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Saturday 19 July 2008

How did Mass make you FEEL?

I know Liturgy is not what the Holy Father is discussing in this (as usual, brilliant,) homily, but I think his warning that Faith is not subjective sentiment functions as a condemnation of the attempts to fabricate Liturgy according to ones own taste, according to what makes you feel a certain way, what you like.
http://212.77.1.245/news_services/press/vis/dinamiche/a0_en.htm
All too often...we find ourselves immersed in a world that would set God 'aside'. In the name of human freedom and autonomy, God's name is passed over in silence, religion is reduced to private devotion, and faith is shunned in the public square. At times this mentality, so completely at odds with the core of the Gospel, can even cloud our own understanding of the Church and her mission.
We too can be tempted to make the life of faith a matter of mere sentiment, thus blunting its power to inspire a consistent vision of the world and a rigorous dialogue with the many other visions competing for the minds and hearts of our contemporaries.
I may disagree with the direction some in authority over me might take, (in contravention ISTM of the direction those in authority over them, and Those in authority over them, ask us to take,) but I refuse to indulge in, to quote a commentator on TNLM called Tobias, "pessimism that excludes consolation."

3 comments:

Mary Jane Ballou said...

Oh Thoughtful One, you had a very succinct definition of the purpose of liturgy in one of your posts about a conversation/dialogue. I can't find it searching back through. I remember it gave to purposes of liturgy - something about giving God the worship he is due and the sanctification of the faithful. But your statement was so good I want to memorize it for use in times when I'm reduced to stammering with annoyance.

Do find it in your brain and post it again. Thanks

Anonymous said...

I think it may not have been me, I'm thinking a very thoughtful Anglican with whom I was having a conversation...?
But I'll look.

(Save the Liturgy,Save the World)

Scelata said...

Could this be it, Mary Jane?
If so, it's not my wording, its from the CCC, IIRC.
http://scelata.blogspot.com/2008/06/dialoguing-on-catholic-sacred-music.html#comments
Liturgy, the corporate worship of the Church has two purposes, the first and most important is the worship of the Triune God.
The second is the sanctification of the Faithful.
Emotional involvement with God or our fellows is completely beside the point.


(Save the Liturgy, Save the World)