Does this say anything about contemporary liturgy and spirituality?
The heart of the Gospel, in fact the heart of all religion is to give mankind a way from moving from "me" to "Thou". Catholicism, that is mainstream Christianity, is the surest means of that transition.
3 comments:
Wonderful - a version I have not heard before either as the muppet figure says at the end! I always used to love the comments from the two old men in the balcony. I am sure we adults used to get so much more out of the muppets than the children watching with us.
Your 'Me, me, me' comments are food for thought today, Father. Don't they all date from the famous comment by Mrs Thatcher that 'there is no such thing as
society?' How fortunate we were in the Middle Ages that the Monks and Nuns did not think in this way.
Amusing to see the metronome in the film - I had forgotten all about these but now remember there was always one sitting on top of one of the pianos at home. I don't remember it being used though as it did lead to very mechanical playing and I think had gone out of fashion even by then. It was reduced to being an ornament sitting alongside the busts of Bach and Beethoven!
Fr Blake, I think I might refine that comment even further and say that the only way out of the me, me, me, stuff for now, is a total break with it, and a wholesale adoption of Pope Benedict's Liturgical reforms. It sounds Draconian almost to myself and probably to others, but if we are going to begin to recover reverence and understanding of the Mass as a Holy Sacrifice, then I think a 180 degree turn is needed in the short-term. Cold-turkey with the right support often works wonders.
I believe in direct prayer, not vague prayer (not instant enough) so, we(family) are tending to pray frequently, now, for vocations to be supported among men who feel called to offer their service in support of the New Litugical reforms. I think God will answer that, as it comes from a desire to worship Him in spirt and in truth. What effect it may one day have on the NO, is hard to say, but I do think the short-term fix is fairly obvious.
I would like to appeal to anyone who might be thinking "oh no, The Latin Mass. Not for me. Too impersonal, repressive, going back in time, can`t see the priest etc.."... especially if you have not recently given it a try - go and find your nearest one. They are mushrooming now after over a year....., Put aside any preconceptions and doubts, sit and absorb, pray and ask yourself afterwards - was this truly God's sacrifice made real for me, personally, today. Did I meet Jesus in a new and special way today.
That's all. I have found it to be real and personal in a way that all the other ways simply are not. And one of the "arguments" against the Pope's new recommendations are that they are impersonal and taking us back.
I would offer that, in reality, the Extraordinary Form of the Mass could be the EXACT opposite in an EXTRAORDINARY powerful way.
Taste and see.
Sadly, the "Me! Me!" lifestyle is what we see all around us: rampant consumerism urged on by those ubiquitous "I'm worth it", "You're worth it", "We're worth it" commercials.
At least the Muppets are a joyful interlude - and the explosions demonstrate quite accurately what happens spiritually (and even psychologically) when "Me" is more important than "We" or "You.
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