I've been offline for 3 days. I'm having work done on the house - new windows installed. I should be back online sometime tomorrow. I noticed one or two posts received a great deal of comments - what's up with that? I didn't have time to read them yet - sorry. I also received a ton of emails - I will try to respond the next chance I get. Thanks.
It has been kind of a nice break actually.
It has been kind of a nice break actually.
Well I didn't start it, it was the others Terry. I was just in the combox looking for a cardigan I'd misplaced and and suddenly a load of them turned up, all fighting and saying how we should or shouldn't behave in Mass. Then Sharon Gee came in wearing a lace leotard (bless her, she was attempting a trad look)saying how we should all just stretch out our arms and forgive each other and start sharing 'the' love but your combox is awfully cramped and I've been telling you to put an extension in for months and the coffee machine needs replacing and biscuits occasionally would be a distraction, but anyway, all those different types (yes there are types) of catholics stuck in one corridor of a combox, altogether, it just doesn't mingle nicely. Someone had sat in my chair and would not move no matter how strangely I looked at them, so I just ended up standing at the bar in the end but I didn't drink fortunately. I did hear that someone had advertised a party on facebook, in your combox, knowing that you were away, so maybe that's why so many showed up?
ReplyDeleteOr was it all a crazy dream?
What?
Shadowlands, you forgot the anonymous commenters taking potshots at people, the person stalking Charlotte, the anonymous "God will kill all you Novus Ordos" commenter, and me, Mercury, weaving my own fears and neuroses into the conversation. Oddly enough, the conversation didn't turn to "the gays" and Michael Bayly never showed up. Pablo was also strangely absent.
ReplyDeleteOf course, who can forget Sharon Gee?
That com-box was exhausting. I couldn't sleep for hours afterward, and I wasn't even involved.
ReplyDeleteMercury said:
ReplyDelete"Shadowlands, you forgot the anonymous commenters taking potshots at people, the person stalking Charlotte, the anonymous "God will kill all you Novus Ordos"
Oh they were real people? I thought they were reels of old films being replayed over and over and over and over and overrrrrrrr .........so I didn't really take any notice. ;)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletelmao @shadlowlands.
ReplyDeleteI was about ready to go run tell Dad that everyone was throwing sand in the sandbox, stealing toys and pulling hair...
ReplyDeleteBut then that would be tattling.. :)
Sara
Oh they were real people?
ReplyDeleteYes, with real feelings. Imagine that, Shadwolands?
Terry - you haven't missed anything....except that Cathy of Alex got drunk, Adrienne stole some of your plants from the garden, and I made a few prank calls from your phone.
ReplyDeleteThis "Anonymous" loves you all! So there.
ReplyDeleteTerry, you can take breaks, but please don't leave us. I promise to never be "Anonymous" again.
....sulking away....
While everyone was distracted I managed to hoist a plethora of hosta.
ReplyDeleteThanks for ratting me out, Larry /sarc. I'm going to hop in my peddle car and head over to your place and drop off a cadre of screaming little kids who will spill their Cheerios all over your front porch.
Maria said/quoted
ReplyDelete"Oh they were real people?
Yes, with real feelings. Imagine that, Shadwolands."
So Maria, you are now giving out suggestions, re my need to empathise with fellow Catholics who post anonymous comments, threaten mothers with social services and damn all N.O Mass observers??!?
Oh, right. It's only in Mass that we can be super judgmental to the point of telling women and children to stay the heck away from 'our' Mass, (albeit a family one)also other undesirables who may or may not be living according to church teaching, we can't know for sure, but we can darn well presume and protest as all our religious fervour must be God directed and done in pure surroundings. This is the measuring stick we ourselves get measured with eventually.
What if I keep seeing Christ in my excluded brother? Or in the noisy child even? What if the only place I find it hard to see Him, is in the uber exclusive spiritual elite Mass, where I know that contrary to everybody concentrating on God alone, they are actually having their foibles itched to the max by the fella to the left or the family to the right or the priest to the front. However, they are not their own problem. Others are!
Hahahahhahahahaha!
We get peeved, all of us. But don't exclude each other because of this. Attending Mass may be the only religious act a person does in a world throwing sin at us day and night.
We should encourage people more, not discourage until they are suitable to be presented. Knowing one is truly welcome might have a better effect on behaviour than having to get past the catholic gestapo and I wish I was using that term figuratively, but I'm not.
I dunno, maybe I am just not 'getting it' and don't imagine that doesn't stalk me, that thought I mean. I have been told by a few Catholic bloggers what's in store for me, they use manipulative mind binding words to tip me into their form of belief, it only tempts me to despair. It is not Catholic evangelisation, infact a priest told me that this form of coercion is as big a sin as witchcraft and belongs in the same pit they would have me thrown into. It's a tactic of hell you see, not the Holy Spirit. So, if you hear me defending the weak, the frightened, the non Latin speakers, NEVER, EVER imagine that I do not care about people's feelings. I will always defend the unheard feelings, or mocked feelings, such as those of children, the elderly (who some fervent trad Catholics insult and wish in the most derogatory terms, for their soon to be bilogical end as they direct their own personal form of worship exclusively towards the Lord in Mass).
I have no desire to be a part of them. A world without the marginalised being made welcome is a world where I do not wish to worship!
My message of sensitivity, as requested by you Maria, for me to imagine, is this:
"Come unto Me, all you who labour and are heavily burdened and I WILL give you rest" 1 Peter 5:7
That's moms, dads, babies and any man, woman or child in need of salve.
Returning to Orthodoxy
ReplyDeleteWhat do parishioners really want?
On June 24th a Chicago priest, Pastor of St thomas Church, sent this letter out to all of his parishioners, concerning reverence of the Holy Eucharist:
To the parishioners of St. Thomas
Dear Friends in the Lord,
I was alarmed by a statistic I heard this weekend. Only 27 percent of Catholics in the United States believe in the Real Presence. The doctrine of the Real Presence is at the very heart of the Catholic faith. The doctrine of the Real Presence is the belief that Jesus is really, physically, present in the form of bread and wine. This idea draws together all the central teachings of Christian faith. It is the Incarnation, the Redemption, the Resurrection, the unity of the Body of Christ, and the promise and foretaste of heaven.
If we don't believe in the Real Presence, we might as well close the church. In fact, we are facing a generation of young people who are largely lost to the church because we have not given them the precious gift that is at the heart of Catholicism, that is the Real Presence of Jesus. Mass has become simply a drama, a vehicle for whatever agenda is currently popular. The church building is no longer a place of encounter with the Lord but a sort of a social center--not a place of prayer, rather a place of chatter.
In many churches, including our own, the tabernacle was moved from the center of the church to add emphasis to the Mass and the presence of the Lord in the reception of Holy Communion. The experiment, however, has failed. We have lost the sense of the sacred that formerly was the hallmark of Catholic worship. The behavior of many in the church is outrageous. When Mass is over it is impossible to spend time in prayer. The noise level reaches the pitch that one would expect at a sporting event. The kiss of peace seems like New Year's Eve. Christ is forgotten on the altar.
You may counter that he is present in the gathering of the Church, and though this is true, it should not detract from the Lord present on the altar. If the Lord is truly recognized in the congregation, it should serve to enhance the sacredness of the moment. This is simply not happening. The sign of peace in most churches has all the sacredness of an Elks convention--no offense to the Elks. We are teaching our children by what we do and the way we are behaving that there is nothing special about that little white round thing, it's just a piece of bread. Usually wedding photographers set up their equipment right in front of the tabernacle and I have to ask them to move. They have no idea what that little box is for.
PART II
ReplyDeleteWorse still, I remember walking into church one afternoon to find some of the men of the parish smoking and drinking beer directly in front of the tabernacle as they worked on some "liturgical" project or other. After Mass on Sunday the church is littered with cigarette butts, gum, wrappers, the refuse of snacks, broken toys brought to entertain unruly children, and all manner of filth.
Therefore, I have decided to restore the tabernacle to its former place in the middle of the sanctuary and to begin a campaign of re-education as to the sacredness of the meaning of the Real Presence. This means that I will nag and nag until a sense of the sacred is restored. I will be reminding you that a respectful quiet will have to be maintained in church. Food and toys and socializing are welcome elsewhere, but the church is the place for an encounter with the loving God. It will not be a popular policy, but this is unimportant.
If you object, please tell me why. I will not begin this change until July. Let me know what you think. I can hear one objection already. Where will the priest sit? I will sit where the priest has traditionally sat over on the side of the sanctuary. Here as in many churches the "presider's" chair was placed where the tabernacle had been. I am sick of sitting on the throne that should belong to my lord. The dethronement of the Blessed Sacrament has resulted in the enthronement of the clergy, and I for one am sick of it. The Mass has become priest-centered. The celebrant is everything. I am a sinner saved by grace as you are and not the center of the Eucharist. Let me resume my rightful place before the Lord rather than instead of the Lord. I am ordained to the priesthood of Christ in the order of the presbyter, and as such I do have a special and humbling role. I am elder brother in the Lord and with you I seek to follow Him and to worship.
Please, please let me return Christ to the center of our life together where he belongs.
In the Lord,
Father Rich Simon
Oh, the parishoners were thrilled.
:)
The Real Presence
ReplyDeleteAn elementary understanding of Jesus in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist
by Lee Ann Schoofs
Dedicated to
Fr. John Anthony Hardon, S.J.
Of Blessed Memory
Year of the Eucharist
July 2005
With the blessing of His Excellency, Most Rev. Raymond L. Burke
National Director of the Marian Catechist Apostolate
The Gold of our Silence
When the three kings came to adore the little Jesus as the new born King, they offered Him gold. It was the best they could give Jesus. As faith-filled Catholics, the best reverence and respect we can give Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament is the gold of our silence. Silence has a drawing quality. It literally draws our heart to the silent Heart of our Eucharistic Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament. That's the whole reason why Jesus is in the tabernacle - not to be ignored but to be adored. Silence before Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament draws us to adore Jesus alone. It helps us realize that Jesus' presence is more important than ours and deserves all our attention. It's just common sense when one realizes that first we owe our respect and reverence to God and not our neighbor. After all, we're only the creatures but He is the Lord. That is why silence should be strictly observed; it is the best reverence and respect we can give Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament. Except for times of formal public prayer we should always remain as quiet as possible before our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament and to help others to do the same by our good example.
30 years late, but better late than never...
ReplyDeleteAs a typical product of 1980s American suburbia, I can tell you honestly, I had no idea that Our Lord was really present, body, blood, soul and divinity in the Holy Eucharist until I was 16 years old. Imagine...16! After years of sitting in CCD classes that told us nothing other than God was love. Some SSPX neighbors of ours, shocked that I had never heard of the Transfiguration, handed me a Baltimore Catechism and told me to read it. They would call and make sure I was reading it. Was I reading it? I couldn't put it down. The simple, straightforward, questions and answers to the fundamentals of my faith was what my soul had been crying out for all those years. And once I knew with certainty that of Our Lord's presence I couldn't stay away. I began attended daily Mass before school, would rush over to the church after school to spend time before that glorious "little box."
My pastor, hell bent on locking the doors as soon as the morning Masses were over, practically barred me from the church. We had a few blowouts once he figured out how I was getting into the church "after hours" so to speak. Poor Msgr. D., may he rest in peace, I just wanted to be close to Jesus. Rock concerts? Shopping malls? This was the greatest show on earth and it was happening at my dull suburban parish church down the street! Who knew? So, I am sorry Msgr. D. for breaking and entering, but I just couldn't stay away.
This letter from the pastor is awesome! I hope it inspires other pastors to seriously get with it! 1970s Catholicism is OVER! It failed. Moving on...
Thanks for sharing this Maria.
UNBELIEVABLE. You just brought tears to my eyes, Clark. This is the point I have been trying to make. God love you...
ReplyDelete(waving white flag) I come in peace.
ReplyDeleteShadowlands, Larry, Sara, Adrienne:
ROFLAMO!
Lisa
SCC/LISA I, as well as some others, have been very hurt by many comments that have been made.
ReplyDeleteEnthenbreil *JMJ*--Speaking of me ie the third person is not necessrary. I am right here:)
So we are clear. I posted Shadwolands comments for a reason. You can see her blog. I posted this in response to her "calls for unity", a ther blog:
Rousing calls to charity frequently abound at sites like America Magzine after the editors have pummeled, demeaned and ridiculed posters who have taken a stand for the faith. This happens elsewhere.
You are free to give me thrashing in a public forum for suggesting that our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament deserves our reverence; however, your importations to charity, in light of your above comments, seem somehow oddly misplaced.
Maria
I realize that I am in the minority for my belief that our Lord is deserving of our reverence in the Blessed Sacrament in His ouw house. I expect to be ridiculed. It does not mean don't tire of it.
"I realize that I am in the minority for my belief that our Lord is deserving of our reverence in the Blessed Sacrament in His ouw house. I expect to be ridiculed. It does not mean don't tire of it."
ReplyDeleteI don't think you are in the minority for believing that. I think people are arguing about how to apply this to children, and how to judge/not judge other people who may be more ignorant.
+JMJ+
ReplyDeleteEnbrethiliel talks about lots of people in the third person, including herself. But she hasn't made any "importations" to "charity" in this thread or the other one (and has been trying pretty damn hard not to use the word "charity" lately, which makes her kind of pissed right now), so Maria's allusion to that seems further proof that Maria is no longer listening. Or if you wish to be literal, no longer reading. At least not with full comprehension.
Enbrethiliel will now go back to working on her post about Freddy Kreuger. Seriously.
So exactly how tall is her horse,lol?
ReplyDeleteEnbrethiliel - I read it and I'm scared now.
ReplyDelete