Recovering from the flu.
I finally made it to Mass and confession yesterday. I was able to spend time in adoration but had to leave because my cough, which sounds bad, was scaring other adorers. I had to leave Mass early as well.
I just want to mention a couple of things I think need to change at Mass - especially in flue season. Stop holding hands and giving the sign of peace. Just stop it. I have a feeling that could be how I got sick in the first place. Not sure.
Now that I'm old, I have difficulty kneeling, so I have to go to confession face to face, because I can sit. Face to face confession is distracting. I don't know where to look, and I forget that I'm confessing to Christ and I get caught up in the personality of the priest, and sometimes get confused. I'm not looking for approval or anything like that, but it sometimes breaks down to a more natural exchange - I'm not sure how well I expressed that.
In the Mass and contemporary homiletics, as well as face to face confession, there can be a self-conscious concern for 'performance' and an expectation of reward or at least approval and affirmation. I wouldn't mind some reform of the Mass and the sacraments more in line with the traditional rites.
Just saying. I don't want to spend the rest of my life complaining or arguing about stuff like this, it's just that I kind of get why younger people are attracted to the traditional rite. There is something banal about the ordinary form as it is celebrated in parish communities.
The announcements before the final blessing along with some of the fund raising presentation performances, strike me as especially disconcerting. It's usually all in the bulletin or online. What a huge distraction from any recollection attained in Holy Communion, despite the constant singing throughout the thanksgiving. (If I remember correctly there was very little musical accompaniment during Lent - not now of course.) No wonder a huge cacophony of greetings and conversation erupts immediately after Mass.
Looks like I'm whining again. My apologies. I'm just an ordinary layman, steeped in sin since birth.
Terry, I'm glad you felt well enough to go to Mass. I find the sign of peace problematic because sometimes I have a cold or other communicable malady. People extend their hands to me and I have to say, "I have a cold, I have a cold" to all around me. I figure that's nobody's business, but I don't want them to feel hurt when I don't shake their hands. I avoid holding hands during the Our Father. Jesus did not hold hands with His disciples when He taught the Our Father. He extended His arms up to heaven, where the Father is. That's what I do. However, sometimes I go to Mass at a parish where people are so eager to show how much they love one another that hand-holding during the Our Father is more or less mandatory. Then they go around and hug everybody. Saying "I have a cold" is particularly difficult there. Sometimes instead of "I have a cold," my thought is "I don't want a cold."
ReplyDeleteCome to St John's. No sign of peace in Byzantine rite.
ReplyDeleteGlad you're feeling better and I love everything you just wrote.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of your comments. I too do not like the announcements, silly skits, fund raising pitches and how much we need to up donations to the Bishop's annual appeal. I decline the hand holding when sick and avoid those who are sick when I am healthy. We have gone through the great your neighbor at the beginning of Mass, the greeters at the door and others contieved ways to get everyone familiar with each other. It is always mandatory and awkward. I too miss the reflective contemplative time that the traditional ways gave us. As the numbers decline in attendance I suspect we will see an increase in the old ways coming back. As for confession, while good intentioned, face to face is awkward and more like a counseling session or spiritual advisor meeting. I go to a traditional church where you stand in line. In Rome, at the Basilica of St. John Latern you could stand in the confessional. We need that here too since most our age have problems kneeling.
ReplyDeleteI am in the middle of a terrible cold and probably shouldn't have taken my germy self to Mass on Sunday. I made sure to cough into my elbow and only wipe my nose with my left hand because I knew there'd be little reprieve from the hand shaking.
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Luckily most dropped the hand holding during the Our Father a number of years ago. Many use the orans posture now but I always understood that was only for the priest, at least during Mass. It's always best to close my eyes so I can concentrate on the prayer, not others.
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We have the option to kneel behind a screen for confession or sit face to face. Luckily Father closes his eyes during the whole confession and I look at the stole that is draped onto his knees. There are crosses embroidered on the stole. It helps me to remember who I am really confessing to.
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At the Latin Mass I used to attend near my son's house (he moved away from there recently) the priest would make the announcements after the Gospel and before he started the homily. I always thought that was odd. It's like...we interrupt this sacred and holy Mass in Latin for this commercial break (and the occasional Sermon of The Amount).
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Like Wallace stated so succinctly, we have gone through 'contrived ways to get everyone familiar with each other.' I met some of my closest church friends because we were in bible study together or kept showing up at Adoration at the same time. This common interest gave us something to talk about as we got to know each other better.
I was once at a Mass where a well-dressed middle-aged woman who obviously had a case of basal thumb arthritis, let out an audible shriek when an elderly man shook her hand during the sign of peace. "Let go! Not so hard! Owwww". I wanted to melt in the pew. Now I have arthritis in my hand and the handshake is a bit of penance. I don't want to wear my support glove, because then I'd want to take it off for Communion and the velcro makes that hideous ripping noise. Ah, modern problems...
ReplyDeleteFor Confession, I agree that it is distracting to do it face-to-face. There are some options you might try. If I can't use a kneeler behind a screen for some reason, I sometimes will turn the chair and sit with my side to the priest, or even turn it all the way around. Explaining, of course, why I am doing this. I also always keep my head down and my eyes on the ground, even as the priest is giving me counsel and my penance. Don't be afraid to explain why you adopt this posture.
ReplyDeleteI do count my self lucky in that in my parish, all announcements are before Mass has started, and during cold and flu season the priest adds to those announcements that he asks us not to hold hands during the Our Father and says he will say the Sign of Peace, but not tell us to offer each other peace, and also that the Precious Blood will not be distributed to the faithful for the duration of the season. He has our Bishop's permission for this. A lot of us have told him our thanks because like others here have mentioned, it means we don't have to feel bad about not holding hands or offering the Sign of Peace because we are sick/don't want to get sick.
I have many of the same complaints as you. It all boils down to being distracted for the real reason for Mass - to be with Our Lord. For me the solution is to go to a 7:30 am Mass on Sunday, I rarely shake anyone’s hand - we do the wave of peace for the most part - and, there is no singing! I find most contemporary music to be distracting. Most people who go to such an early Mass are there because they want to be, and not just as an obligation.
ReplyDeleteOn the weekdays I go to 7:00 am Mass. We do shake hands, but it is mostly the same people and they feel like family.
Early morning masses are the best. It is so peaceful and quiet, both inside and outside the Church, even here in NYC.
BTW, your last sentence is why I continue to read your blog.
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