Cat,
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Forgive me, but why are you so interested in the adoption of Non-Catholic stylistic elements?
I love bluegrass. I was raised with it, but I don't want it in the liturgy. Have you tried to get into Chant and have had problems adapting to it?
I say this because Amazing Grace has the sin of presumption embedded in the lyrics. It’s a thoroughly evangelical Protestant hymn, and has that message. Why would you prefer to authentically Catholic hymns, that better expressed the fullness of Catholic theology?
Just askin for your thoughts.
First of all, PrayforMallory, I’m NOT suggesting that we use one of our “fun” suggestions for Amazing Grace in Mass. We’re just having a little fun here.
If a hymn is sung in Mass, the familiar melody should be used.
Secondly, I disagree that Amazing Grace “has the sin of presumption embedded in the lyrics.”
**I was evangelical Protestant for over 40 years. But it was when I became Catholic–“the hour I first believed”–at the Easter Vigil service in 2004–that the grace of God truly became “precious” to me. **
Until I became Catholic, I didn’t know what grace really was. It wasn’t amazing at all to me. It was just another Biblical buzzword.
Catholicism is all about God’s Grace. Hail Mary, full of Grace–this phrase is the “proof” that Our Blessed Mother was conceived free of original sin and remained immaculate throughout her life. It was the Grace of God filling her which gave her this sinlessness. It was not through any divinity or human achievement or effort on her part. She was given grace from conception as a gift from God. She is THE best example and role-model of a Christian–someone who is totally saved by the Grace of God.
Some Protestants accuse Catholicism of being a salvation by works religion. This isn’t true at all. Catholicism is all about the sanctifying grace of God.
Without God’s grace, we are indeed most wretched, because we have no hope of heaven. It is when we are baptized–through no work of our own–we received grace–the gift of the Holy Spirit and become part of the Church. This is totally by grace–no work. It is a sacrament of grace.
This sanctifying grace is “amazing.” Surely you agree, PrayforMallory. It is the most amazing thing in human knowledge–the grace of God.
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me–for Catholics, this refers to our baptism.
Do you object to the past tense of the word “saved?” Catholics have been saved (past tense), they are being saved (present tense), and we hope to be saved (future tense). It is not incorrect to talk about being “saved” as a past act, because our initial baptism took place in the past. (We recall this baptism whenever we bless ourselves with holy water, but we do not get re-baptized every time we bless ourselves.)
I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.
This may not mean much to a cradle Catholic, but to a convert like me, it means everything. I was lost in the Protestant world, wandering around various churches and never coming home. I was blind because I could not see that Christ’s Church IS the Catholic Church.
But now I’m found–the Catholic Church found me, not the other way around. And I see–I am home with Jesus now.
I could go on with the other stanzas of the song, but I’ll stop at this.
**PrayforMallory, instead of looking for a reason to hate the hymn, look for all the reasons to like it. ** Stop reading Protestant theology into it and instead, sing it as a CATHOLIC should sing it, with joy over the amazing grace that we have received in Eucharist and the other Sacraments.
Perhaps you are correct and this is not the intent of the hymn writer. But like me (see above post), he was used by God to write “Catholic” words to his hymns! The concept of Amazing Grace is a totally Catholic concept.
This hymn is, according to many surveys, the most popular religious hymn in the U.S. Many Christians, including many Catholic Christians, love this hymn. Surely they aren’t all misguided. And surely all the priests and liturgical directors who select this hymn for Mass aren’t all theologically-ignorant.
You can certainly choose to sit in Mass and close the hymnal whenever this hymn is sung. But I suggest that rather than closing your mouth and heart, you open your mouth and sing these words as a Catholic, and that you **open your heart and look for all the good things in this hymn, rather than listening to all the critics who claim that the hymn is “Protestant.” ** There is so much good in Amazing Grace.
Why spend life being critical and looking for demons behind every bush? A critical spirit will shut down the Holy Spirit in your life and cause you to develop bitterness and resentment in your soul.
Yes, we should be discerning–don’t attend a fundamentalist tent revival meeting where this song is being twisted into a “once saved always saved” paeon. But in the Holy Mass setting, sung and played by Catholics, this hymn is good and wholesome for Catholics and honoring to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
