Back To Liturgy
The more I think about the danger of not teaching all the key truths of the faith the more I realize the importance of liturgy. If we include the vital doctrines in the liturgical texts and include all the doctrines n the lectionary readings then we will avoid the pitfalls that we are seeing in the evangelical world where certain key truths are basically ignored. The question that leads me to is how do you get the faithful to really listen to the liturgy? So many people complain that they sat in mass for years and never heard the gospel. It is like people who fly all the time and don’t know how to use an oxygen mask. They hear it but they don’t process it. How do you get people to pay attention?
I guess it comes back to love. When the church prays the liturgy as an act of love and worship for God then it gains tremendous power. When they are going through the motions it can still work but it is less likely. It is like the seed planted by simply throwing it and the one planted by digging down. If we get past the first line of defenses by showing our love to be sincere then many more seeds will take root. This is important for the presider but really the whole community participates.
I am not even sure the style of liturgy matters. As long as it is done towards God. Not making the priest, the musicians, or the liturgists the center. That everyone really desires God and wants to help each other connect with God. Homilies that give simple reflections on the readings that don’t turn into performances but don’t pull and punches either. Music that is centered of worship of God and not on how wonderful we are. Just letting the sacrament take center stage.
This is so hard to do. One problem is we don’t have any other place to express our faith artistically. We want to sing interesting Catholic songs. We want to tell interesting Catholic stories. We want to perform. But there is no place outside of the mass to do it. So we bring those things into the mass. Often they are very good things. They just don’t belong in mass. In fact, many of those things are evangelical in nature. We need to find ways to develop and celebrate that art without taking away from the mass. Maybe have an evangelical event every once in a while. A talent show, a retreat, a theology on tap night.
There are other problems. Modest dress is important. Managing kids has to happen. The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. Once people get that then they can find ways to solve these problems.
Hey Randy,
If you haven’t already done so before, why don’t you and your family come to St Anthony’s and experience worshiping God in the Tridentine Liturgy. It might appeal to you.
Peter
August 19th, 2008 at 9:50 pmI have not been. I am a bit scared to take my whole family. The kids can be distracting. The quieter the mass the more embarassment you get when your 3 year old breaks the silence.
I don’t really feel unhappy at St Mike’s. The homilies are good. We love the community there. They have good programs for the kids. It would be nice if they followed a few more liturgical norms but you can’t have everything.
August 20th, 2008 at 9:25 am