I don’t see what is so “astonishing” (your words) to hear this. This is exactly what happens when we receice the Eucharist. We become one with God. This is our relationship with Him (remember…marriage images the trinity and the relationship between Christ and His bride). The words capture perfectly what happens at Communion time. (Except that I change one word to make it more “catholic”. I change the word “cover” to “wash”).
Read theology of the body and Song of songs to learn more.
Agape,
Some of us who are familiar with both TOB and SOS and who very much understand (as finitely as we can) the Catholic teaching on the Eucharist… Well our concearn or thinking on this matter is not informed by ignorance on those things.
Truly TOB in fact is a masterful and brilliant summation of traditional church teaching expressed rather geniusly for a modern age where (western culture especially) we have lost our way, opting for the innovative options widely offered to modern man that contravene Catholic thinking and Natural Law.
That these lyrics may in fact well reflect or be aligned with Catholic thought, does not preclude that this may not in fact be the natural progression for liturgical music. Those of us who do not share in the enthusiasm for this styling are not doing so out of dissent or ignorance or misreceiving TOB or the communion aspect of the Eucharist. We (at least I) have reservation for this genre for other reasons.
I am intrigued much by some of the older explinations of the Liturgy (Roman Mass & Byzantine DL) that reference heavily the commonality and continuity of elelments of worship in both the old and new covenant. The Israelite’s highly prescribed Temple sacrifice - the liturgy, the liturgical year, the continence of the priests who serve at the altar, it much resonates through the ages to the world in the Catholic Church even today. Emphasis on the sacrifice and all manner of ritual reserved and unique to it - which underlies the contrast between the sacred and profane - is important to us.
I don’t use profane in the sense of profanity, of course, but in the classic understanding of that which is very much of the world and day to day.
The past ten years especially have given rise to a new liturgical movement seeking recapture of these classic and traditional understandings of liturgy and the music that serves it. Although it has gained a vibrancy demonstrating we are not just “old fashioned” or “in the past” many of us continue to hear “That’s great for you, but that just doesn’t play, kids don’t like it, it isn’t where we are now.” (Nevermind that that the
Norbertines and
Fraternity of Saint Peter with their over-flowing formation programs are filled with 20somethings…)
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Frequently this attitude seems rather dismissive or relegates us to the status of some sort of anachranistic curiosity seeker. The thinking being, I guess, that there is always a minority of people that will decorate their homes with finds from antique stores. Or you can always find the odd Young Fogey on a college campus in tweed & bow tie who has taken to having a sherry hour. A curious breed to be sure, but not all that terribly relevent, the thinking seems to imply.
I’m not an extremist, or out to ban anyone, or here to imply only my way is best and to the dogs with everyone else… I certainly don’t want to have this discussion go the way of some forums here on CAF where criticism and cynicism trump charity or honest efforts to understand.
But some of our critiques and concearns may be rather well founded, and bare consideration. The more I come to appreciate some of the more classical and traditional thinkings of the liturgy from both East & West, the less comfortable I am with some of this music in the context of the liturgy. And I am very much a supporter and student of the Theology of the Body.
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