106 years later, has anything changed?

[benedictgal]

I was reading a book on music by Fr. Joseph Gelineau, SJ, that left me rather jarred:

With inspired boldness, the conciliar liturgical reform set out to repair the damage done in earlier centuries by highlighting:

• the assembly as the primary subject of the celebration;
• the Word of God, proclaimed in the vernacular and explained in the homily; and
• song as the privileged form of the assembly’s participation in the rites

Since when did we become the primary subject of the Liturgy? The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is not about us; it is about God’s salviffic act for His people.

This certainly flies in the face of what Pope St. Pius X notes in his document where he states that:

Among the cares of the pastoral office, not only of this Supreme Chair, which We, though unworthy, occupy through the inscrutable dispositions of Providence, but of every local church, a leading one is without question that of maintaining and promoting the decorum of the House of God in which the august mysteries of religion are celebrated, and where the Christian people assemble to receive the grace of the Sacraments, to assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar, to adore the most august Sacrament of the Lord’s Body and to unite in the common prayer of the Church in the public and solemn liturgical offices.

Thus, the focus and the centrality of the Mass is not us; rather, it is the Triune God.

 

[ELROD]

Now, I’ve got to as why in the world would that be jarring to you. As ignorant a clod as I am know that the mass is about the Triune God and not about ourselves. Amazing!

 

[Disciple96]

I was reading a book on music by Fr. Joseph Gelineau, SJ, that left me rather jarred… Since when did we become the primary subject of the Liturgy? The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is not about us; it is about God’s salviffic act for His people. This certainly flies in the face of what Pope St. Pius X notes in his document… Thus, the focus and the centrality of the Mass is not us; rather, it is the Triune God.

So true! The parish I visited in Florida (when I was staying with my sister) was a round church, which wouldn’t be a problem (don’t get me started) except that the tabernacle was nowhere to be seen (down the hall, off to the side), the “sanctuary” was in the center and was a cube (?!) where I was treated to a “Mass as performance art” celebration that left me most uncomfortable. It was very showy but not a bit reverent. And it was clear who the center of attention was: the assembly and priest as performance artist, not in persona Christi. That left me “rather jarred”, to say the least! ((Well, I suppose he was in persona Christi, after all, but Christ did not seem to be center, the focus of the Mass.)

 

[benedictgal]

Now, I’ve got to as why in the world would that be jarring to you. As ignorant a clod as I am know that the mass is about the Triune God and not about ourselves. Amazing!

I found Fr. Gelineau’s statement rather jarring since is is in his book, “Liturgtical Assembly Liturgical Song”. Inasmuch as he makes some good points in the book, this statement is more along the lines of the alleged “spirit of Vatican II” than what the documents actually said.