Posted on 06/14/2014 9:32:42 AM PDT by NYer
I believe it was St. Benedict Joseph Labre, the beggar saint, who slept in the colosseum. Each night, he would sleep in a different spot so as not to become attached to one location.
I has helped me, when confronted with liturgical banalities or incompetencies, to remind myself that they're probably doing the best they can.
To further the thought, I used despair of the fact that the clergy and the liturgists were insulting our intelligence until I came to realize they actually think their gruel is sirloin.
Well, I’ve seen a lot of abuses, and lot of innocent silliness, in the masses I’ve attended in several parishes over the years.
I just tell myself that the Mass is the Mass is the Mass. As long as the priest gets it right enough to say a valid Mass, then all that other stuff is far less important than participating in the Sacrifice of the Mass and receiving the Sacrament of Holy Communion.
At one time we lived next to the HQ of the priests of St. Pius X in Connecticut. No doubt their Mass was more beautiful than ours, and their church better decorated. But I stick with the Church, warts and all.
Our present Pastor is a bit infected. He always ad-libs the canon of the Mass at one point: “Look not on our sins, but on the faith of our Church . . . the faith of each and every one of us.” Still, the sacraments are valid, and the remaining members of the congregation are good people. The only thing I feel really badly about is all those people who have been unintentionally driven away, and who only attend Mass once or twice a year.
The Church is the Church. Stay with it, and do the best you can, and pray to God that things will get better, through His grace.
I recall reading “Confessions of St. Augustine” as part of the 4 semesters of philosophy that was required at St. Joseph’s College of Indiana, 40+ years ago. Of the many philosophy books we had. the one that I have re-read several times is Viktor Frankl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning.”
This reminds me of something C.S. Lewis wrote, perhaps in “Mere Christianity,” about how the best thing for a Christian was to attend his local parish, no matter what the Vicar was like, no matter how good or bad the choir was, no matter whether he liked the other parishioners.
That was to emphasize that feeling superior to “those people” is not a sign of excellence, but a temptation to sin. In “The Screwtape Letters,” the demon mentions that the tempter should encourage his “client” to focus on the sins and failings of others in the congregation, as a way of drawing him away from the love of God and neighbor.
“Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility consider others as better than yourself.”
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So true.
Our last Sunday lector made a DOOZY of a mistake that gave me the giggles. It's not NICE to giggle through Mass, but since God DID make the giggle, I suppose He didn't mind me enjoying a few of them for a while.
It made that Mass memorable. Heehee.
One Palm Sunday, a lector at our parish in Oklahoma kept saying, “the Procreator of Judea.” My husband whispered, “Played by Anthony Quinn in the movie,” and the whole row broke up.
This past Pentecost Sunday, the Pope prayed with Jews and Muslims.
I didn’t giggle, I didn’t whisper and I didn’t “break up”; I cried.
Lol. True and SO funny.
That was definitely worth a giggle in Church. Our God-given giggle!
Lots of gasps and choking at that point ...
(It’s not uncharitable to laugh if you recognize that you could do something just as funny.)
VERY true.
Humor requires intellect. When one sees it the way you do...we say, "I'm laughing WITH you, NOT at you."
Yes, or “I’m laughing at what you said, not at you.”
I “mostly” speak Spanish, too. I once gave a harangue to the congregation about Stewardship, and I started by telling them that if I said something really funny (like be careful about showing bosoms, especially in front of children) it was okay if they laughed!
Seems like a faulty comparison to equate St. Augustine's personal journey toward spiritual perfection with the idea that in the present times, a desire for spiritual "consolations" is the underlying motivation for "liturgical preferences". For Catholics, the purpose of beautiful liturgies, vestments, music, art, chalices made of precious metals, great cathedrals etc. is to honor God. Obviously St. Augustine would not condone the profanation of worship which has become widespread since Vatican II. And the notion that beauty in worship is objectively wrong is a Protestant one.
Ever hear a lector mispronounce brazier?
No. Heeheehee.
THAT would finish me for the entire DAY!!
Our good Lord might have even smiled.
More likely He groaned at the pun, with a roll of his Almighty Eyes.
He did invent the pun so He has to hear them.
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At one of the parishes I used to attend there was one, VERY loud, off-key woman, singing her heart out. OWWWWW.
The organist told me: "God have her that voice so HE should have to listen to it too!"
:o)
When we have volunteers for our choir who aren’t quite up to it, we just adjust the microphone pickup at the central sound board. A singer who’s all on the same note actually isn’t a problem, if the volume is set right.
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