Dear brother jason,
Funny the Novus Ordo sort of feels foreign now. For 30 years of my life it is all I knew though. I’m 32. But there is something wrong with things when I notice that a preist seems to be only half attentive to Mass,
And how do you gauge that? I cannot tell you how many times I have heard the comment that Orthodox priests “just seem” to rattle off the words of the Liturgy in rote, going through it at such a fast pace. Many, such as yourself, would perhaps find that “half attentive.” But how do you know what is in the heart of the priest?
or people walk in with tank tops, t-shirts, shorts, etc,
Shouldn’t you be focusing on your own reverence instead of what other people are doing?
when the music is what you will hear on Christain radio (which I like but not for liturgy),
And I’m sure there are many who feel that Traditional chant in words they do not understand does not represent proper worship for the congregation. I find that attitude just as problematic as the one you are expressing.
and when people are shaking hands during the sign of peace AFTER the consecration of our Lord, so he is up on the alter while everybody else is kissing, hugging, and even socializing. The Latin Mass and the Eastern Liturgy does not do the sign of peace at all, so the focus on Jesus is not drifted away. The Coptic Orthodox liturgy will do a sign of peace with just their hands folded. No hugging, no kissing, and it is done after the Nicense Creed and before the Consecration.
Do you seriously think that the TLM was the Mass of the Latin Church in the first millenium? The Kiss of Peace was a feature of the Mass in the Latin Church from the earliest days until the late Middle Ages. St. Justin Martyr and Tertullian are the earliest witnesses to this liturgical norm in the Latin Church. And you are complaining about it – why?
And FYI, ALL Oriental Churches have the Kiss of Peace in our Liturgies. Don’t be fooled by ignorant people who might claim that this was a “Latinization” in the Oriental Catholic Churches. As far as the specifics, I believe it is the Ethiopians who don’t have physical contact during the Kiss of Peace. All other Oriental Churches have some measure of physical contact. The Armenians are the most “personable” - their gesture involves the kissing of both cheeks.
Speaking of the Creed…the Filioque needs to go. To say proceeds from the Father and the Son is not correct and it goes against what scripture says in the Gosepl of John.
If you wish to not recite the Filioque, that is fine – but only if you are reciting the Creed in Greek. If you are reciting it in Latin or any other Latin-derived language, to recite the Creed without
Filioque can be considered a heresy, since you would be denying that the Spirit is consubstantial with the Son. It has to do with the meaning of the terms
ekporeusai (used by the Greeks) and
procedit (used by the Latins). These are the original words that are normally translated as “proceeds” in the English Creed - while filioque can be accommodated by the term
procedit and completely orthodox, it is not the same for the Greek
ekporeusai. There is a lot more to this issue than you might currently know. After studying it a bit more, you might be willing to retract your statement that
filioque “
goes against what Scripture says in the Gospel of John.”
Wow has my perspecitve of my faith and the Church evolved over the past 2 years of my life!
You are not yet getting the whole story. It seems you are being influenced by some extremist factions within (or perhaps without) the Catholic Church.
Blessings,
Marduk
