It’s beginning to feel a lot like Advent everywhere you go, Advent trees, Advent hymns – oh wait.
— ➡️Curt Jester⬅️ (@CurtJester) November 20, 2012
While I can’t control Christmas Muzak at shopping areas. I can at least control it at home and with Advent right around the corner I am getting excited about listening to actual Advent hymns.
Well today the album Advent at Ephesus
Ever notice the inverse proportionality between the words relevance and reverence?
Now I am not totally satisfied of this formulation since the reality is that the Mass is of infinite value. Still I find an interesting correlation in the meaning of these two French words.
Reverence – The virtue that inclines a person to show honor and respect for persons who possess some dignity. There are four forms of reverence, corresponding to four forms of dignity: 1. familial reverence toward one’s parents or those who take the poace of parents; 2. civil reverence toward persons holding civil authority; 3. ecclesiastical reverence toward the Pope, bishops, priests, and others in the service of the Church; 4. religious reverence toward any person, place, or object related to God. (Etym. Latin reverentia, awe, respect.) — Fr. John Hardon’s Modern Catholic Dictionary
As for “relevance” I use it in the way that some people relate it to the Mass in a modern meaning. That is making it “up-to-date”. Perhaps nothing is more out-of-date than something that has been made up-to-date. Another word used to mean the same idea is also popular – contemporary. It is hard for me to imagine something so out-of-date as hymns accompanied in the folk guitar style. They seem to have concentrated on the wrong “Peter, Paul and Mary.” Yet I have heard this called relevant. I guess when autotuned singers is also a past fad it will also become relevant since there seems to be a time-lag of relevance when it comes to sacred music. Folk music and contemporary worship music of the 80s. Hip Hop Mass must be on the horizon. This asks the question relevant to who? It seems I get more and more left behind by those who would make the Mass more relevant. Relevant to faddy liturgists I guess.
It is certainly not only Catholics who have caught the relevant bug. If anything Protestants are further along in the infection, especially in the Mega-church genre. I have seen church signs advertising relevant or contemporary services. Rock bands and light shows replace “on this rock” and “let their be light.” Though I don’t mean to pick on Protestants it is just that they more fully embrace the “I want to be entertained” pew sitter. The whole movement of the modern liturgy/service is away from God and directing the attention to ourselves. “Here I am Lord” being the anthem of this mindset.
At the same time everything is being made more relevant acts of piety expressing reverence are stamped out or just faded away. Funny how Tebowing can be a trend, but forms of Genuflection at Mass have disappeared for many. I have certainly noticed that hardly anybody genuflects anymore. When Jesus is present in the Tabernacle in the form of the Eucharist and the sanctuary light is lit to indicate this very few people seem to note this fact by genuflecting. Or even in the case when the Tabernacle is not present in the sanctuary do you see a profound bow towards the altar done instead. Perhaps an occasional half-curtsy or a nod of the head. Actual rubrics such as bowing during the Creed’s “by the power of the holy spirit…” have also pretty much disappeared. Or how about:
a) A bow of the head is made when the three Divine Persons are named together and at the names of Jesus, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of the Saint in whose honor Mass is being celebrated. –No. 275 of the General Instruction:
Now some might say that all of these practices of piety and dress are just accretions and are unimportant to worshipping God. There is certainly a partial truth in this. Practices of piety can be just totally outward and not an indication of the person who is worshiping God. Outward piety is not always the same as inward piety. Still I think these acts of piety are helpful to the worship of God. I think of many of these things as training wheels and I know I still really need these training wheels. These practices help to constantly remind me of their inner meaning (at least occasionally). There can be a temptation to want to appear to be more pious than others and certainly that has to be guarded against. For example I kneel to receive Communion both as an act of worship and a reminder to myself of whom I am receiving. Still there is a slight embarrassment for me in not wanting to appear super-pious and better than the other persons at Mass. Other pious practices also help me such as crossing myself when passing a Catholic Church. This small reminder of the importance of the Eucharist helps to jog my mind at the wonder of it all. A prayer of thanksgiving and crossing myself before meals even when dining out also help to bring me out of myself and to acknowledge what God has done for me.
Now as Father Z. has constantly mentioned “brick by brick” or I might possibly say “rubric by rubric” and there are positive signs in these regards. Importantly as individuals we can maintain these practices and witness even in such a small way to others.
What practices of piety do you engage in that bring your mind to God and to help you to worship him?
2nd photo credit: nathancolquhoun via photopin cc
Here is a nice overview of some of the proposed changes to the Divine Office put forward during the semi-annual meeting of the USCCB.
Now since I am already using the Revised Grail Psalms for the Liturgy of the Hours via an iPad app it won’t be too major of a change for me. Regardless I hope they do address the “Glory Be.” I have heard questions about the “World without end” many many times on Catholic radio so I would certainly like to see a better translation of “In saecula saeculorum.”
With Advent approaching Advent at Ephesus
This album is available for preorder and will be available in time for Advent on November 20th.
Here is another reason I so prefer choir lofts. I have long said that unlike children “choirs should be heard and not seen.” If the choir I heard on Sunday had been in a choir loft I just might not have been annoyed by them and actually concentrated on the Mass instead. Though I would probably have found another distraction.
This specific pet-peeve which seems to affect the majority of parish choirs is that they don’t kneel when they should. The posture of kneeling is required for the entire Eucharistic Prayer and yet choir members act like they are just hired labor outside the bounds of the Mass. Every knee shall bend before Jesus unless I guess you are a member of the choir.
The fact that most areas for the choir do not have kneelers is not a just reason for not kneeling. Yes even if you are one of the leagues of folk guitarists that are so common at Mass you can still kneel and play chords to whatever crappy Marty Haugen song they are accompanying. If Jimi Hendrix could play his guitar with his teeth and behind his back, kneeling while playing guitar is just dead simple. This especially goes for vocalists who don’t even have the instrument excuse.
Now I don’t want to be just ranting at choir members who after all are volunteering to help provide sacred music (giving the benefit of the doubt here) for the Mass. Part of the problem is the example of how these choir areas have come to be constructed. When no kneelers are provided this teaches them that they are exempt from kneeling. It just has become common and is seen as accepted behavior. I seriously doubt they are purposely violating the norm.
Now even a rant deserves caveats and certainly those that are unable to kneel due to physical condition are exempt. Maybe just maybe all the choirs I have seen in my diocese that do this are made up totally of people with bad knees.
This reminds me of a related rant. The faux-kneel where some just kind of lean forward instead of actually kneeling. This also is very common, but again maybe I am attending Masses made up of people with bad knees. If so I should start contributing to the “Aid to the Church in Knees.”
A bigger rant I aim for myself. Here we have the absolute wonder of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the joy of receiving Our Lord in his Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity and yet here I am noticing that the choir is just standing there. If only my blog posts could perfect the liturgical aspects of the world so that I might become less distracted (if possible).
Jimmy Akin has an update regarding the uses of modified Agnus Dei in the liturgy. He now has the bulletin from the USCCB himself and he posted (bolding is his):
This alteration is effective immediately, and affects all existing and future musical settings of the Lamb of God.
The relevant paragraph [of the bishops’ document Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship] now reads (new text in underline):
188. The supplicatory chant Agnus Dei accompanies the Fraction Rite. It is, “asa rule, sung by the choir or cantor with the congregation responding; or it is, at least, recited aloud. This invocation accompanies the fraction and, for this reason, may be repeated as many times as necessary until the rite has reached its conclusion, the last time ending woth the word dona nobis pacem (grant us peace)” (GIRM, no. 83). The Agnus Dei should not be prolonged unnecessarily (see GIRM, no. 83) nor may other texts be added to this chant.
In other liturgical news Rorate Caeli has a letter from the CDW in response to a question from the Philippines.
“The liturgical law of the Roman Rite does not foresee the use of dance or drama within the Sacred Liturgy, unless particular legislation has been enacted by the Bishops’ Conference and confirmed by the Holy See. Any other practice is to be considered an abuse.”
Hey another step to reducing the leotardation of the liturgy.
On the humorous side “Eye of the Tiber” strikes gold again with SSPX Acolyte Stumbles During Offertory; Mass Deemed Invalid.
From the latest USCCB Committee for Divine Worship (BCDW) Newsletter as per Jerry Galipeau.
USCCB Administrative Committee Approves Change to Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship
In response to a request from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the USCCB Administrative Committee adopted a change on September 12, 2012 to the U.S. Bishops’ 2007 guidelines on liturgical music, Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship. Number 188 of the document has been altered to remove any further permission for the use of Christological tropes or other adaptations to the text of the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God).
No doubt progressives will come out with a “Support our Tropes” bumper stickers.
I remember when Jimmy Akin had requested information on whether the USCCB had granted such permissions for one of the more common changes and had received a negative reply on that. He queried the publishing company that had published this version of the Agnus Dei and never received a reply back.
I’ve heard several variations of the Agnus Dei, but the most common was using other verses that substituted “Lamb of God” with “Bread of Life,” “Prince of Peace,” “Son of God,” “King of Kings.”, etc. You never quite new when the last verse was coming up. Some versions I have heard even excluded “take away the sins of the world.” The ideas behind such changes for universal prayers has always been problematic. That you can’t even go from one parish to another and learning another form of “common” liturgical texts is just plain silly. Destroying the threefold Trinitarian theme with the added phrases goes beyond just silly.
Though things are getting better since it is a while since I have heard the extended Agnus Dei with Tropes. One parish though has added a phrase to each line.
Now I will rant a bit about the USCCB Committee for Divine Worship (BCDW) Newsletter. The Newsletter requires a $15.00 a year subscription even for the electronic version. They are published on their site 3 months after subscribers get them. The USCCB is infected by the publishing world model all over the place which mainly just restricts access to documents. Remember when the USCCB stopped a podcast from doing daily readings using the NAB? Spread the Gospel for a moderate license fee.
Photo credit: Lawrence OP via photopin cc
While I totally understand the Church having only those with Holy Orders deliver the homily. Sometimes though I muse on the thought of having a homilist-pinch-hitter.
Too often I run across the monotone homilist or the homilist who gives almost a total deadpan delivery. The majority of the time I have found the text of the homily to be fairly decent and that it is the skill in delivery of the homily that I find deficient.
Protestant preachers seem to have paid a lot of attention to this skill set which is understandable since the sermon is pretty much the lynch-pin of a Protestant service. This emphasis explains why the preachers name is often prominently placed on the outside of a Protestant church and not at a Catholic Church. The charism of the individual preacher model though has it’s problems it that people will go preacher-shopping looking for the most entertaining preacher. The positive thing about the Catholic parish model is that having a good homilist transfer doesn’t mean that people will then go looking elsewhere. The parish model where the Mass is the focus reduces a personality driven approach.
Still I think many Catholic homilists could learn something from Protestants when it comes to delivery. Now this does not mean that we must succumb to the idea of the homily as a piece of entertainment. I’ve discussed the use of humor in homilies before in Humorlectics. What I have seen from the limited dataset of my own experience is often really bad presentation. The joys and mysteries of the faith come across as something boring since the preacher can’t seem to lift himself up to any excitement over it. There can be quite disconcerting to hear the disparity between the material and the way it is spoken. This disparity is funny in a talented deadpan comic, for a deacon or priest, not so much. The exuberance of a Cardinal Dolan is reflective of the other end – a well delivered homily. Trying to emulate his Eminence is not the goal as this would not be natural for most speakers. The speaking skills of the homilist are certainly of some importance and I do wonder how much attention is paid to this in seminary? If they are than I am encountering too many homilists that slipped through.
Though maybe what I really need is a pinch-hitter-homily-listener since instead of working harder to pay attention to even a poorly delivered homily I allow my mind to wander and compose blog posts on pinch-hitter-homilists.
Photo credit: patries71 via photo pin cc
Have you ever played Mass Roulette?
Here’s how:
I played Mass Roulette this weekend when my wife and I were on a day trip to Orlando. After shopping I was wondering if we could catch a Mass while there and so I pulled out my phone and using the MassTimes app found a parish within a couple of miles and a Mass starting shortly.
In my own Mass sample data over the years I have certainly found a commonality of what you would expect when visiting a parish you have never gone to before. There is both the good and the bad to this.
The good is that over the years I have found that I encounter less and less outright liturgical abuses and such examples of these abuses that were more common are less so now. While of course the improvisational Mass where you are never sure of what is coming next still exist, mostly you find that the texts are read as per the text.
Though around this more solid bedrock you usually find some local wrinkle or some dubious practices. For example the group blessing of an object where the people along with the priest bless some object. Besides the seriously problematic fact that the priestly blessing is fundamentally different than a blessing the laity can give – just the site of a parish giving a seeming Nazi salute is disconcerting.
The parish I went to this weekend engaged in the “let us have everybody shake hands and introduce their names before Mass started” form of faux community building. This is extended by the more common practice of the priest starting the Mass with a Hello, Good morning, ect, and ending the Mass with a “Have a nice weekend everybody”. In Persona Casual Guy. Judging by the amount of noise before Mass, community building is not exactly the weakness that needs to be corrected.
One commonality in both Mass Roulette and probably your local parish experience is that your sacred music experience will not be optimum. The idea that has come into play is that just as long as the text of the music is based on scripture that it automatically elevates the music to sacred music. The idea of sacred being something reserved and set apart is lost when the music itself is in the vein of so-called popular music. This is no new temptation, but a problem that has occurred throughout history. The majority of the music doesn’t pass what I call the “Barney Test” if the lyrics are changed and then sung by Barney and it doesn’t seem out-of-place – then it does not pass the Barney Test. The Mass I went to failed the Barney Test except for the closing hymn.
One of the odder things about this parish was that a medley of hymns was sung before Mass. That was a new one on me. Most of the hymns were at least not the common Haugen/Daas standards, but more of a contemporary Christian music flavor or somebodies idea of what a youth group would deem as worship music. In fact one of the hyms was from “Mercy Me” with these great sacred lyrics.
I’m finding myself at a loss for words
And the funny thing is it’s okay
The last thing I need is to be heard
But to hear what You would say
Silly me and here I thought I would never be singing the word “funny” at Mass. Well since I did not sing along with this hymn I guess I kept up my end of the bargain.
Now how did I know this song was from “Mercy Me”, well that was quite easily discerned since they projected the lyrics on the back of the sanctuary with the attribution. Which brings me to the local winkle for this parish.
In the back of the sanctuary was a fairly nice stain glass window with lots of blank wall space on either side. So on each side of the window they displayed various things onto the wall via two projectors. Sacred space and sacred projection space.
Now I have seen this practice once before, but that parish had stopped it due to I think the action of my last bishop. I am of mixed-minds on the use of a projector during Mass. I am not exactly a technophobe and I am not calling for the banning of microphones and electric lights at Mass for example. I just wonder how fitting this is and if it really solves a problem that needed solving.
On the plus side it certainly makes it easy to see the lyrics of the hymn without flipping pages and in my case having to grab my reading glasses. Giant letters are rather easy to read on a wall as king Belshazzar found out. Heck I didn’t even need Daniel to interpret them – except for maybe the Mercy Me lyrics. Before Mass they displayed bulletin announcements with dancing angel animations. We have progressed from bad bulletin clipart to bad bulletin animations.
Though one thing I really need to ask is if you are going to go this route do you really need to project the “Great Amen”? Wow how am I going to memorize that one without help. Let me see off the top of my head there is an Amen, followed by I think perhaps, Amen and just possibly the use of another Amen. Really hard to come up with a mnemonic for the Great Amen.
Going back to the Book of Daniel I actually got to witness one prophecy fulfilled.
And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.
What was the desolate abomination in the sanctuary foretold. Well at this parish it was Powerpoint. Yes they were using Powerpoint for all the “helpful” slides, a fact I had conjectured upon and had proved tom when towards the end of the Mass on the back of the sanctuary was displayed the Powerpoint window along with the operating system after the last slide was shown. Now if the Powerpoint program itself being projected on the sanctuary does not fulfill this prophecy I don’t know what would top it.
Now if you are going to project the lyrics of the hymn then why not the musical notation? I can’t sight-read that well, but well enough to get a clue. It just isn’t very helpful to not have this aid for unfamiliar hymns. Though again I am not really inclined to sing along with such hymns in the first place. I really don’t want to be a hymn-snob, but I find it hard to make the banal worshipful and I need all the help I can get. I just know that a majority of modern sacred music intended for worship should be placed in a Hymnul. Hymnull since mostly the music is “undefined, empty, or of meaningless value” which the programmer in me sees as defining “null” rather exactly.
One thing I am concerned with in the use of projectors during Mass is how long until it morphs to the “Sign of Peace Cam” where they single out signs-of-peacers for the camera’s attention. I really hope I am not giving anybody ideas since some of my parodies have turned prophetic.
Oh well maybe the next playing of Mass Roulette will match up a liturgical winner. Though with the Eucharist we are always winners.
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP with some excellent liturgical analysis.
By placing relevance and novelty above organic development and continuity, liturgical Poundians ignore the historical and ecclesial nature of the liturgy and privilege their subjective cultural assessments above the real spiritual needs of their charges. The widespread phenomenon of liturgical abuse is an insidious form of clericalism that encourages those with clerical power to use that power to inflict their private preferences, political agendas, and ideological quirks on congregations powerless to stop them. Though Catholics have seen a dramatic decline in liturgical abuse in the last twenty-years, abuses still occur, and in some places, abuses are the norm.
Liturgical abuse as clericalism is exactly right.
Like they say “Read the whole thing“