If this reads as though I'm gushing, that's because I am!
Well, we did it again! A second couple has asked for and received the Extraordinary Form of the Nuptial High Mass here at St. Joseph. The GROOM is from Texas and came into the full communion of the Catholic Church through his experiences with the Extraordinary Form of the Sacraments. His new wife was a parishioner here, her parents still live here and she has been fully imbued with the Extraordinary Mass too.
It is serious, it is solemn and it is not frivolous. There was no introducing the bride and groom after Mass, not clapping, whooping or other silly noises from the congregation. A goodly number of the congregation were not of the Catholic faith.
I met a few of the young people from Texas who attend the EF Mass there. They go to weekly confession and are quite serious about their Catholic faith and very reverent, devotional and spiritual.
I asked a 20 something young man what attracted him to this form of the Mass. He said that he has leanings towards Eastern Orthodoxy spirituality and finds a great deal of that in the EF Mass--he's right!
I often wonder, if we could turn the clock back and not have changed our liturgy to much and maintained the quiet solemnity and the deep spirituality of the EF Mass and avoided the superficial, the creative and the frivolous, what impact it would have on our young and older Catholics. From what I saw today, a tremendous impact and for the better!
Thank you Holy Father, Pope Benedict for this marvelous gift returned to its rightful place in the Church and in our parishes!
BRICK BY BRICK!
9 comments:
Beautiful is right!...and Thank YOU Fr. Mac for being a most obedient servant.
Fr. McDonald: "I often wonder, if we could turn the clock back and not have changed our liturgy . . . . what impact it would have on our young and older Catholics. From what I saw today, a tremendous impact and for the better!"
Do you really have to wonder? In the 1960s I was much involved in the liturgy at the parish level, and initially was full of optimism about the reform.
But with the benefit of 40 years of hindsight, can any sensible person have any doubt that an unfathomable disaster to Faith and Church has been the result?
Not that Vatican II is all to blame, but it opened the window just when terrible storm winds were gathering in the world outside. For Catholics, the unchanging liturgy--rather than scripture or catechesis--was the anchor of their faith. And when that anchor was removed by change in the liturgy that would previously have seemed incomprehensible, the faith of all too many was simply blown away, and did not remain to be passed on to the next generation.
Henry, I would have to agree. The initial changes in the Church were spot on, especially allowing more vernacular in the Mass, but it was still the EF Mass. I would have embraced and still hope this will be the case in the future, the new lectionary. I love that I know more scripture today because of the three year lectionary. I find the EF one year cycle good for one year, but lacking in the fullness we now have and the daily Mass lectionary in the EF is almost non-existent.
But not only did the spirit of Vatican II change the liturgy and language, it changed our deep and profound spirituality, seriousness, and sense of reverence. There is no doubt about that. We substituted the horizontal experience that you can get everywhere else and eliminated most of the vertical experience where you can't find anywhere else. That's sad!
Fr. McDonald: "The initial changes in the Church were spot on, especially allowing more vernacular in the Mass, but it was still the EF Mass."
Have you noticed the conference "Council and Continuity"
http://www.diocesephoenix.org/worship-liturgy-office.php
that Bishops Olmsted (Phoenix) and Cordileone (Oakland) are hosting on the 1965 missal, now referred to as the "interim missal", but which when it was introduced was definitely understood--by lay, priests, and bishops alike--to be the definitive result of Vatican II.
Your comment above about losing the vertical is well made. My family has been visiting other parishes recently and the one last week was not reverent and had a very non-sectarian feel about it. Very "Spirit of Vatican II".
Today is the 40th anniversary of the ordination of our parish priest. He related how he is the last of his class still in the priesthood, the others have left to get married. Very sad. I admire him for slogging through these last 40 years serving us when it would have been easy, maybe even approved by many, to quit. His story is that of a trip through the wilderness and I can not begrudge any fault I, in my leisure, find in his pastoral care. If we are indeed reunited with our past, I will instead owe him the gratitude of a survivor of the journey.
rcg
It is interesting that the young man is leaning toward the Orthodox. Something about the Eastern Church has an appeal. The icons, the liturgy, the rituals, the tradition? It feels authentic.
It seems like protestants are always searching for authenticity of the early church such as Bible only stuff or Messianic Judaism. If they could experience a Divine Liturgy I bet they would recognize the Truth in the Apostolic Traditions.
Beautiful! I work on the Vocation Ministry at our parish and am wondering if we can receive permission to use a picture from this Sacramental Marriage to post on our Vocations Wall in our Parish Center. Please let me know either way. Many thanks.
Yes, use the photos by all means.
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