A Long Week's Worth of Thinking About Liturgy and the Church

[ASD]

I grew up in the pre-Vatican II church. When you went into church, you walked into the presence of God. Habakuk 2:20 captures the spirit of the pre-Vatican II church:

But the LORD is in his holy temple; silence before him, all the earth!

That alone is a monumental difference. You could hear a pin drop in the pre-Vatican II church before Mass. We were in the presence of God. …

Given the above, the EF is about worship. The OF is about community. There really is a different mindset as strange as it may seem.

Good summary. How about this:

EF: Presence of Calvary,
OF: Presence of Lord’s Supper

 

[Timothysis]

Even Pope Benedict XVI has said that it often takes a couple of generations after a council to see the real consequences. There has always been a lack of harmony and discord somewhere in Church history…why do people think that we should be free of it today? Read Church history of only that past 200-300 years and you’ll be shocked at what you find.

Another thought, popes have always been pumping out encyclicals in previous centuries. Why? To explain Catholic belief and doctrine. Things are always needed to be made clearer. We’re seeing that now with the reverence that Pope Benedict is reawakening in the Church.

 

[brotherhrolf]

Good summary. How about this:

EF: Presence of Calvary,
OF: Presence of Lord’s Supper

I’ve thought about this for a couple of days because I can see both points. I can remember the Triduum from my childhood where the crucifix and all the statues were covered in purple and how we anticipated Calvary for weeks before the Triduum. And I can remember Holy Thursday. Calvary loomed on the horizon in a way that it does not today.

But I think about Holy Thursday today and the Presence of the Lord’s Supper. I think your point is valid.

But when the Eucharist is reserved and the choir is chanting the Pange Lingua it’s hard not to acknowledge that both “presences” are present. But how many parishes chant the Pange Lingua on Holy Thursday today?

 

[Joannm]

But when the Eucharist is reserved and the choir is chanting the Pange Lingua it’s hard not to acknowledge that both “presences” are present. But how many parishes chant the Pange Lingua on Holy Thursday today?

In every parish I have worked at or worshipped (and that is quite a number of parishes) have chanted the Pange Lingua on Holy Thursday…in Latin.