Liturgy can refer to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, but it is a broader term. It refers to any official liturgy of the Church. The Divine Office can be celebrated solemnly as a liturgy.
This is a good general explanation. If the priest were focusing specifically on the Mass, I would suggest that the sacrificial aspect be included in the understanding of the so-called "Eucharistic Liturgy" which I admit is a bland term:
A new video is offered on Youtube on Sunday evening at this site: www.elementsofthecatholicmass.com.
4 comments:
That's all nice and good. But back to the reality of everyday Catholic life as experienced in a typical parish.
Example, last Sunday was the Solemnity of All Saints. I will describe the Mass I attended at my parish.
The bell rings and the priest and the altar girl start to process but the girl (in her skin tight outfit) makes them wait while she says hello, introduces the presider, tells everybody what day it is, encourages them to sing the exact same hymn that is sung every single Sunday, Gather Us In.
Then the priest processes up the aisle, missalette in hand (not hands folded in a prayerful manner).....in his green vestments. Did I mention it was All Saints day. Meanwhile the girl at the lector is screaming out Gather Us In like she does every Sunday.
Then the priest introduces the Mass again before finally making the sign of the cross. Next come the Liturgy of the Word. All the readings were taken from next Sunday's Mass. Did I mention it was The solemnity of All Saints.
Then comes the homily. Not on the gospel or the feast day but on another diocesan marketing ploy to make an attempt to promote vocations.
Then comes the Offertory. The altar girl has no clue what she is doing that's why the lavabo took place between the offering of the host and the offering of the wine.
Do I need to continue. But it's the springtime in the Church. Never better that's what we are told. Marriage and the family is being attacked like never before. Entire countries have abandoned the Faith and the Pope is silent. We just had a synod of bishops in the presence of the Pope and they actually debated allowing sacraligeous communion. But that isn't a problem. Whether a Cardinal lives in one room or two, that appears totaled priority. I don't care how many nice videos are made. They are not going to solve the real problem in the Church which is the infestation of Modernism.
Amen, Anonymous. I would like to see truly believing Bishops who take the Faith and Liturgy seriously and who are pretty much like a Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant (maybe without the profanity but, I don't know...it sure worked on us back in the day). These Bishops would make the Priests say the EF in some kind of formation and, for every screw-up, pushups and a hail of abuse.
CCC Chapters would be read out loud daily in formation, and their would be an obstacle course consisting of a slough of despond mud and water obstacle, a 40 foot wall with the Ten Commandments down which they would rappel, stopping at each Commandment to recite it at the top of their lungs, and other such goodies. Target practice using Haugen sheet music as targets,
maneuvers including avoiding an army of altar girls, and an LGBT assault in which the Priest recruits drive the LGBT's before them with Holy Water, Crucifixes, and knotted ropes. Now,that's what I'm talking about!
I've found myself quite disheartened / frustrated recently by the lack of any reference to the Mass as unbloody sacrifice in modern catechetical resources. As one example among many, my dad teaches religious education to 6th, 7th, and 8th graders as a few nearby parishes, and they use the "Faith First" series . . . Well, I saw the textbook lying on the table recently, and I decided to thumb through its Mass section to see how Catholic kids today are being taught about the Mass and the Eucharist... Guess what?
The ENTIRE section on the liturgy is fumfluff about the liturgy being our praise to the Father through Jesus in the Holy Spirit (lame, but okay) and the liturgy being a "remembrance" of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. That's problem #1: no reference AT ALL to the Mass as a non-bloody sacrifice of the Lord's Body and Blood, to God the Blessed Trinity, to apply the graces of the Cross to us, make the Lord's sacrifice present to us, and satisfy for sin. Problem #2 is, as for the Real Presence and the doctrine of transubstantiation, that's only mentioned in the appendix of the book detailing the various prayers of the Mass (in the Institution Narrative of the Eucharistic Prayer). So essentially, the liturgical and Eucharistic knowledge kids get from that book is *nothing.*
And "Faith First" isn't the only catechetical work lacking this. The video in this post, along with many other liturgical resources, all have this issue. It's almost like people are so embarrassed about the sacrificial emphasis we USED to put on the Mass "in the old days" that they'll go out of their way to avoid bringing it up nowadays. But like it or not, the traditional, sacrificial understanding of the Mass is the essence of what the Mass is.
To be fair, though, it's quite possible that the Liturgical Institute will include that information in future videos. So in this case I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt, hope for the best, and see what happens.
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