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Monday 16 March 2009

"The Holy Silence at the Consecration is Deafening"

An opinion piece in the Lower Hudson Valley Journal News by Andrew Piacente who as far as I can discern is an average PIP in late middle age, not a musician, not a parish council member, not a liturgist, not a cleric -- just your average Catholic who can see and hear and reason, (faculties all too infrequently exercised by the colese-minded.)

A few quotes:
People who disdain the Latin Mass should choose their favorite saint or saints and imagine how they worshiped every Sunday or everyday for that matter.

There is nothing the congregation can add to the prayers that the Priest invokes when changing ordinary bread and wine into the actual Body and Blood of Jesus the Christ.

This is a daily miracle, a suspension of all that we deem natural.

this is an event of such awesome magnitude that it calls for nothing BUT silence and strong meditative prayer.

I constantly urge my friends to read the Bible, especially John chapter 6. Not just once. Read it over and over until you get it. This is the center of our universe. This is what we live for. The awesomeness is indescribable. Of course [there] must be silence.

There was an observation made that in days gone by people did not understand the words of the Mass but at least they knew clearly what was happening on the altar before them and now people CAN understand the words, but seem to have no idea of what is actually happening at Mass. It's time we relearn. Do it in memory of Him.

The odd thing is that I am still not a "Traditionalist," if I were suddenly Empress of the World and Grand Pooh Bah of the Church, or at least my parish, my ideal wouldn't be the usus antiquior.
But until its equal, in reverence and beauty and freedom from nonsense and solemnity and order exists AND IS AVAILABLE TO ALL on a regular basis -- well, how can you not be in sympathy with the Trads?

2 comments:

George Tarasuk said...

Speaking of the Latin Mass, are you familiar with the St. Paul MN parish of St. Agnes? http://www.stagnes.net/music.html

A colleague of mine tells me that the priest who brought fine liturgy/music to St. John Cantius here in Chicago is from St. Agnes.

Scelata said...

You know, it is one of the great regrets of my life that I spent a few months in St.P/M once, but was unaware that there even WERE parishes that were not in the thrall of the Liturgical-Industrial complex that has wrought such devastation on the average Catholic Mass.
I didn't know there were like-minded people whom I could find just by googling. (Although I think at that time WebCrawler was the search of choice...)
So I never went to St Agnes, missed any chance to meet Mons. Schuler.

I didn't know Fr Phillips of St John Cantius was ever associated with ST Agnes. I thought he was a "disciple" of Msgr. Hellreigel (sp?)

Save the Liturgy, Save the World!