O
oremosjuntos
Guest
Dear friends,
My name is Juan, and I am a young person that took a training to become an EMHC two years ago. Ever since, I’ve felt that it’s use, especially in my parish, is regular and perhaps exhaustive. I understand that we may be called to help in extraordinary circumstances, not regularly. I had a debate with my mother about this, telling her that it should be a priest’s privilege to give the Body of Christ, but she countered that argument saying I was wrong and that lay people should be involved in the Mass, but I said to her that our involvement is “diagonal”, not “vertical” or “horizontal” (meaning we are involved in our senses but not completely, as we involve a connection to the divine as well). I argued yes we do externals but we get often caught up in those externals we forget about the internal, since I wanted to make clear that I wasn’t only saying what we do in the interior is important. Both should complement each other, the internal often reflects the external if done right. I’ve seen many people now genuflecting when I and others did this, and it’s wonderful how such a small gesture gets people going! Anyways, I get the sense that if someone speaks up about this or is generally strong about his/her opinion, one is called “judgmental” and against what the Second Vatican Council really taught. For some people, to say there’s a crisis after the Council or to say that what the Council really taught was misused in some places is borderline wrong and making a big deal out of nothing. Maybe I’m not using the best arguments to convey my point to my mother, but it seems that she’s trying to tell me that somehow I am failing God for not wanting to continue as an EMHC (as I stopped “serving” although I was listed in a schedule) and that I’m becoming “angry” and “judgmental”. She’s right, we should avoid that, but honestly, I’m unhappy at my parish. The homilies don’t offer a challenge, people who wish to pray in peace are looked down upon, the Masses become clappy clappy happy especially during the “Sign of Peace”, and everything is about making known God’s love, but I think there’s more to God than our own definition of “love”. True joy can manifest itself in a smile, but I think it’s really a way of life, the idea that not all is lost. The Church has always had its low points, sure, but it doesn’t mean we should despair. We should feel ever closer to Christ and His sufferings, something people don’t get. The joy I get may not manifest itself in a smile, I often feel overwhelmed with some situations and the world and people think I’m angry. Sometimes, yes, I’m unhappy because I don’t find like-minded people to talk to and vent with, but it’s only that.
I’m debating whether or not to “serve” in this way. I want to serve the Church in some other way, perhaps in another parish because I’ve felt my spiritual life to be at a low with all the externals and the noise people make chattering, people who want to say hello, etc. I see a stark contrast with other parishes where this is kept at a minimal. I’ve been going to another parish lately and the priests there, from what I can see, love Christ and really care for their parish materially and spiritually, and some of that I do see at my “home parish”, just not enough. The priests are Scalabrinians, and they emphasize justice for migrants, specifically for people who do so “illegally”, so much that the Christmas homily was done by a lay person talking about how he crossed the border to come here. It was really sad to say the least that we stooped that low, especially on such a great feast.
My question is: why is that those who want to learn more and be more serious about the faith are berated like hardcore anti-Vatican II people, when those doing the berating are telling us we need to be “less judgmental” and more loving? Aren’t they doing the same thing they’re accusing us of? I try not to seem “judgmental” but we have to call out acts that are wrong, Jesus Himself was NOT the passive, submissive man people in our day present Him as. He was divine and He had many attributes that made people angry, and He was God! Why is that we’re convinced that the only way to evangelize is by being passive and a “good person”?
My name is Juan, and I am a young person that took a training to become an EMHC two years ago. Ever since, I’ve felt that it’s use, especially in my parish, is regular and perhaps exhaustive. I understand that we may be called to help in extraordinary circumstances, not regularly. I had a debate with my mother about this, telling her that it should be a priest’s privilege to give the Body of Christ, but she countered that argument saying I was wrong and that lay people should be involved in the Mass, but I said to her that our involvement is “diagonal”, not “vertical” or “horizontal” (meaning we are involved in our senses but not completely, as we involve a connection to the divine as well). I argued yes we do externals but we get often caught up in those externals we forget about the internal, since I wanted to make clear that I wasn’t only saying what we do in the interior is important. Both should complement each other, the internal often reflects the external if done right. I’ve seen many people now genuflecting when I and others did this, and it’s wonderful how such a small gesture gets people going! Anyways, I get the sense that if someone speaks up about this or is generally strong about his/her opinion, one is called “judgmental” and against what the Second Vatican Council really taught. For some people, to say there’s a crisis after the Council or to say that what the Council really taught was misused in some places is borderline wrong and making a big deal out of nothing. Maybe I’m not using the best arguments to convey my point to my mother, but it seems that she’s trying to tell me that somehow I am failing God for not wanting to continue as an EMHC (as I stopped “serving” although I was listed in a schedule) and that I’m becoming “angry” and “judgmental”. She’s right, we should avoid that, but honestly, I’m unhappy at my parish. The homilies don’t offer a challenge, people who wish to pray in peace are looked down upon, the Masses become clappy clappy happy especially during the “Sign of Peace”, and everything is about making known God’s love, but I think there’s more to God than our own definition of “love”. True joy can manifest itself in a smile, but I think it’s really a way of life, the idea that not all is lost. The Church has always had its low points, sure, but it doesn’t mean we should despair. We should feel ever closer to Christ and His sufferings, something people don’t get. The joy I get may not manifest itself in a smile, I often feel overwhelmed with some situations and the world and people think I’m angry. Sometimes, yes, I’m unhappy because I don’t find like-minded people to talk to and vent with, but it’s only that.
I’m debating whether or not to “serve” in this way. I want to serve the Church in some other way, perhaps in another parish because I’ve felt my spiritual life to be at a low with all the externals and the noise people make chattering, people who want to say hello, etc. I see a stark contrast with other parishes where this is kept at a minimal. I’ve been going to another parish lately and the priests there, from what I can see, love Christ and really care for their parish materially and spiritually, and some of that I do see at my “home parish”, just not enough. The priests are Scalabrinians, and they emphasize justice for migrants, specifically for people who do so “illegally”, so much that the Christmas homily was done by a lay person talking about how he crossed the border to come here. It was really sad to say the least that we stooped that low, especially on such a great feast.
My question is: why is that those who want to learn more and be more serious about the faith are berated like hardcore anti-Vatican II people, when those doing the berating are telling us we need to be “less judgmental” and more loving? Aren’t they doing the same thing they’re accusing us of? I try not to seem “judgmental” but we have to call out acts that are wrong, Jesus Himself was NOT the passive, submissive man people in our day present Him as. He was divine and He had many attributes that made people angry, and He was God! Why is that we’re convinced that the only way to evangelize is by being passive and a “good person”?
God bless.