I think I have ADD too!
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I really think so - I think I've always had it. I think this blog proves it.
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I was thinking that to esteem one Mass over another can't be pleasing to God.
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I may be wrong, and believe me, I often am - which is why I go to confession so much, but it seemed to me last evening while speaking to my pastor after Mass that he has no intention whatsoever of changing the way he celebrates Mass. He celebrates the ordinary form of course, and he celebrates it well - meaning according to the GIRM. I'm not a big fan of the music of course, but I've always been a low-Mass kind of guy anyway and I like silence - which is hard to come by these days.
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So anyway - it seems to me since the Extraordinary Form has been made available and while the Ordinary Form is the norm, that to denigrate one order of Mass while exalting the other (when both are celebrated according to the rubrics, that is), can't be pleasing to God. To esteem one over the other, as if God is not served by one or the other, strikes me as rather arrogant.
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The wedding guest who was not properly dressed.
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The Church is filled with all sorts of people... good and bad. That's what today's Gospel [Matthew 22: 1-14] tells me at least. Until last night's homily, I never considered that the reason the guest was dressed improperly at the wedding feast was because he had refused to accept the wedding garment the king provided for the guests to wear. Actually, I don't know how I used to think of the expelled guest, but last night Father pointed to another interpretation I hadn't considered before. The man's refusal to accept the wedding garment from the king can be compared to those who come into the Church on their own terms - refusing to accept Church teaching, yet expecting to take their place at the table. Or worse, they expect the Church to change her teaching to suit them. That isn't putting on Christ however.
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'New Media' and the Church.
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I'm thinking the importance of Catholic blogs, social media/Internet presence - the 'New Media' is somewhat over-rated. Something tells me it is in fact a small share of what happens online - celebrity news is probably a bigger market - I know an interior designer who has more readers than a popular Catholic blogger. My point here is that some online personalities really inflate their importance - granted, they influence their followers and their critics, and like pamphleteers in the 16th century, they influence more people than they'd otherwise have a 'right' to, but I'm not sure they always speak for the majority of Catholics faithful to the Pope: those who continue to pray, pay and obey. And incidentally John Allen, that isn't a bad thing - pre-Vatican II complacency my ass. Tell Dorothy Day that.
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Put your wedding garment on boys.
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Oh! Oh! One more factoid: Contrary to popular theory and self-promotional claims by entrepreneurial and enterprising Catholic bloggers, I'm fairly certain that the majority of priests in the world are much too busy to be reading blogs which pit one Catholic against another Catholic, while condemning the rest of the world to hell... Some folks can't be convinced of that however.
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Art: Wood carving of a pig playing an organ. Source
i've been giving this a lot of thought this year. i criticize my parish because of the lack of silence and overall protestantization of the parish in general (very loud greeters at the entrances, talking, calling the vestibule a lobby, videos in the sanctuary) and the general casualness of a couple priests (giggling when he fumbles his 'lines' before the holy, holy, holy; tossing the finger towel to the server when he's done with a wink & a smile) and the list goes on in my head ... and while i still think these are legitimate gripes, the problem at the bottom of it all is ME and my lack of accepting people for who & where they are. it's still the Mass and truth be told i'd rather have it in english & understand it vs. completely in latin (altho' if they'd teach us latin & use the latin, i'd be grateful). at the end of the day, the question remains: how stands my heart before God? no matter what changes on the outside, i still take myself wherever i go and the warfare is internal. may God give me love.
ReplyDeleteArrogance for the sake of God is a good thing, I say.
ReplyDeleteBut, whatever. I won't say which one is better. I just won't go to any other than the best.
Manic - the Church's Ordinary Form is the Church's ordinary form. And the Mass is the Mass. Such arrogance is not godly, not at all.
ReplyDeleteHasn't this blog allowed you to sell some of your campy paintings?
ReplyDeleteI think Terry allowed that comment either because it's a friendly joke, or a vicious and petty attack that he has allowed out of humility, but if it is the latter - really? How small and petty can you be?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous got the message, not to worry. ;)
ReplyDelete"Hasn't this blog allowed you to sell some of your campy paintings?"
ReplyDeleteJealous artists, they're everywhere.
Golly I've missed this place.
Getting to the topic of the post. I expect I am just a bit crazy, but when I get to Mass, I am usually just grateful to God for rescuing me from my latest near disaster or crumpled head experience and to find a Catholic Church open is such a gift. Not many countries have that freedom. They have to say Mass so secretly and urgently, there is no time for idiosyncra, idiosn, fuss pots with 'the' perfected liturgical recipe.
ReplyDeleteI accept if you find yourself in community or a very established parish, one's brain can't help but begin to notice and therefore 'mind' the priest, congregation responses etc but maybe my approach/mind is always on the precipice anyway, dunno really. I always look for Jesus at Mass and Our Lady, either in people or prayer.
Then again, it strikes me I am stuck fast at the age of eleven throughout this world. Even in meetings at work, I often find I am sitting on my hands. I looked it up, it means I am immature. (I know!)
I maybe shouldn't comment at all. But I do exist. I think and form thoughts.
Sorry, going off on one. I'll go back home.
I love the TLM, but like may evangelical protestants, many trads seem to lack one important thing when interacting with other people: a sense of tactfulness.
ReplyDeleteI don't *personally* think it's wrong to say that one rite is better than another in certain respects (e.g., one can say, for example, that one rite helps me get more closer to God than another), but I wouldn't shove it down other peoples throats so-to-speak, or needlessly make people feel bad about attending one particular rite.
And besides, I think deep down inside many of us who attend the NO would like the TLM better if only it were made available in our area (and if you don't consider the crazies)...
Terry routinely castigates others for their e-commerce.
ReplyDeleteWould he refuse to sell his treasured Saint Mathew Shepherd painting if he were offered cash?
"Terry routinely castigates others for their e-commerce."
ReplyDeleteWhy does that bother you particularly though?
And why aren't you brave enough to say who or where you are, the name of your blog I mean.
"Would he refuse to sell his treasured Saint Mathew Shepherd painting if he were offered cash?"
An artist is a bit different to a paypal box pleading for funds for new ipad/pods/thingies from amateur bloggers. It's called class, or taste.
Terry is an artist, a proper one. The people he mentions with thier blogging bowls are just plain cheeky, in the main. Their interior motive is fast cash or things they believe they deserve. The ones that make me the sickest are the ones promising special prayers for benefactors. Please!
Terry prays for me regardless. I never ever get the impression he is hoping I will one day invest financially in him. If I ever felt that pressure, I wouldn't visit here. Fact. Difference.
Oh, anonymous, also, your comment describing Terry's paintings as 'camp', was homophobic. That's against the catechism (as you will know if you are a learned judgmental sort). You'll need to get to confession with that one, it smacks of attitude ingrained. God love you. Once the priest has forgiven you for that sin, you will find your clarity of sight restored. It might make you more appreciative of Terry's work. Heck! You might even put in a bid or two.
ReplyDeleteChristmas is coming, after all! Treat someone you love.
That one has been sold Anonymous - if you'd like to commission one for yourself email me. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteFYI: Aside from numerous ads and sales apps on one priest's blog, along with a link to his little shop of Cafe Press kitch, the man has 6 separate apps for donations.
ReplyDeleteI do not advertise nor do I promote the sale of my campy paintings online.
Oh, Terry, you don't have ADD.
ReplyDeleteMost people see with one point perspective, as if they had a giant camera lens in the middle of their forehead. Life and the world is neatly ordered around a single vanishing point. Simple, but not true.
Others see with two eyes,and view the world with the shifting perspective of Cezanne. The one-eyed scoff, but it is closer to reality.
The artist, and the creative, see the world like a Cubist, able to hold several thoughts or points of view simultaneously. One view may predominate, but all are portrayed in order to convey a greater truth. What is done with ease by the artist is baffling, or intriguing, to a receptive viewer, and heresy to the one-eyed.
The artist indeed sees differently.
1 Maccabees, Chapter 4.
ReplyDeleteJudas Maccabeus restores the Temple in 152 B.C.
The Priests had been performing two rituals on the altar.
This did not please God.
Judas allowed only unblemished Priests that did not perform the new rituals.
He restored the Menorahs, the candlesticks, and Holy Objects that had been discarded by the modernists Priest that performed two types of rituals, thus desecrating the original altar.
His actions pleased God.
It is no wonder Jews are upset that Mel Gibson is preparing a Maccabees movie.
We should look at two rituals in this light and see what God has said and done about two rituals.
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Well, Pablo, since the Pope and all the licit Bishops seem to celebrate the Novus Ordo for the most part, I guess the Tridentine folk will have some 'splainin' to do.
ReplyDeleteSo, you use your website to hawk your decorations?
ReplyDelete"Terry is an artist, a proper one. The people he mentions with thier blogging bowls are just plain cheeky, in the main. Their interior motive is fast cash or things they believe they deserve. The ones that make me the sickest are the ones promising special prayers for benefactors. Please!"
ReplyDeleteTerry isn't that far removed from what you describe.
How is he an artist in any sense and what would be wrong with him selling his "art" anyway as long as someone wanted to buy it.
Sounds like you're both doing a lot of judging of people's motives.
Terry says other bloggers have their bowls out, but he has a bowl out too.
He just likes to crow about how he doesn't get paid for doing this, when he clearly does. But it makes no difference after that whether he's pandering to homosexuality in one way or another with his Mathew Shepherd painting, or even fawning over Micheal Bailey's "well-crafted posts" or making excuses for the other ambiguous types on here, when clearly he does.
Anonymous - you are an interesting little guy, aren't you. I wish you would reveal your true identity and express what really bothers you about me so much.
ReplyDeleteI guarantee you, I do not have a bowl out asking for alms or donations, nor do I make a profit from any sale of the paintings I make.
I don't know how you think you know me, but from your assertions I can tell you obviously do not know me - say what you will.
Anomymous, just because he doesn't want to hang homosexuals doesn't mean he agrees with their agenda, and Terry's been quite persistent in supporting the Church's teachings.
ReplyDeleteAnd I have never felt like he was trying to hawk his art - in fact, he does take money for art, but from what I can tell it's not done here. And who cares anyway?