The People at Mass

Pope Benedict XVI, writing as then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, wrote in his seminal book, The Spirit of the Liturgy, this regarding applause:

Wherever applause breaks out in the liturgy because of some human achievement, it is a sure sign that the essence of liturgy has totally disappeared and been replaced by a kind of religious entertainment. Such attractiveness fades quickly--it cannot compete in the market of leisure pursuits, incorporating as it increasingly does various forms of religious titillation.

He went on further to say:

Liturgy can only attract people when it looks, not at itself, but at God, when it allows him to enter and act. Then something truly unique happens, beyond competition, and people have a sense that more has taken place than a recreational activity.

So the question becomes why ever would we applause during a Mass? I could even argue against my beloved Pope and say that there could be times, times where we honor God through our cultural norm, the applause. But then I think back to these quotes and wonder if it ever could be appropriate and I think it not to be so. What really solidifies this in my heart is the following regarding our actions at Mass even in the context of proper actions:

Of course, external actions--reading, singing, the bringing up of the gifts--can be distributed in a sensible way. By the same token, participation in the Liturgy of the Word (reading, singing) is to be distinguished from the sacramental celebration proper. We should be clearly aware that external actions are quite secondary here. Doing really must stop when we come to the heart of the matter: the oratio. It must be plainly evident that the oratio is the heart of the matter, but that it is important precisely because it provides a space for the actio of God. Anyone who grasps this will easily see that it is not now a matter of looking at or toward the priest, but of looking together toward the Lord and going out to meet him. The almost theatrical entrance of different players into the liturgy, which is so common today, especially during the Preparation of the Gifts, quite simply misses the point. If the various external actions (as a matter of fact, there are not very many of them, though they are being artificially multiplied) become the essential in the liturgy, if the liturgy degenerates into general activity, then we have radically misunderstood the "theo-drama" of the liturgy and lapsed almost into parody. True liturgical education cannot consist in learning and experimenting with external activities. Instead one must be led toward the essential actio that makes the liturgy what it is, toward the transforming power of God, who wants, through what happens in the liturgy, to transform us and the world. In this respect, liturgical education today, of both priests and laity, is deficient to a deplorable extent. Much remains to be done here.

At Mass this weekend, applause not only "broke out" but was asked for by the priest at 3 or 4 different points in the Mass. On top of that, the Preparation of the Gifts was more of a "Parade of Things" and took quite a while. All done for the sake of making this particular Mass more meaningful than it already was. This to me seems quite paradoxical, at least so far as the meaning that was sought was an internal meaning of those in attendance.

I am fearful that at my parish we have lost the importance of the Mass and as a "community" we have degenerated into an assembly of "believers" that comes together for unity's sake and not for the worship and devotion to God.

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