Where's the Reverence?
I have written on this blog before about how I do love my parish, but have been a little disheartened by things in recent times. I am here again with this same disheartened spirit. The behavior I witnessed before Mass this week has made it more so. Three weeks in a row I have been moved to tears over the lack of reverence our Lord is shown in His own home.
The last three weeks I have attended our 5:30 vigil Mass. I always arrive early to pray evening prayer from Magnificat and then just to sit with our Lord and prepare for Mass. Unfortunately I have had had to do this in the din of needless conversation. Last night I actually got up and moved to a different pew! People seem to have forgotten why they are at Mass and who is present in the tabernacle. Why are they talking to each other when they have Christ right there in front of them? And our tabernacle is where it is supposed to be- in full view behind the altar, so they don't have the excuse of it is not in sight.
Now all that being said, Mass was beautiful. During Lent the Latin Sanctus and Agnus Dei will chanted. Our priest last night chanted the preface leading to the Sanctus; it was awesome.
Something inside me says that when we took down the Communion rails and allowed everyone and anyone on the altar, reverence went away. When did it become custom for the ushers to play "meet and greet" as they guide people from the pews to Communion. Do we really need them to tell us when to leave the pew? I saw behavior from an extraordinary minister that literally made me cry and feel physical pain! (I will spare you the details) I know that not all ushers and extraordinary ministers behave this way. I don't mean to judge and make broad generalizations, but when did the Mass become about us and not about Jesus?
If any good has come out of this, it is that the behaviors of people has led me to more fervent prayer. I guess the tears and pain I have experienced can be considered a form of internal mortification and so I have offered them up and prayed as Christ did, "Father forgive them, they just don't know!" And while you are at it, please forgive me for judging.
With each passing week I realize that I have to get past my "uncomfortableness" and just go to a Traditional Latin Mass. I consider my parish my home and as such I just can't desert it. However, just as when children grow up they move out, and home becomes a place to visit; perhaps my parish should become this same type of home. In the meantime, I think that the 5:30 vigil Mass is not the Mass I need to be attending. I think next week I will try the 9:00a.m.
This post has been in the composition stage since last night. Before coming back here to finish it, I came upon a post by Adoro Te Devote on Reverence. She says what I have been feeling much more effectively than I have in my own post. Please read her post (if you haven't already); it is excellent.
I thank you, kind readers, for listening to me vent yet again on this topic. I know that God is calling me to get up and move out of my comfort zone; I just need to listen to him and do it.
The last three weeks I have attended our 5:30 vigil Mass. I always arrive early to pray evening prayer from Magnificat and then just to sit with our Lord and prepare for Mass. Unfortunately I have had had to do this in the din of needless conversation. Last night I actually got up and moved to a different pew! People seem to have forgotten why they are at Mass and who is present in the tabernacle. Why are they talking to each other when they have Christ right there in front of them? And our tabernacle is where it is supposed to be- in full view behind the altar, so they don't have the excuse of it is not in sight.
Now all that being said, Mass was beautiful. During Lent the Latin Sanctus and Agnus Dei will chanted. Our priest last night chanted the preface leading to the Sanctus; it was awesome.
Something inside me says that when we took down the Communion rails and allowed everyone and anyone on the altar, reverence went away. When did it become custom for the ushers to play "meet and greet" as they guide people from the pews to Communion. Do we really need them to tell us when to leave the pew? I saw behavior from an extraordinary minister that literally made me cry and feel physical pain! (I will spare you the details) I know that not all ushers and extraordinary ministers behave this way. I don't mean to judge and make broad generalizations, but when did the Mass become about us and not about Jesus?
If any good has come out of this, it is that the behaviors of people has led me to more fervent prayer. I guess the tears and pain I have experienced can be considered a form of internal mortification and so I have offered them up and prayed as Christ did, "Father forgive them, they just don't know!" And while you are at it, please forgive me for judging.
With each passing week I realize that I have to get past my "uncomfortableness" and just go to a Traditional Latin Mass. I consider my parish my home and as such I just can't desert it. However, just as when children grow up they move out, and home becomes a place to visit; perhaps my parish should become this same type of home. In the meantime, I think that the 5:30 vigil Mass is not the Mass I need to be attending. I think next week I will try the 9:00a.m.
This post has been in the composition stage since last night. Before coming back here to finish it, I came upon a post by Adoro Te Devote on Reverence. She says what I have been feeling much more effectively than I have in my own post. Please read her post (if you haven't already); it is excellent.
I thank you, kind readers, for listening to me vent yet again on this topic. I know that God is calling me to get up and move out of my comfort zone; I just need to listen to him and do it.
Comments
Daily Mass for us in our Adoration chapel, and we don't have the problem in there with chatting. It's a Sunday Mass issue.
Even the saints have suffered through such distractions and lack of reverence. I can't find the source right now but Saint Therese Lisieux wrote about a nun who would make the most irritating sounds with her throat during Mass which completely prevented her from praying. Instead of getting upset, she offered it up to God as a prayer and would imagine the sounds as beautiful music instead. She said she actually came to cherish it.
And frm "Eastern Presuppositions" and Western Liturgical Renewal by Robert Taft, S.J.:
John Chrysostom in Antioch, Ambrose in Milan, Augustine in North Africa, and Caesarius of Arles all bemoan the alcoholic vigils of their clergy and flocks. Augustine even had to admonish the newly baptized youngsters not to show up drunk at vespers on Easter evening!
Chrysostom in Constantinople accuses his congregation of roaming around during
church services; of either ignoring the preacher or pushing and shoving to get nearer to hear
him, when not bored or downright exasperated with him; of talking, especially during the
scripture lessons; of leaving before the services are over; and, in general, of causing an
uproar and acting as if they were in the forum or barbershop - or worse still, in a tavern or
whorehouse his words, not mine.
The women cause distractions by the way they deck themselves out in finery, makeup, and jewelry.
The youth, whom Chrysostom calls "filth rather than youth," spend their time in church
laughing, joking, talking, he says. The large crowd at the Easter Vigil is more a mob than a
congregation, he tells us. They come to church like they go to the baths or the forum, without
devotion or spiritual profit. "It would be better to stay at home," the exasperated Chrysostom oncludes.
The way the sexes behave in church just exacerbated the general scandal of church-going in Constantinople, according to Chrysostom. The presider greets those in church with "peace," but the reality he has to face is more, he says, like "all-out warfare" everywhere. "Great is the tumult, great the confusion here in church. Our assemblies differ in nothing from a tavern, so loud is the laughter, so great the disturbance, just as in the baths, in the markets, with everyone shouting and causing an uproar... [In church] we behave more impudently than dogs, and pay as much respect to God as to a whore.... The church ... is no different from the forum... nor probably even from the stage, from the way the women who assemble here adorn themselves more wantonly than the unchaste ones there. Hence we see that many profligates are enticed here by them, and if anyone is trying or intending to corrupt a woman, I suppose no place seems better than the church.
"For indeed," he continues, "if one could see what is said by men and women at each synaxis, you would see that their talk is filthier than excrement." Chrysostom says things were so bad they needed a wall in church to keep the men and women apart! Similarly, Augustine in North
Africa complains that in church the men move in and out, chattering and making dates with their lady friends, as indeed Augustine himself did before his conversion, according to his own
Confessions.
This problem, though real, is nothing new. And believe me, it's not THAT much better at the Tridentine Mass I attend, it's just different.
Sorry to clog your comment box with such a long bit but I hope this might help you a little to be reminded that you're not alone!
God bless you!
I think your focus must remain on Jesus and not worry about what is going on about you- do not let this remove your worshiping heart- because as you said-- it is all about ''Jesus' rather than us- sometimes we make a mistake of taking our eyes off of Jesus and putting them on man or what is happening around us- this is quite a human action but the whole is that you or me have to understand that Jesus wants us to only be concerned about our behavior towards Him- remember we are saved by grace and not by man made rules or thoughts- the whole church building is filled with God and He is in our hearts- sometimes we can mistake our ideas as from the Lord but we have to remember that He knows our hearts
soft hugs from Meme
There's much I could say about this issue in general, but for now I suggest you give some thought as to why people choose to attend the Saturday vigil Mass rather than Mass on Sunday morning. I'm thinking of those who have no serious responsibly that prevents them from participating in Mass on Sundays.
there is sometimes a crowd of thought invading us and leading us far away from the all good lord who is present in the taberncle.so these thought lead to chatterwhen someone is around.one way of bringing to awareness of lords presence to such people is by beleving with all our heart and adoring him,without woorying what others may think and say of us.second is by putting up with such irritation for love of jesus and offering them and try our best to pray.as best as we can under such circumstance.
yours in christ
sam