What do you think are the implications for overcoming the malaise, casualness and complete disregard for the reverence due Almighty God at Mass and in the reception of Holy Communion?
This is from Pope Benedict's most recent encyclical:
Let us consider this with regard to a central issue, the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. Our handling of the Eucharist can only arouse concern. The Second Vatican Council was rightly focused on returning this sacrament of the Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ, of the Presence of His Person, of His Passion, Death and Resurrection, to the center of Christian life and the very existence of the Church. In part, this really has come about, and we should be most grateful to the Lord for it.
And yet a rather different attitude is prevalent. What predominates is not a new reverence for the presence of Christ's death and resurrection, but a way of dealing with Him that destroys the greatness of the Mystery. The declining participation in the Sunday Eucharistic celebration shows how little we Christians of today still know about appreciating the greatness of the gift that consists in His Real Presence. The Eucharist is devalued into a mere ceremonial gesture when it is taken for granted that courtesy requires Him to be offered at family celebrations or on occasions such as weddings and funerals to all those invited for family reasons.
The way people often simply receive the Holy Sacrament in communion as a matter of course shows that many see communion as a purely ceremonial gesture. Therefore, when thinking about what action is required first and foremost, it is rather obvious that we do not need another Church of our own design. Rather, what is required first and foremost is the renewal of the Faith in the Reality of Jesus Christ given to us in the Blessed Sacrament.
5 comments:
Sadly, Pope Benedict can't quite bring himself to say that the liturgical reforms were a total disaster, and achieved the opposite of what he stated in his first paragraph. Polling continues to show "Catholics" in large numbers no longer believe in the Real Presence (aided and abetted by the reforms) and since the Council vast numbers of Catholics have simply walked away. Why make an idol of Vatican II? It does not deserve any praise in my view. I remember when we were a great, universal Church and churches were full and vocations were booming. No more. We have a Church balkanized in worship, practice and belief, for those who still bother to show up.
I agree with TJM.
I do not understand this constant praise of the Novus Ordo in the Church hierarchy. It may be valid but nevertheless is a very poor way to worship God. Is it because of a pride in a liturgy which the Church fabricated through the best experts of all time that it will not criticise it? Is it because the Church thinks the Novus Ordo is divinely revealed? Why the stubbornness in declaring the obvious, that the Novus Ordo is mostly a failure in the West, and heading that way elsewhere around the world?
Ratzinger is very diplomatic in saying "The Second Vatican Council was rightly focused on returning this sacrament of the Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ, of the Presence of His Person, of His Passion, Death and Resurrection, to the center of Christian life and the very existence of the Church," no doubt in reference to SC which says that the Eucharist is the source and summit of Christian life, another mantra of the Liturgical Movement. But that is not what the liturgical reform was mainly about. It was about active participation of the faithful above all else as SC also states, above even the sacredness of the liturgy that is meant to help make manifest the Real Presence to the faithful which the Novus Ordo strips down to a bare minimum. In fact there was nothing to return to because the old Mass has, since time immemorial, paid more attention to the Real Presence by design than the Novus Ordo ever has or will have because of its obsession with active participation above all else.
TJM, I think the reluctance goes back to VI and papal infallibility... no one wants to admit that a huge mistake was made at VII.
Victor and Dan,
We are in agreement. Einstein had a saying you are both familiar with: insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. The business world, which is bottom line oriented, is actually more honest and attune to reality. Remember the New Coke? When it failed to catch on and expand the Coke market, it was jettisoned. Too bad our hierarchy does not exhibit the same commonsense approach to the Liturgy. I guess it was not a good idea to mention Coke, since some liturgical progressive might think, hey, if we used coke instead of wine, that might help pack the churches again!
Agree with TJM. The True Presence was replaced with an idol - VII. Benedict XVI is trying to call us back-to-basics without outright saying why this is necessary vis-a-vis cause and effect. It is painfully awkward to admit, particularly after canonization, that the one who approved the liturgical reforms was wrong.
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