These are photos from my former parish of St. Anne Church in Richmond Hill, Georgia (Diocese of Savannah). It is their Midnight Mass celebrated at Midnight, a novel idea these days.
It is a thoroughly Modern Mass in the vernacular, yet reverence, traditional piety and sanctity exude in ritual expression. Kudos to Saint Anne Church and their pastor Fr. Dawid Kwiatkowski.
Photos not in order:
14 comments:
Love love it. Yes Virginia, you can do the Novus Ordo this way and it is good!
I don't think it matters - Reform of the Reform vs Return to Reverence and Beauty.
Progressives tend to be iconoclasts. As we've learned in the East, that's a heresy that was addressed OVER 1K YEARS AGO resulting in the "Feast of Orthodoxy"/"Triumph of Orthodoxy" as celebrated in both the Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic Churches.
Regarding reverence and beauty, progressives seem to want less reverence and beauty as understood by traditionalists. Paki i Paki, again and again, YES, styles have changed; however, that doesn't mean that good taste and heavenly vision was part of that change. I suppose beauty remains in the eye of the beholder; however, the progressive vision of such is unrecognizable to the average pew sitter and NOT where most would choose to spend eternity. Unsophisticated? To me, that is arrogant relative to the Church of the poor. The self-perceived sophisticates can stay in their pretentious bubble perhaps needing their own rite should the Roman liturgy, and the restoration thereof, become the focus of a future papacy.
St. Anne looks really beautiful and festive!
Father McDonald, you laid the foundation and this fine priest is building on it. Happy New Year!
ByrRus,
Well said. Perhaps a future Pope will do just that for the double/knit dinosaurs do they may wallow in their preferred sterility and ugliness! Happy New Year!
I can only imagine!!
Happy new year to you and yours!!
Speaking of "reverence, sanity, sanctity and beauty":
I believe that it would prove difficult to surpass the reverence, sanity, sanctity, , as well as beauty, of the following Holy Mass of Pope Saint Paul VI:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKdGsMl5fmU
MIDNIGHT MASS FROM THE HOLY LAND - 2024-12-25
By the way, the lengthy, but uplifting homily (delivered in English) from His Beatitude Pierbattista Pizzaballa, ofm, begins at the 54:40 mark.
Merry Christmas!
Pax.
Mark Thomas
“I believe that it would prove difficult to surpass the reverence, sanity, sanctity, , as well as beauty, of the following Holy Mass of Pope Saint Paul VI:”
Like the priest in Italy who in his bathing suit said “Mass” on a raft?
You really do live in a fantasy world. One of the main premises of Father McDonald’s blog is pointing out all of the problems with the Novus Ordo and how to potentially fix it so it becomes the things you think it is. Seek help!
I know they're not, but given its positioning, it looks like they're worshiping the pipe organ. It appears reverent, it just looks like a mob scene around a low table with organ pipes as a focal point. Drops your eye, doesn't elevate the same or your thoughts. A soaring iconostas, iconography or a Roman High Altar always inspires me as I explore its detail and reflect on the symbolism or imagery it presents.
The homily offered by His Beatitude Pierbattista Pizzaballa has uplifted me spiritually. His Beatitude noted at first that the preparation of his homily involved difficulties.
He wondered as to how he could celebrate the joy, peace, and hope that flow from Christmas. Gaza has been shattered by war, hatred, and bloodshed. That applies as well throughout the world.
But Cardinal Pizzaballa concluded that joy, peace, and hope are not "out of tune." Rather, the world, which offers war, hatred, and bloodshed, is "out of tune."
God is with us. Light has overcome darkness.
Christmas joy, peace, and hope seemed "out of tune" amidst the horrific, depressing situation in Gaza, and elsewhere.
But he then well as beyond.
that joy an as well as many places on earth, are
I have been uplifted spiritually via the wonderful homily that His Beatitude Pierbattista Pizzaballa, ofm, offered during Midnight Mass.
Cardinal Pizzaballa explained that the preparation of his homily had its share of difficulties. He noted that war, bloodshed, as well as hatred, have engulfed many among his spiritual children. He had wondered as to how he could expect his spiritual children to embrace joy, peace, and hope that flow from Christmas.
His Beatitude offered that perhaps Christmas joy, peace, as well as hope, seemed "out of tune" amidst the horrific situation that had befallen many among his flock.
But Cardinal Pizzaballa then explained that war and hatred are "out of tune." The world is "out of tune" as Emmanuel is present. Light has overcome darkness. Jesus has conquered sin and death. As Catholics, we have every reason to be filled with Christmas joy, peace, as well as hope.
Deo gratias for His Beatitude Pierbattista Pizzaballa, ofm!
Pax.
Mark Thomas
Sorry, Father McDonald, I just posted a bit of a different version of my above post.
Pax.
Mark Thomas
Text of Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa's homily for Midnight Christmas Mass 2024:
https://en.abouna.org/content/text-cardinal-pierbattista-pizzaballas-homily-midnight-christmas-mass-2024
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Cardinal Pizzaballa's homily in question included the following positive comments in regard to the Holy Year/Jubilee:
Excerpts:
"Yet like the shepherds, we are the people to whom the joy of Christmas is destined. We are sharers in the Paschal victory of the Lamb.
"For this very reason, we feel that the Holy Father’s invitation, that resounded for the entire Church just a few hours ago, is especially for us. By crossing the Holy Door, he inaugurated the Jubilee of 2025, we are now pilgrims of hope.
"...we walk towards the goal that is Christ, the true holy door flung wide open to God’s future. (cf. John. 10:9).
"And so dear friends, it is in this year, it is here that it makes even more sense to hear the song of the angels who announce the joy of Christ’s birth! It is precisely now that it makes sense, and it is beautiful to live the Holy Year of the Lord, indeed, the Holy Year that is the Lord!"
"That song in fact, is not out of tune; quite the opposite, it shows how out of tune the noise of war and the empty rhetoric of the powerful are! We can be pilgrims of hope on the roads and between the destroyed homes of our land, because the Lamb walks with us towards the throne of the heavenly Jerusalem.
"The Jubilee year...it is a year in which we experience reconciliation with our neighbor. It is a year in which we live in peace we promote justice. It is a year of spiritual renewal, of both people and communities.
"It is the year of reconciliation between God and man, where everything is renewed. God desires this reconciliation to be fulfilled in the renewal of life and the relationships between human beings.
"This is my prayer for our Holy Land, which has the utmost need for a true Jubilee. We need a new beginning in all spheres of life, a new vision, the courage to look to the future with hope, without surrendering to the language of violence and hatred, which instead closes off any possibility of a future.
"May our communities experience a true spiritual renewal. May there also be this new beginning for us in the Holy Land."
Pax.
Mark Thomas
MT,
No defense or comment as to how the swimsuit wearing priest’s “Mass on a raft” demonstrated the “reverence, sanctity, sanity as well as beauty” “ of the Novus Ordo? Or will you just continue to ignore the Elephant in the Room and ignore inconvenient facts about the Novus Ordo as well as Father McDonald’s legitimate criticisms of it?
It’s past time to add the Feast of Orthodoxy to the Roman liturgical calendar.
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