Which Catholic Priest is more "Extreme"?

You can't go to more than a couple of blogs before you hear words like "extreme Catholic", "uber-Catholic", "liberal/conservative Catholic", or something of that nature. Labels are thrown around, for better or worse, because we - the faithful, need a way to compartmentalize and organize our faith. We don't see continuity in our faith and so we have to draw lines simply to make sense of it all.

In many parishes those who kneel are extreme. In others those who hold hands during the Pater Noster (aka Our Father) are the extremists. So which is it? This might be a little unfair but I am going to use to simple pictures from posts regarding pictures taken at Masses this weekend and let you the reader be the judge.

Which priest is more "extreme"? Which conveys a "sense of the Sacred"?

Photo Credit: NLM - Buckfast Abbey, UK

OR

Photo Credit: Cleansing Fire - St. Mary's, Roch., NY

The enemy is within.

†††

Fr. Acervo: "Nothing...surpasses the Mass in terms of importance"

Fr. Acervo has been blogging quite frequently... wait, what? You don't read Fr. Acervo? Well, stop what you are doing and head over and check out his blog! Not only does he have a regular blog, but his site is full of his homilies, talks, and articles.

Now, he recently posted something that was originally on Vultus Christi, quoting Yves Congar. He adds his own personal thoughts to the matter, and I don't think this message could be stated any better. As Catholics the Mass and True Presence in the Blessed Sacrament are the best way to 'acquire the mind of the Church.' As Congar and Fr. Acervo explain:

New Liturgical Movement points to the blog, Vultus Christi, and a quote from Yves Congar, the French Dominican theologian. Congar writes (my own emphasis added):

Nothing is more educative for man in his totality than the liturgy. The Bible is certainly a marvelous teacher of prayer, of the sense of God and of the adult convictions of conscience. Used alone, the Bible might produce a Christian of the Puritan tradition, an individualist and even a visionary. The liturgy, however, is the “authentic method instituted by the Church to unite souls to Jesus” (Dom Maurice Festugière). The sort of Christian produced by an enlightened and docile participation in the liturgy is a man of peace and unified in every fibre of his human nature by the secret and powerful penetration of faith and love in his life, throughout a period of prayer and worship, during which he learned, at his mothers knee and without effort, the Church’s language: her language of faith, love, hope, and fidelity. There is no better way of acquiring “the mind of the Church” in the widest and most interior interpretation of this expression.

Congar is not downplaying the importance of Scripture here. Rather, he is pointing out what the Catholic Church has always taught: “the Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 1324), that while Christ is present in His priests, His Word, and in His people, He is present “especially under the Eucharistic species” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, n. 7), and that while “the sacred liturgy does not exhaust the entire activity of the Church” (SC, 9), it is “the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows” (SC, 10).

Nothing, therefore, surpasses the Mass in terms of importance. We should elevate the importance of Sacred Scripture. Unfortunately, there are those who do so to the point that they end up devaluing the excellence of the Eucharist and the Church’s sacred liturgy. The intention is good, but the result is disastrous to our faith and spiritual formation. Lots of Christians have the Bible; Catholics have the Eucharist.

I recently attended a talk where one of the speakers said, “We are careful that not a particle of the Eucharist falls to the ground. We should also be careful that not a particle of the Word proclaimed at Mass falls to the ground unheard”. OK…I get the speaker’s point: when the Word is read at Mass, we should pay attention, and homilists should help us to understand what God is saying to us through His Word. But the Eucharist is called the Real Presence for a reason – while Christ is present in His minister, Word, and people, He is really present in the Eucharist. Not making an effort to pay attention to the readings at Mass is sinful. Not making an effort to care for the Eucharist in a reverent way is sacrilege and results in the malformation of the people’s faith. There’s a big difference.

Elevate Christ’s presence in every way that He is present, but not at the expense of His Real Presence in the Eucharist and in the sacred liturgy.

†††

CNS - Promoting Eucharistic Adoration

A video has come to my attention produced for the Cardinal Newman Society about Promoting Eucharistic Adoration & Miracles Exhibit.

AdorationU.com from Cardinal Newman Society on Vimeo.

Now for my tastes I think, this video is a little cheesey and "under"-produced (in terms of music, acting, script) but it sends the right message and made me think about Adoration. Specifically, I wonder what would happen if everyone would spend just one hour during lent in Adoration? Imagine what it would do to a parish... just one hour per person? It'll never happen, mostly because people think they are much too busy, but could you imagine the impact... I can and it is beautiful. I have heard such amazing stories about how Adoration has changed entire parishes when the full congregation committed themselves to it. I pray that one day my parish will answer the call and be willing to be changed for good.

†††

True Presence - True Courage: Reclaiming Reverence

You will not like this post. Many of you will be disappointed, think I am wrong, and may even stop reading this blog. I am willing to risk that because I feel strongly about one topic: The True Presence in the Eucharist. If you know me at all, I don't pull punches, and I'd rather be wrong and invoke a little thought, than be polite and sit back and watch our Faith be destroyed

···•°···

I really believe that the #1 problem in our faith right now is that we as Catholic's don't truly believe in the True Presence. I know this because of the way people act around the Blessed Sacrament. We don't genuflect, we don't receive the Eucharist in a respectful way, and we have "cattle calls" at Mass to all get our hand outs. Everyone is a part of the problem, Priests, EMHC's, the faithful -- we are the problem.

I told you, you will not like this post. Watch at Mass next time the way Communion is distributed. I have seen more reverence at public functions where they pass out concert tickets. It is a disgrace and now, the haphazard and sloppy way we distribute the Body of Christ has infected those that try and do it in a reverent way. So much so, that some have decided that changing how they receive is the only option to continue doing so in a reverent way.

···°•···

What do I mean? Well I recently read Danielle Bean's post on the NCR:

Danielle Bean  

I could be stubborn and insist upon receiving on the tongue because I have a right to, even when the challenges it causes become a distraction to myself and others. But that doesn’t seem like something Christ would want me to do.

Jesus is Jesus, in my hand or on my tongue.

And that is why I am 90% convinced that from now on, when I receive the Eucharist from an EMHC, I should put my own preferences aside and receive in the way that is least likely to cause confusion and distraction—in the hand.

O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like yours!

Now, I don't blame Ms. Bean. In fact, shame on the EMHC. Seriously. They are so proud and haughty, thinking they play an important role in the Mass. Running up to the Altar and "playing priest." Well Mrs. EMHC you role is to know how to properly distribute Communion. Your role is to know how Jesus can be best handled. Who are you to think you are worthy to even touch our Lord? I am not even worthy to receive him, let alone control who does and doesn't get to receive him. It kills me that someone honestly feels that they are some how wrong for wanting to receive in the most humble way possible. It isn't a preference. I really don't blame Ms. Bean, she is simply trying to be the most humble and gracious servant of the Lord. She is trying to be humble for herself, and for the EMHC. What a pity.

What if we all said one day, "I am only receiving from a priest, and on the tongue." Not because EMHC's are wrong to utilize, but when they can't perform their function correctly... it is time for a change. What if we all just lined up in the priest's line and made that statement. Sure, you could say it politicizes the Mass, but what are they, the EMHC doing with their added blessings, their words beyond "The Body of Christ," their eyerolls when we receive on the tongue, or worse when we kneel to receive? Every time we bend and break our traditions for the "nicety" of others, we destroy the faith. We become the problem, we become the Judas, we become the Peter. "Oh no Lord, I would never deny knowing you!" I'd say we are on about strike two, wouldn't you?

···•°···

If we don't get the courage to fight for our Faith, it will quickly evolve into something foreign to us. It will no longer be the True Faith, but some faith. If we don't start acting like we actually believe in the True Presence, we will lose the Truth.

Again, I don't blame Danielle Bean, she is simply explaining how the Catholic Faith in this country has been distorted and lost to the proud and haughty hands of others. The True Presence has been hidden by those who are more interested in form over substance. We must storm against the eradication of truth and the distortion of The Faith. We must have Priests, the faithful, and especially EMHC stand up and say, "I want to do what is right for the Lord, I want to reclaim reverence for the True Presence!"

"The Kingdom of Heaven suffers much violence, and the violent are taking it by force!"

-Matthew 11:12

†††

Cave to Cathedral...

2000 years ago... a man and a Woman were traveling far; obeying their government and obeying their God. They needed a place to stay; the Woman with Child. All they found that night was a cave...

After a few hundred years it is good to know they finally found their home.

(Photos are all from random searches and are for representative purposes only.)

Fr. Corapi: The Importance of the Tabernacle

Fr. Corapi was on EWTN tonight saying the Rosary, and it was a scriptural Rosary [which is really awe inspiring especially with someone like Fr. Corapi] so there was an aspect of "learning" involved. As always, he taught me a few things and lead me to "discover" things on my own.

The first thing Fr. Corapi said that got me thinking was that Mary carried within her the "Word." Christ, the Word of God, was carried within her, much as the way the the Ark of the Covenant carried within it the "word of God" when it held in it the 10 Commandments & manna from Heaven. She became the blessed vessel which held the Truth and the Bread of Life.

Fr. Corapi further explained, during one of the Mysteries, that Bethlehem, the birthplace of Christ, means "House of Bread" in Hebrew. A fact such as this clearly is not easily lost on anyone. It shocked me, mostly because I was not aware of this fact, but also because I didn't realize just how important the vessel of Christ is.

As I meditated [and did the rest of the Rosary with Fr. Corapi] it came over me how important and sacred the tabernacle of Christ is. While in Michgan, the church I attended - Our Lady of Good Counsel, didn't have a tabernacle at all when I first started attending. As the new Pastor Fr. John Ricardo established himself, one of the first outward acts he did was to bring the tabernacle into the church, into the sanctuary and behind the Altar. This created a very important visual and spiritual alignment of sanctuary, Altar, Tabernacle, and Crucifix.

When I got to Alaska, I have found that neither of the local churches have the tabernacle within the sanctuary. I know that the rubrics on Tabernacles are somewhat cumbersome and multiplicitous, not so much out of their own nature but more out of their implementation and practice, but there are definitely more reasoned and meaningful placements than others. Considering the purpose of the tabernacle in todays faith, the placement of the tabernacle I believe takes on a crucial role.

Once the tabernacle was a place to house Christ for the sick and infirm unable to come to Mass. During this period [essentially up and to the 1960's] the tabernacle was one of many, because there were multiple altars and tabernacles. The churches were more ornate and the focus of an entering person could be drawn in several directions, all of which holy. Nowadays though there is a sense of confusion or a sense of void when one enters some of the modern churches. Blank walls, the lack of statues & icons, and "misplaced" tabernacles. [I use misplaced because tabernacle placement is open to some interpretation and therefore I don't want to be imprecise in my critique.]

What do I mean by misplaced? Observe people entering pews on Sunday, especially in churches with tabernacles not behind the altar. Where do they genuflect? Toward the altar, 9 times out of 10. Why is this? I suggest two reasons: (1) Because they never learned why or to what they were genuflecting to & (2) when you don't know why you do something, it is done out of habit and not out of purpose. Now don't get me wrong, I don't think people are "bad" for genuflecting in this manner. At least they are making an attempt. Instead I blame those that have the tabernacle in a place which helps facilitate this confusion and practice.

For example, in the church I attend, we have a fully blank back wall in the sanctuary. No statutes, no tabernacle, "no anything." Instead, outside of the sanctuary, next to it in an alcove is the tabernacle. It is a nicely painted alcove, and it is in a semi prominent place, but when you enter and see the altar and crucifix hanging above it your attention is not drawn to the tabernacle... the vessel containing the TRUE PRESENCE OF CHRIST. Which in turn not only creates confusion, but also facilitates the lack of reverence for the True Presence which many parishes are experiencing.

I wish that we could get all churches to bring the tabernacle into the sanctuary, or at least create a grand place of prominence for it. It should be a place where we can worship Christ outside of the Mass, and in which constant attention is drawn to it. Until that happens though, I hope more of us will understand the importance of the tabernacle and remember to show it proper reverence.