Adoring the Eucharistic Lord: “Let us kneel before the God who made us”
You can read the letter of the Archbishop HERE!
THIS IS A MONEY-BYTE AND A MONEY-BYTE IT IS:
Of these physical postures, kneeling most clearly reveals what we believe about God and our relationship to Him. The Church invites us to genuflect, if we conveniently can, at the end of our pew, as we greet or farewell Christ present in the Blessed Sacrament on our way into and out of church. In Australia it directs us to kneel for the entire Eucharistic Prayer, when the Church recalls her history and our destiny, intercedes for many needs, offers the great sacrifice of Christ to the Father, and witnesses bread and wine become Christ’s Body and Blood. The Church calls us to kneel again, in adoration as we “Behold the Lamb of God”, in thanksgiving after Communion, in Eucharistic Adoration and Benediction.
We are also called to make a sign of reverence before we receive Holy Communion at Mass (GIRM 160). In most cases this reverence is shown by bowing deeply, however many people choose to genuflect, or even to receive Communion kneeling. This is a perfectly valid option envisaged in the current Missal. Kneeling was the default position of receiving Holy Communion in the Latin church for many centuries. Altar rails, which still exist in many of our churches, are a reminder of this reverent custom. So, too, we genuflect before the mystery of the Incarnation as we recite the Creed on certain feasts, recall Christ’s death in the Gospel of the Passion, or venerate the Cross on Good Friday. We may well kneel to propose Marriage, for Confirmation, for Absolution, for Ordination, for Religious Profession, for the Litany of the Saints or for some blessings. In the Tantum Ergo, sung at Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, St Thomas Aquinas reminds us that where our senses and intellects fail before so great a mystery, our faith and very bodies must supply by bending our knees.
My most humble commentary:
Wow! Wow! Wow! This is an Archbishop with common sense about the Mass. He allows for all the options for receiving Holy Communion in the Bugnini Mass but does not exclude the ancient custom of kneeling for Holy Communion and at an altar railing. Thank you Archbishop!
He also asks that all churches restore the kneelers to their pews. Evidently, some churches, as was common in the USA after the Council and until Pope Benedict, removed kneelers and demanded that the laity stand for the Eucharistic Prayer. Mother Angelica, Pope Leo’s favorite evangelizer, use to sell portable kneelers for people to take to churches without kneelers. What a saint!
And the good archbishop asks that people remain after Mass to make a prayer of thanksgiving—I guess that means that the nave of the church should return to a no-talking zone again—good luck with that!
God bless this good Archbishop!
12 comments:
As much as I'd love there to be less talking in the sanctuary at the end of the Mass, here are a few higher priorities (of similar vein): 1) No back slapping and handshakes on the way to receive the Eucharist; 2) No social hour in the pews before Mass; 3) If the folks who do wait to get outside before socializing would not stop and talk in the doorway or right in front of it - that would be great.
I wish the good Archbishop luck with this important initiative. He is on the right track. When I see younger priests, I have hope. They are far more tradition minded than their elders most of whom drank the "spirit" of Vatican II koolaid.
Archbishop Anthony Fisher has promoted repeatedly Church teaching in regard to liturgy. In that regard, I recall the wonderful expression of agreement with, and promotion of the beautiful motu proprio, Traditionis Custodes.
That is exemplified via his July 20, 2021 A.D. letter to the clergy of the Archdiocese of Sydney.
He insisted that Pope Francis' Traditionis Custodes, as well as accompanying letter, deserve "reception."
Archbishop Fisher also rejected the weaponization of the Liturgy.
He stated that Pope Francis' goal concerned the preservation "Church unity and spiritual communion.
Finally, Archbishop Fisher OP declared in regard to Traditionis Custodes, that he shared the document's goal:
"I share the Holy Father's stated goal of the preservation of Church unity and spiritual communion."
Pax.
Mark Thomas
— Archbishop Fisher OP, in regard to Traditionis Custodes, as well as accompanying letter:
“These two documents deserve careful theological, liturgical, pastoral and canonical study, as well as prayerful discernment and reception,” Archbishop Fisher said in the letter to clergy."
Another rock solid Dominican! "Go Friars" I pray Leo will elevate this holy Priest to the College of Cardinals; which is in desperate need of a counter-balance
Archbishop Fisher desires to maintain the unity of the Church—breaking news! Any suggestion that he had the least bit of eagerness in sharing the Holy Holy Holy Oracle’s misguided desire to achieve this goal by stamping out the Latin Mass ignores what he has said and done on the subject, not least the multiple regularly scheduled TLMs in his jurisdiction (his cathedral, no less, if memory serves!) that continue to this day. In other words, he received Traditionis Custodes by doing as little as possible to implement it.
Nick
And thanks be to God!
Nick, how dare you contradict Mark Thomas' "narrative" with facts!!
🤣
Well, seeing he has neither the facts nor the law on his side, as it were…
Nick
MT reminds me of a lawyer in my law firm, we called her "Dump and Run." Never returned to finish the job
Relatedly, Andrea Grillo, one of the most vicious liturgical ideologues you can find (to the point the Anselmo, where he is on faculty, explicitly disavowed his views) has decided that the path to liturgical peace is to allow the Novus Ordo fully in Latin without restrictions. Sayonara, Bishop Martin of Charlotte! Most bizarrely of all, Grillo claims to have come up with this idea recently himself.
Nick
Nick, that's a howler!!! Bishop Martin seems very quiet lately. Hopefully he has gotten the message that there is a new sheriff in town, who is very different from the old sheriff, liturgically.
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