Father instructing the congregation

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I just thought I would share this with all of you, and ask if anyone has had a priest do this recently.
I was so happy at Mass this morning! Father actually took time to instruct the congregation on proper conduct at Mass. At the end of his homily on the Body of Christ, he spent some time instructing us on just how to behave in the presence of Jesus. He started off by thanking those who give their time, talent and money, and thanking those who come to Mass every week, and on time. Then he talked about how we, as Christians, need to know how to show proper respect for the Lord. First of all, he said, Christians are called to actually show up to worship. He said those who think they can stay home and worship in private are wrong. Praying at home is one thing, but it is not worship as Christians are called to do. He said that in order to worship as Christians are called to do, you actually have to get up and leave your house, and come to participate in the sacrifice of the Mass-- and make it a priority so that you get there on time!
Then he spoke about showing proper respect while at Mass. Without mentioning any names, of course, Father chastised someone for reading the bulletin-- in the FRONT ROW, right in front of the priest-- last week during the Gospel reading and homily. From there, he demonstrated the proper way to genuflect and bow, and told us exactly when we are to do both. I almost burst out laughing at one point, because he said the postures of profound respect that Catholics are to use do NOT include the “Catholic Squat!” He reminded us that we are to genuflect (and showed how it is done) every time we cross in front of the tabernacle (and he pointed out just where the tabernacle is-- in our church, on the old marble altar behind the current altar).
He also instructed us to bow before receiving the body of Christ, and to say Amen each time; and to make a profound bow during the part of the Creed that says “… By the power of the Holy Spirit, He was born of the Virgin Mary and became Man…”
And last but not least, we are to participate! We are to make our responses out loud and to sing where we are supposed to sing.
I have never been more proud of a priest! Thank you, Father Paul, for actually taking the time to instruct the congregation on proper manners! The one thing he did not speak about, and I wish he had, was the issue of holding hands. Oh well, but it was a wonderful morning, anyway!
 
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juno24:
Thank you, Father Paul, for actually taking the time to instruct the congregation on proper manners! The one thing he did not speak about, and I wish he had, was the issue of holding hands. Oh well, but it was a wonderful morning, anyway!
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God Bless Father Paul!!!
In this case, I am for human cloning! We need more like him!!!
 
WOW! That is truly impressive! I find myself wishing that our priest here would do something of that sort, but I never thought that any priest anywhere would actually do it. Especially not in the state of Florida, where liberalism and laxity seem to reign supreme!

May the Lord bless Fr. Paul and his ministry. :amen:
 
Great post, how uplifting. Our priest doesn’t do anything like this although in all fairness I haven’t seen anyone read the bulletin during Mass. That would be so rude. I think sometimes it’s difficult to know exactly what to do. Although we dont’ have an altar rail one family came up and kneeled on the floor to receive communion. I thought that was very respectful and seeing the little kids kneel and receive a blessing was just beautiful. Not that everyone will follow suit but it will make people pause a bit and think about what they might do to show respect. I don’t think it hurts to give these reminders now and then, particularly on Corpus Christi Sunday.

Lisa N
 
Ummmm - either the Holy Spirit is at play here or there is a conspiracy by the Call to Holiness to instruct the faithful in how to show a little respect for the Blessed Sacrament.

I went to Assumption Grotto and Fr. Eusebius, who is a priest in the Order of Canons Regular of the Holy Cross, did pretty much the same going into a significant talk on genuflecting, bowing, kneeling and other signs of reverence and respect.

He read something an Anglican bishop wrote (found it online: stgeorgescathedral.com/ft-kneeling.html) that suggested we have come to the “death of kneeling”. He went on to say that kneeling was not well practiced any more, in favor of sitting, standing, or whatever. Then he went on to describe kneeling and suggested that we don’t fully understand it so he provided some instruction on it. He used a wonderful analogy about how the knee, when straight is a sign of strength. But, when we bend it we show our humility and humility is what one needs in the presence of the Lord. He went on gently but pointedly to express the expectation of when we would genuflect and how. He acknowledged that elderly and handicapped people could simply bow, but that they needed to do at least this when crossing the center aisle or other aisle which points to the tabernacle.

Then he went into prayer and kneeling. He spoke about the need to endure the discomforts associated with it, especially when in front of the Blessed Sacrament.

Never heard a priest do this before and I hope we hear more.

What followed that was yet another admonition from the Pastor about how people behave during the mass. I’ll post it up tomorrow or whenever he uploads the Pastor’s Descant to the web as it was good. I’ll add the link into this thread.

It hit home with me - the homily - because I’m visiting this parish daily for mass for just over two weeks now and have been drawn by the profoundly prayerful atmosphere of the priests and the laity. That Church has some of the holiest people I’ve ever encountered. There is such an aire of piety I must say I’ve never witnessed it before and there are simply no words. It literally draws you to prayer like a magnet being in the presence of people who are themselves in a contemplative or prayerful state.

I caught up with Fr. Eusebius after the Corpus Christi procession was done and thanked him for that homily. I explained that I was from “out there” where kneeling has indeed died and I was one of it’s key contributors because I would rarely kneel. I just started suspecting that my behavior was not appropriate after just two weeks in this parish and he brought me the rest of the way home with his homily.

Divine justice took place with the Corpus Christi procession I joined and my untrained knees got a real good workout. Ooiii
 
You are blessed indeed. Wish I could find an orthodox priest in Seattle.
 
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Lux_et_veritas:
Ummmm - either the Holy Spirit is at play here or there is a conspiracy by the Call to Holiness to instruct the faithful in how to show a little respect for the Blessed Sacrament.
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I sure hope this catches on everywhere. I was so pleased to hear Father give the instructions, and to see them in the bulletin today. Our priests try very hard to do things properly, and it is quite nice when they go out of their way to make sure we, the faithful, know what we are supposed to be doing, too.
 
Lisa N:
Great post, how uplifting. Our priest doesn’t do anything like this although in all fairness I haven’t seen anyone read the bulletin during Mass. That would be so rude.
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It was incredibly rude! I could not imagine ever doing that. According to Father, the person sat right in the front row in front of the priest who was celebrating Mass last week and flipped through the bulletin during the Gospel and the homily. As the little girl on “Full House” used to say-- “How RUDE!”
I think sometimes it’s difficult to know exactly what to do. Although we dont’ have an altar rail one family came up and kneeled on the floor to receive communion. I thought that was very respectful and seeing the little kids kneel and receive a blessing was just beautiful. Not that everyone will follow suit but it will make people pause a bit and think about what they might do to show respect. I don’t think it hurts to give these reminders now and then, particularly on Corpus Christi Sunday.
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What a wonderful example that family was! I think all it takes sometimes is a reminder. So often, people forget that we are truly in the presence of Our Lord, and we need to show proper respect.

Lisa N
 
I see a trend with my own behavior as a Catholic and I think that we are going to see more with Pope Benedict.

When he spoke in the Pre-Conclave homily about the Dictatorship of Relativism and the many winds of doctrine people follow, it struck a nerve with me and wouldn’t let go. That led to one of the biggest deep dives into my soul. It led me to understand that I cannot claim to head North all the while bending my compass needle to suit my desires. This is the essence of relativism. Instead of gravitating to something that is static and simple, we gravitate towards those that are dynamic and complex. Christ left us His words and intended simplicity, not complexity. People interject too many shades of grey for this or that and this is not the “narrow path” Jesus spoke of.

At the same time when many thought it would scare away the worlds Cardinals from electing him, the were drawn to him.

Weeks later, the pastor at the parish I was visiting, Fr. Perrone, wrote this article in his bulletin (posted previously, but in case you didn’t get a chance to read it). The next thing I knew, I was sitting in front of him for the deepest confession of my life and I didn’t even know him yet. I’m going to be joining the parish which is allowable in the Archdiocese of Detroit. I’m not bound geographically within the archdiocese.

assumptiongrotto.com/pastor%20files/05-15-05.htm

I write today about how Fr. Eusebius admonished the parish about kneeling, genuflecting and other measures of reverence in the church and in front of the Blessed Sacrament and it moved me.

You see the trend?

The day I went in for face to face confession and emptied my closet I asked the pastor, “Do you see what happens when the fishermen cast their nets of admonition?” He looked at me, and I said, “They catch fish and you snared me in your net.”

I think people tend to dig deep when an admonishment is delivered. There are some who will get offended no matter how delicately a priest can approach the subject and this is a problem. But, this ought not prevent them from putting it out there for the rest of us. They see trends in hearing the many confessions they do and we need to listen to them and to hear them, always digging deeper into ourselves.

Bottom line is that the fishermen need not worry about whether there is enough fish to feed the people. If they speak Truth, collections will not go down, they will go up. Some will leave the pews, but more will come back to the pews. I feel very strongly about this.

It’s time to speak about Truth and Justice. It’s time to tell us what we don’t want to hear and ask us what we don’t want asked. It’s just time.
 
That is wonderful. The priest at my parish did something similar. He stressed how important the Eucharist was and how we should receive the body and blood of Christ as often as possible. He then went on to say something to the effect of the alter and the confessional going hand in hand and that you should stay seated and not receive if you are in need of confession. He also gave a “tutorial” on how to receive communion and if you are receiving by the hand exactly how to and not to receive as if you are coming up for “pretzles and chips”, reminding everyone how special a gift it is! It was great!

Just wanted to share too!
Claudine
 
Our priest talked about the Eucharist Sunday also. He talked about the proper time to receive, meaning that you shouldn’t receive if you have a mortal sin on your soul. Then he made a point to tell everyone that just because someone isn’t going up for Communion doesn’t mean that they are in the state of mortal sin so we need to be careful not to judge. God bless Fr. Boor!
 
Our homily was not as comprehensive as yours, but Father did take advantage of the Feast of Corpus Christi to talk about conduct in Church: not using the time before Mass for chit chat, coming early to spend time getting our minds ready for Mass, reverencing the Blessed Sacrament etc. He also spoke of some Eucharistic miracles and a recent miracle that happened in our own church.

Sounds like some new energy blowing through our parishes. 👍
 
This report was really moving.

I wish our pastor would do something like that. He is an orthodox priest, abiding by the canons of the Mass and keeping it reverent and pious. However, I’ve noticed that he seldom “makes waves”, and when he does, only in passing.

For example, when the passage about the indissolubility of marriage was read, he just said a half dozen words about it and moved on. After about 5 years, I’ve never heard him saying any word against abortion or embryonic stem-cell harvesting.

So, yesterday, his homily was about the Blessed Sacrament being real food and real drink for eternal life. It was a good homily, but no particular instruction was given.

Maybe it’s because I’m a man and appreciate being challenged to higher standards, but I have to say that I miss some admonishment from the pulpit.

Yet, I’m thankful to God for such an orthodox and charismatic priest.

May St. Albert the Great interced for our parish, in particular for our pastor.

:blessyou:
 
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