afraid I would put that glorious Haydn orchestral Mass sung at St Stephens in the same category: a distraction that detracted from the attention due the rightful Subject of the Liturgy.
Although, of course, if such beauty were commonplace it would no longer distract, (admittedly, the bad craft project altar furnishings at other of the apostolic voyage's liturgies could never fail to be eye-sores.)

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