Clapping during the Gloria?

[JimB]

There is joy that permeates at a deeper level than what the bass guitar and guitar can convey. The music penetrates the soul.

Yes there is a joy that comes from a deeper level. This is the mystery of the Eucharist. The point is that for some people they are touched at a very deep level by the more modern style of music. For some, chant, Palestrina and the like don’t lead to the deeper joy as part of the Eucharist.

The Holy Spirit moves in wonderful ways. My Church (which is the Catholic Church) is big enough for a TLM, a quiet morning Mass, a Life Teen Mass, a traditional (ordinady form) Mass, a …

Oh, yeah. The clap gloria talked anout in this thread. I’ve never liked. My wife has used with the kids (1-6th grade) for a Christmas Eve Mass. I tried to get her to replace with the Haas (is that a bad word) Gloria from Mass of light. Much better.

 

[benedictgal]

Yes there is a joy that comes from a deeper level. This is the mystery of the Eucharist. The point is that for some people they are touched at a very deep level by the more modern style of music. For some, chant, Palestrina and the like don’t lead to the deeper joy as part of the Eucharist.

The Holy Spirit moves in wonderful ways. My Church (which is the Catholic Church) is big enough for a TLM, a quiet morning Mass, a Life Teen Mass, a traditional (ordinady form) Mass, a …

Oh, yeah. The clap gloria talked anout in this thread. I’ve never liked. My wife has used with the kids (1-6th grade) for a Christmas Eve Mass. I tried to get her to replace with the Haas (is that a bad word) Gloria from Mass of light. Much better.

I would suggest that you might want to read what the Holy Father has said about liturgical music in Sacramentum Caritatis:

Liturgical song

1. In the ars celebrandi, liturgical song has a pre-eminent place. (126) Saint Augustine rightly says in a famous sermon that “the new man sings a new song. Singing is an expression of joy and, if we consider the matter, an expression of love” (127). The People of God assembled for the liturgy sings the praises of God. In the course of her two-thousand-year history, the Church has created, and still creates, music and songs which represent a rich patrimony of faith and love. This heritage must not be lost. Certainly as far as the liturgy is concerned, we cannot say that one song is as good as another. Generic improvisation or the introduction of musical genres which fail to respect the meaning of the liturgy should be avoided. As an element of the liturgy, song should be well integrated into the overall celebration (128). Consequently everything – texts, music, execution – ought to correspond to the meaning of the mystery being celebrated, the structure of the rite and the liturgical seasons (129). Finally, while respecting various styles and different and highly praiseworthy traditions, I desire, in accordance with the request advanced by the Synod Fathers, that Gregorian chant be suitably esteemed and employed (130) as the chant proper to the Roman liturgy (131).

Yes, the Holy Spirit guides our Church; however, our Church has liturgical standards that must be followed. Read what the former Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger had to say about liturgical music in his book, The Spirit of the Liturgy:

Modern so-called “classical” music has maneuvered itself, with some exceptions, into an elitist ghetto, which only specialists may enter – and even they do so with what may sometimes be mixed feelings. The music of the masses has broken loose from this and treads a very different path.

On the one hand, ***there is pop music, which is certainly no longer supported by the people in the ancient sense (populus). It is aimed at the phenomenon of the masses, is industrially produced, and ultimately has to be described as a cult of the banal. ***“Rock”, on the other hand, is the expression of elemental passions, and at rock festivals it assumes a cultic character, a form of worship, in fact, in opposition to Christian worship. People are, so to speak, released from themselves by the emotional shock of rhythm, noise, and special lighting effects. However, in the ecstasy of having all their defenses torn down, the participants sink, as it were, beneath the elemental force of the universe. The music of the Holy Spirit’s sober inebriation seems to have little chance when self has become a prison, the mind is a shackle, and breaking out from both appears as a true promise of redemption that can be tasted at least for a few moments.

I would submit to you that most of the music published by OCP, which also does “Spirit and Song”, the music used at most Youth Masses, falls under the category of the “cult of the banal.” Even John Paul II said that some of the music that is used for the Mass today needs to be purged.

The big problem with clapping is that this is not some service of the Word where all you get is music, a little scripture and a lot of preaching, and then a pop song at the end. This is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. We are not there for entertainment, we are there to offer God the Father the Sacrifice of His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, together with ourselves. Clapping, whether during the Gloria or some nappy, sappy song, has no place in the Mass, except for very specific reasons such as the affirmation of an ordinand, the acceptance of a new bishop and the erection of a new diocese and to greet the Holy Father. Everything else is out of place.

 

[benedictgal]

I found this quote from Cardinal Arinze. Although it speaks to clapping during the so-called “Liturgical dance”, I believe that it is certainly applicable to the clapping discussion:

When the people finish dancing in the Mass and then when the dance group finishes and people clap – don’t you see what it means? ***It means we have enjoyed it. We come for enjoyment. Repeat. So, there is something wrong. Whenever the people clap – there is something wrong – immediately. ***When they clap – a dance is done and they clap.

Mind you, this is a major Vatican figure talking, the prefect for the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discpline of the Sacraments. What he says is very true, and, another good reason why not to clap during Mass.