"Straining at Gnats . . . "

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ecs_220

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I read a great many posts regarding personal preferences, disappointments, pet peeves, etc. regarding Liturgical practices, personalities in the pulpit, people in the pews, and so on.

While I suppose we all have our preferences and peeves (I certainly miss the bells during the Consecration, and am irritated by chattering before Mass, for example), how much of what we express in these threads is mere “straining at gnats”, with no bearing at all on what we should be focusing on as Catholic Christians? How much of it are we allowing to interfere with our relationship with Christ – and blaming it on others?

Is our nit-picking on this forum really valuable, or are we creating an unholy spirit of division by making a much bigger deal of our own personal snits than we should – and (intentionally or not) encouraging others to do the same?

– Or am I just outta line here? Jump in and give me what-for if you feel you should.
 
I actually would not say that all things are really “nit-picking” After all…where else do some of us have to express some of the minor irritants that take away from our focus?

Sometimes it’s nice to have an appropriate place to vent.

Now, for myself, in reading about pet peeves, etc…I’ve learned several things that I’ve witnessed at Mass are actually liturgical abuses. I take that kind of information to be pretty valuable not just to me, but likely to others as well.

Let’s remember…we are all human, we all have feelings, emotions, and reasons for doing what we do. And for some of us, without a group such as this, we’d still be in the dark about basic etiquette.

And who wants to continue on the wrong path when a simple statement or question can correct our behavior?

You may call it nit-picking, and you certainly have a right to do so and a reason for your opinion. But I must respectfully disagree…not everything is as it appears on the surface.

God Bless!
 
I think nit-picking is valuable because it forces one to articulate “why”. I think the current church in
Vermont and Boston [the base of my knowledge] is floundering, is lost so-to-speak. It’s lovely to apply social teaching to our daily lives, it’s essential really. But do we go to church to learn just that we should love our neighbor? I think many have forgotten that we go to church to worship God, to humble ourselves before him, ask forgiveness, repent and commit ourselves to harnessing our passions and weaknesses, to control our tendencies to sin. In Mass, we should worship God who is there, we need to realize we’re in Heaven on earth. We can be buddies with the parishioner next to us after Mass.
 
ecs_220 said:
I read a great many posts regarding personal preferences, disappointments, pet peeves, etc. regarding Liturgical practices, personalities in the pulpit, people in the pews, and so on.

While I suppose we all have our preferences and peeves (I certainly miss the bells during the Consecration, and am irritated by chattering before Mass, for example), how much of what we express in these threads is mere “straining at gnats”, with no bearing at all on what we should be focusing on as Catholic Christians? How much of it are we allowing to interfere with our relationship with Christ – and blaming it on others?

Is our nit-picking on this forum really valuable, or are we creating an unholy spirit of division by making a much bigger deal of our own personal snits than we should – and (intentionally or not) encouraging others to do the same?

– Or am I just outta line here? Jump in and give me what-for if you feel you should.
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I thought your point was right on. Sometimes there is a lot of nit-picking in the Church. It is nit-picking when/if we have better things to do… and its amazing how much time we waste on unimportant activities…
When i go to confession, I often confess the sin of wasting time… Who knows, maybe i am wasting time now? God knows. I am writing this response because at this particular moment in time, i don’t know what God really wants me to do… about anything. It is the most confused time in my life… & that’s saying something… Anyway, i just thought i would let you know that i appreciate what you said & hve often felt the same way…
 
ecs_220 said:
Is our nit-picking on this forum really valuable, or are we creating an unholy spirit of division by making a much bigger deal of our own personal snits than we should – and (intentionally or not) encouraging others to do the same?

– Or am I just outta line here? Jump in and give me what-for if you feel you should.
Click to expand...
Well, I think you are out of line. Discussions about liturgical abuses are not nit-picking.

Love is in the details. If our priests and others cannot be bothered with ensuring that the Mass is celebrated beautifully and correctly down to the last detail, perhaps they are lacking in love - for Christ, for His Church and for His people (us).

Details are extremely important - they are what give the full flavor to the celebration.
 
I have to say that the nit-picking has been very helpful to me.

When I see how upset people get about the “Peace be with You” or the pages and pages and pages about how awful it is to GREET your fellow parishiners before Mass. Or where to have your hands and how they they should be pointed during the Lord’s Prayer… Or how awful it is for a tottler to have a sippy cup in mass. Well it made me very aware that there is much much much more to the Catholic Faith then the appearances.

I keep asking myself… when Jesus was hanging on the cross, was he really concerned about sippy cups?

All this nit-picking has been very valuable to me. It made me turn my focus onto my faith and the Love of Jesus.
 
To anyone who has a problem with what they call nit-picking --straining nats–or whatever.

The Church Herself has entrusted to us—the duty and responsibility to correct any form of distortion/abuse.

vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20040423_redemptionis-sacramentum_en.html#Chapter%20III
  1. Complaints Regarding Abuses in Liturgical Matters
[183.] In an altogether particular manner, let everyone do all that is in their power to ensure that the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist will be protected from any and every irreverence or distortion and that all abuses be thoroughly corrected. This is a most serious duty incumbent upon each and every one, and all are bound to carry it out without any favouritism.

[184.] Any Catholic, whether Priest or Deacon or lay member of Christ’s faithful, has the right to lodge a complaint regarding a liturgical abuse to the diocesan Bishop or the competent Ordinary equivalent to him in law, or to the Apostolic See on account of the primacy of the Roman Pontiff.[290] It is fitting, however, insofar as possible, that the report or complaint be submitted first to the diocesan Bishop. This is naturally to be done in truth and charity.
 
The criticism of Jesus was “You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!” (Matthew 23:14, New Revised Standard Version translation).

So yes, it is important to make decisions about priorities. This is also refelected in the 2004 Instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum:
“[171.] Among the various abuses there are some which are objectively graviora delicta or otherwise constitute grave matters, as well as others which are nonetheless to be carefully avoided and corrected. …”. It goes on to explain which issues are particularly important.

But there is also the issue of what is in each individual’s power to fix. Maybe people need to start a confrontation about a small thing that they are confident about, before they learn enough to address a larger issue. Maybe they are not in a position to correct what a bishop does, but are able to correct what their children do.

Not many of us are in a position to do important things like instruct seminarians or appoint bishops. But a contribution to this can be made by improving liturgy.

Small things matter. From the nursery rhyme:
“Because of the nail the shoe was lost,
because of the shoe the horse was lost,
because of the horse the battle was lost,
because of the battle the kingdom was lost,
and all for the sake of a nail.”

In the movie “Remember the Titans” the coach made the same point by saying “This game is won by inches.”

Yesterday President Bush’s speech included:
“Victory will not look like the ones our fathers and grandfathers achieved. There will be no surrender ceremony on the deck of a battleship. But victory in Iraq will bring something new in the Arab world — a functioning democracy that polices its territory, upholds the rule of law, respects fundamental human liberties, and answers to its people. A democratic Iraq will not be perfect. But it will be a country that fights terrorists instead of harboring them — and it will help bring a future of peace and security for our children and grandchildren.”.

There is no intention to make the church a democracy. But a lot of the issues in liturgy are about policing and upholding the rule of law. These what Jesus included as important:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith.” (Matthew 23:23).

The importance of liturgy for the church has often been stressed. For example in the first document of Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium “9. The sacred liturgy does not exhaust the entire activity of the Church. Before men can come to the liturgy they must be called to faith and to conversion … 10. Nevertheless the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows.”
 
awindrose said:
All this nit-picking has been very valuable to me. It made me turn my focus onto my faith and the Love of Jesus.
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This has been a part of my experience on this forum as well. Seeing the ugly, unchristian behavior of other angry nit-pickers, I knew that God was calling me to turn a critical eye on myself and (hopefully) I have drawn closer to Jesus and let Him begin to purge me of these tendencies.

I’m glad we have a safe environment for these people to come vent, but it does deeply disappoint me at times to see my fellow Catholics behave with such thinly-guised hatred over relatively trivial matters (well, over any matter… but it’s especially ridiculous when the subject is “should we leave the Church building to clear our throats during mass?”). It is awful to see pharisees and self-satisfied folks attack others with a barrage of insults in the name of “orthodoxy”! :eek: That is not orthodoxy.

Some people believe that being “on fire for the faith” means “attack dissenters with everything you’ve got, at all costs!” This just isn’t true, and it’s heart-breaking to see. “Deus Caritas Est.” When we throw “Caritas” out of the window in order to defend “Deus”… well, we’re not fighting on God’s side anymore. 😉

I do believe it is very important to discuss the details of our Faith! Interpretation of Canon Law, proper liturgical form, etc. That kind of “nit-picking” is good when done in a spirit of honesty, wisdom, and charity. We should always pursue more knowledge so that we can be wise and do the right thing in an informed way.

But the manner in which a discussion is held can easily overshadow the content. I have taken to saying extra prayers daily for particularly angry CAF posters I have come across. I hope we are all praying for each other in this community. When we sin against charity on a public forum, we never know whose faith we are damaging or who we are driving away from the fullness of the Faith.

We do have one of the most charitable forums on the internet, and I’ve been personally touched by the kindness and truth I have been shown. I think if we pray and invite the Holy Spirit to work continually in our souls, we could make this place even more worthy of the name “Christian”.
 
JezuUfamTobie said:
This has been a part of my experience on this forum as well. Seeing the ugly, unchristian behavior of other angry nit-pickers, I knew that God was calling me to turn a critical eye on myself and (hopefully) I have drawn closer to Jesus and let Him begin to purge me of these tendencies.

I’m glad we have a safe environment for these people to come vent, but it does deeply disappoint me at times to see my fellow Catholics behave with such thinly-guised hatred over relatively trivial matters (well, over any matter… but it’s especially ridiculous when the subject is “should we leave the Church building to clear our throats during mass?”). It is awful to see pharisees and self-satisfied folks attack others with a barrage of insults in the name of “orthodoxy”! :eek: That is not orthodoxy.

Some people believe that being “on fire for the faith” means “attack dissenters with everything you’ve got, at all costs!” This just isn’t true, and it’s heart-breaking to see. “Deus Caritas Est.” When we throw “Caritas” out of the window in order to defend “Deus”… well, we’re not fighting on God’s side anymore. 😉

I do believe it is very important to discuss the details of our Faith! Interpretation of Canon Law, proper liturgical form, etc. That kind of “nit-picking” is good when done in a spirit of honesty, wisdom, and charity. We should always pursue more knowledge so that we can be wise and do the right thing in an informed way.

But the manner in which a discussion is held can easily overshadow the content. I have taken to saying extra prayers daily for particularly angry CAF posters I have come across. I hope we are all praying for each other in this community. When we sin against charity on a public forum, we never know whose faith we are damaging or who we are driving away from the fullness of the Faith.

We do have one of the most charitable forums on the internet, and I’ve been personally touched by the kindness and truth I have been shown. I think if we pray and invite the Holy Spirit to work continually in our souls, we could make this place even more worthy of the name “Christian”.
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Let me tell you what my formerly Protestant hubby said about the fighting on these forums.

He said that what he likes is that we are like a family, We can fight, we can tiff and in the end we all meet at Dad’s on Sunday.
If we were Protestant and fought like this, half of us would break away and start a new church. We don’t do that.
Thank God that we are Catholic and stick together where it counts.

Take it all as a vent. We come here to get our frustrations out then all go back to our parishes as calmer Catholics.
 
awindrose said:
I have to say that the nit-picking has been very helpful to me.

When I see how upset people get about the “Peace be with You” or the pages and pages and pages about how awful it is to GREET your fellow parishiners before Mass. Or where to have your hands and how they they should be pointed during the Lord’s Prayer… Or how awful it is for a tottler to have a sippy cup in mass. Well it made me very aware that there is much much much more to the Catholic Faith then the appearances.

I keep asking myself… when Jesus was hanging on the cross, was he really concerned about sippy cups?

All this nit-picking has been very valuable to me. It made me turn my focus onto my faith and the Love of Jesus.
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contramundum7:
I appreciate your point about how when Jesus was on the cross, he wasn’t concerned about such things as sippy cups.
I mostly agree wtih you but there is one thing you may be unenlightened about…
I never thought it was big deal to receive Communion in hand until i heard the other side of the issue: I read this book called (I think) Get Us OUt of Here, about a woman in some foreign country (?) who gets visits from people in Purgatory who want her to pray for them so they can get to Heaven faster. She goes into the reasons why we should not receive in hand. I can’t remember all of them right now (I’m pressed 4 time, therefore a little tense, can’t think so well…) but one was somethiyng to the effect that the priest (consecrated by God) should be the one to hold Jesus in his hand… People have been known to steal the Host & do God knows what with it…
I’ve run out of room… which is just as well as sometimes i ramble… God bless…
 
I don’t like all the chatter before Mass, but what I reallydon’t /Iike is all the chatter DURING Mass.😦
 
I might ask, in the spirit of the original question, who gave some people permission to bring all those gnats into our worship in the first place? 😉
 
As the worship of the Triune God deserves the absolute best that humanity can possibly give…

I should dare to say that complaining of even the slightest liturgical abuse or irregularity is in NO WAY “Straining at gnats”.

Oh my how the liberals and progressives have taken hold of our beloved Holy Church for one to even suggest such thing!

Ken
 
JezuUfamTobie said:
…Seeing the ugly, unchristian behavior of other angry nit-pickers, I knew that God was calling me to turn a critical eye on myself and (hopefully) I have drawn closer to Jesus and let Him begin to purge me of these tendencies.

I’m glad we have a safe environment for these people to come vent, but it does deeply disappoint me at times to see my fellow Catholics behave with such thinly-guised hatred over relatively trivial matters…It is awful to see pharisees and self-satisfied folks attack others with a barrage of insults in the name of “orthodoxy”! :eek: That is not orthodoxy.

Some people believe that being “on fire for the faith” means “attack dissenters with everything you’ve got, at all costs!” This just isn’t true, and it’s heart-breaking to see. “Deus Caritas Est.” When we throw “Caritas” out of the window in order to defend “Deus”… well, we’re not fighting on God’s side anymore. 😉

I do believe it is very important to discuss the details of our Faith! Interpretation of Canon Law, proper liturgical form, etc. That kind of “nit-picking” is good when done in a spirit of honesty, wisdom, and charity. We should always pursue more knowledge so that we can be wise and do the right thing in an informed way.

**But *the manner ***in which a discussion is held can easily overshadow the content. I have taken to saying extra prayers daily for particularly angry CAF posters I have come across. I hope we are all praying for each other in this community. When we sin against charity on a public forum, we never know whose faith we are damaging or who we are driving away from the fullness of the Faith.
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An absolutely brilliant post, Jezu! Inciteful, well-written and yet full of charity even for those who hold beliefs contrary to your own. Truly a model for how I hope to post myself.

I wish I could find a charitable way to convey what I believe of those who “strain” at these particular “gnats” but suffice it to say that I do believe they believe they are defending God’s Will as best as they can. I just think that, given the example of Christ, they’re focusing on some of His lessor priorities. But that does not mean these are unimportant matters to God. As many have well pointed out here: do we not owe it to the Almighty to ensure that our sacrifice is as “perfect” as we can make it?
 
kleary said:
As the worship of the Triune God deserves the absolute best that humanity can possibly give…

I should dare to say that complaining of even the slightest liturgical abuse or irregularity is in NO WAY “Straining at gnats”.

Oh my how the liberals and progressives have taken hold of our beloved Holy Church for one to even suggest such thing!

Ken
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