Now call me crazy, but these pictures show a beauty and grandeur that most (but not all) in our Church have never been able to experience. It seems to me that most, if not all of our fellow Catholics long for this sort of liturgy which will truly lift their hearts and minds toward heavenly things rather than earthly things.
Please, however, don't hear me saying that the only way to return that beauty and grandeur to our liturgies is to only use the Tridentine Rite or to only offer the Mass of Paul VI (the Mass most of us are used to) in Latin. What I am saying is that we should offer the Mass of Paul VI as the Church intended (not what some people THINK the Church intended). If we do that faithfully, the beauty and grandeur of the Mass will return and our hearts and minds will be lifted toward heavenly, rather than lowering them to the ordinary and mundane.
4 comments:
I agree,pretty awesome pics, also wanted to say i like the new location and look of your blog, hope it is more user friendly and keeps the focus positive on the Lord :)
Yes a beauty and grandeur but it also helped the people feel separated from the liturgy. Always strange how the overwhelming majority of those who actually knew the Latin Mass do not want to go back to it while those who never knew it claim how great it is.
Father Christesen, if those images lift your mind to heavenly things then you are certainly entitled to your opinion, and I think many would agree with you. But I would hesitate to say all or even most would. When i see these images, all i can think of is royalty, and the kings and queens of medievel times. It is honestly difficult for me to picture Jesus participating in such pomp and circumstance. Yes, it is beautiful and grandiose, and has its place, but it does not lift my soul toward the heavenly nearly as much as other environments have. To me it is sometimes (ironically) the earthly things that lift my mind toward the heavenly: a hike on the prairie, sitting atop a mountain, being alone in the desert. I have also gotten this sense of the heavenly while at Mass - but not because of the decor or the vestments or the gold - its because of the sense of community I have felt in some parishes ...as I held hands with fellow Catholics, or stood beside them by candlelight, or sung with them in harmony.. and truly feelt I am part of a family along with them - all as equals before God, all of us The Church. For me, that is when my soul is lifted to the heavenly.
Do you suppose we could schedule the handholding by candlelight for a weeknight, so it doesn't conflict with the holy sacrifice of the mass on Sundays?
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