Interesting - Eucharistic Flash Mob

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Whitacre_Girl said:
I saw that, and they are wrong on one point - they just brought the eucharist into a public area. Mass was not said, and it was treated with respect.

I didn’t watch the WHOLE thing due to time, but good for them. If I can find ANYTHING wrong with it, it’s that I would only have been worried that some jerk-wad would vandalize it.

But way to go guys - that was great!
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O. T. but I Love your Casting Crowns quotes 🙂
 
Most people don’t know that public adoration of the Blessed Sacrament began with St. Francis of Assisi. Until he came along, the Blessed Sacrament was kept on a side altar near the main sanctuary or a separate chapel, not far from the sanctuary. It was never in the sanctuary.

When Francis built his first chapels he wanted the Blessed Sacrament available for adoration. But the chapels were very small. There was only enough room for one altar. So Francis put the tabernacle on a table (more like a pedestal) behind the altar. He commanded the Friars, Nuns and Secular Franciscans to adore the Blessed Sacrament daily.

Some of the friars were priests. Francis was not, but many other friars were. So he commanded the friar priests to make sure that the Blessed Sacrament was always available for adoration. The lay people often came to the chapel to pray before the tabernacle. The nuns kept a 24-hour vigil around the tabernacle. That’s how some of them came to be called Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration.

There was no monstrance in those days. I’m not sure when the monstrance came into existence. I know that Francis and Clare were long dead. What they did was open the tabernacle so that you could see the Blessed Sacrament. That’s how we get the image of St. Clare holding a monstrance. It was not really a monstrance that she held. It was a ciborium. I guess the artists thought that a monstrance looked nicer. 🤷

Later . . . much later, the friars inherited churches built by the local people. These were nicer and bigger. They made use of what was available to them. That’s how the veil and canopy enters the picture. Some houses do it and some don’t. It depends on their custom and their resources.

In this case, the friar in this picture would not have access to a veil on the street. To carry one around would not be very practical. You can’t stick a monstrance, cope and veil into a backpack. I know this friar and this house. They are very good and holy men. They make do with the simplest ways, as is proper for Franciscans to do.

The problem that some people are having is that they don’t know the tradition and some don’t want to know it. They have an idea of how things should be done and you’ll never convince them that there are other ways of doing things. The majority of American Catholics have very little contact with friars and monks. They have been served by diocesan priests in middle class parishes. They think that this is the only way to do things. It’s not. There are many ancient traditions that were recovered when Vatican II told religious to return to their roots.

Also, the different exemptions granted to different religious orders don’t end up in public documents. They are usually in the form of letters written by the Holy See to the religious superiors, not public decrees to the universal Church. We like everything to be in a formal decree. We’re not comfortable being told that Pope X wrote a letter to a certain superior granting him such and such a privilege. Maybe it’s our culture. The idea of privileges frightens us. I’m just guessing. But it often looks like that to me.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
 
I actually liked it, and I’m always one to quickly nit pick and shout from the rooftops about irreverence. I thought it was good witness in the most radical way - especially since even Catholics are losing belief in the Real Presence. I think that’s the strength of what is happening, it is witness not just to Jesus Christ but also to a fundamental Catholic belief. I guess things perhaps could’ve been done differently but you can’t please everybody, right? People will always complain, especially when it comes to religion, especially Christianity and most especially Catholicism. Of course they didn’t like public displays of worship - it goes against their very being, since most people would approve of and encourage public displays of homosexual affection and immodesty and the lifestyle that Catholics oppose.

Hey, it’s actually homosexual pride week on my campus this week. Lots of flash mobs, lots of calling people homophobes if they don’t sit and watch men kissing each other.

I think it’s time Catholics did something radical like this - and as far as I can see it was done with respect, holiness and with good intention. I wish my campus did this.
 
JReducation said:
That is not our tradition. We normally hold the monstrance with our bare hands and we do not use a canopy. It’s not a Franciscan custom. Friars can do it, but don’t have to do it. Since the early days of the order, back in 1209, the friars carried the Eucharist in a pouch that they hung around their neck. There were no monastrances in those days. It was a type of pix, more like a pillbox.

The monstrance, canopy and veil were more common among the diocesan priests. Remember, most of our friars were not priests and they were very poor. Even those who were priests, didn’t have all these things. We never had this rule. To this day, the Church does not hold Franciscans to this rule. Everything depends on the resources of the community and the custom of the local house.

I hope that helps.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
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Thank you for clarifying. I didn’t know that!
 
At_Trent said:
I wonder if those who criticize the Friar for the bag will also scold the priest who comes walking into the room where they lie on their deathbed for pulling Our lord out of the sick call bag ?

:rolleyes:
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I suppose Tarzicius carried the Eucharist in his pocket in the slave of his tunic.

Also I can imagine similar events in the 12th Century when the veneration of the Eucharist started. The necessary distance from the Holy was built later.

Hopefully the friar was a priest with the stole hanging parallel from his neck.
 
I go to Adoration several times a week, at a parish run by a Jesuit community, and I’ve never seen the monstrance handled in any way other than barehanded. Using some sort of cloth seems like it would add a slippage factor.

The flash mob was just beautiful; God bless the Capuchin Fathers for doing this. What a beautiful way to bring Jesus to the people!
 
mdkirkbride said:
Carrying Christ around in a duffle bag doesn’t sit well with me.
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I’d like to clarify that I wasn’t ‘scolding’ anyone. I was just stating a reaction. I assume that the Friars thought this through and planned it with consideration on how He should be transported. I found it moving as many people said, but the taking from and putting into a duffle bag just didn’t ‘sit well’ with me. I wasn’t trying to say anyone was doing anything irreverent.
 
Yes, saw that…forwarded it on…

Wish we could do that in the States…sent it to my former pastor.

Ciao
 
odile53 said:
I go to Adoration several times a week, at a parish run by a Jesuit community, and I’ve never seen the monstrance handled in any way other than barehanded. Using some sort of cloth seems like it would add a slippage factor.

The flash mob was just beautiful; God bless the **Capuchin Fathers for **doing this. What a beautiful way to bring Jesus to the people!
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Just a word of advice. Franciscans are offended if you call us “Franciscan Fathers”. That was one of the errors that was introduced in the 1800s or so. Vatican II corrected it. The Franciscan family is an order of brothers and sisters. We go by Brothers (in English) or Friars (from the Latin, Fratres). We’re very sticky about that. In some of our houses we all go by Brother or Friar to blur the difference between the ordained and the non ordained and to place the stress on the fraternal life that we share with each other and with the laity. It’s also inclusive, because not every friar is a priest, but even a Franciscan pope is still a brother. There is a wonderful story about this. One of the Franciscans was elected pope. He asked one of the friars for a piece of bread. The friar gave him black moldy bread. The Holy Father looked at it and said nothing. The friar said, “Your Holiness, you’re still a friar.” The pope apologized for his atttitude and ate the moldy bread.
laszlo said:
I suppose Tarzicius carried the Eucharist in his pocket in the slave of his tunic.

Also I can imagine similar events in the 12th Century when the veneration of the Eucharist started. The necessary distance from the Holy was built later.

Hopefully the friar was a priest with the stole hanging parallel from his neck.
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Bod is mine. This friar is a priest. When dealing with the Franciscan obediences, you can tell the ordained friars from the non-ordained friars by the stole. Any friar can carry the Blessed Sacrament. We have a long tradtion of that. Some of our holiest Franciscan saints were not priests, but they carried the Eucharist to the sick and for public adoration. St. Seraphim was very famous for promoting devotion to the Eucharist and bringing the Eucharist to the sick. He was not a priest or in minor orders. There were others too.

Around 2002 a Franciscan Obedience was erected in CT, the Franciscan Brothers of the Eucharist. They do not allow any friar to be ordained. Their ministry is to promote devotion to the Holy Eucharist. They do a lot of activities that bring the Holy Eucharist to people and people to the Eucharist.

Normally, you will see a friar wearing the brother’s habit. It can be black, brown, grey, blue or khaki, sometimes white. If the friar is a priest, he will wear a stole over his habit, if he’s holding the Blessed Sacrament or celebrating a sacrament.

That’s why the friar who was holding the monstrance wore a stole, while the other friar did not wear one. You don’t want to attract attention to the fact that you’re a priest. You want to remain as anonymous as possible.

Franciscan tradition, customs and spirituality is very different from what the average person in the pew is used to. People who deal with the friars on a daily basis are absorbed by it. These little things becme second nature to these folks.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
 
mdkirkbride said:
Carrying Christ around in a duffle bag doesn’t sit well with me.
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I agree. Though admittedly, I don’t know how He should be trasported. How do lay people bring the Eucharist to the sick? I’ve seen the host placed in a small tin at the mass, the priest then sends the people off, however once they leave the church I don’t know what happens to the Eucharist. (I’m assuming the people handle it with due revrence.) Is there some kind of protocall for the transportation of the the Eucharist?
 
I actually really liked this, I’m usually a bit of a stickler for reverence towards Our Lord in His Eucharistic Presence (sometimes to the point where I’m quite uncharitable - which is something I’m trying to beat out of myself) so yes I would prefer a big gold ark for Him rather than a duffle bag, but I’m fairly willing to bet the Friar is in the same boat as me (there’s a diffle bag at the end of his bed, but a distinct lack of big gold arks!!)

[SIGN]God Bless[/SIGN]
 
To those who object to the duffel bag, what would be a more suitable transportation method for an event like this?
 
I think there is an issue with how the Eucharist is being carried in to the area. I just saw the priest throw down the bag with the monstrance containing the Eucharist down on the ground by his feet first. Why not use a Pyx?

That aside, there is the question of ridicule. The audience in that area may not have any Catholics at that moment. Then it becomes an occasion of ridicule of the Eucharist, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Would you take a person you love in to a middle of a group of people who may ridicule him/her because its more than likely they can’t understand who he/she is? You would first try to prepare the people and get them in to a position where they would accept him/her, right?

I think the same applies here. This priest/friar should be out there preaching good news and evangelizing. He should be pointing the people in the right direction so that they can go and meet the Lord. It’s not like there aren’t any churches in London either. Educate the people so that they understand, and then send them to Church to meet the Lord.

So in my opinion, the actions of the individuals in this video are really not praise worthy and should be corrected.

God Bless 🙂
 
ddarko said:
I think there is an issue with how the Eucharist is being carried in to the area. I just saw the priest throw down the bag with the monstrance containing the Eucharist down on the ground by his feet first. Why not use a Pyx?

That aside, there is the question of ridicule. The audience in that area may not have any Catholics at that moment. Then it becomes an occasion of ridicule of the Eucharist, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Would you take a person you love in to a middle of a group of people who may ridicule him/her because its more than likely they can’t understand who he/she is? You would first try to prepare the people and get them in to a position where they would accept them, right?

I think the same applies here. This priest/friar should be out there preaching good news and evangelizing. He should be pointing the people in the right direction so that they can go and meet the Lord. It’s not like there aren’t any churches in London either. Educate the people so that they understand, and then send them to Church to meet the Lord.

So in my opinion, the actions of the individuals in this video are really not praise worthy and should be corrected.

God Bless 🙂
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You are welcome to your opinion, but many did meet the Lord that day, and they heard good things. I saw the building of the Faith and I saw souls being fed.

There was preaching and evangelizing. And more, imo.
 
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