The Focus of the Mass in Today’s Liturgy

[ontheway1]

Worship - “the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity”.

This is how the word is described in Wikipedia.
I start this particular thread after viewing a Michael Voris video in which he claims that as a church we have lost focus when it comes to celebrating the Mass.

(see 5:50 and later)
Has the focus of the mass really shifted away from God? Is it becoming a celebrarion of us? Has it become so already? What say you…?

 

[ZMystiCat]

Has the focus of the mass really shifted away from God? Is it becoming a celebrarion of us? Has it become so already? What say you…?

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church’s Glossary, it defines Mass starting with (emphasis mine):

The Eucharist or principal sacramental celebration of the Church…

Further, in the Index of the catechism, you’ll find that many paragraphs are dedicated to exploring the Mass as a “Eucharistic celebration”. CCC 1181 probably most fully captures this idea (emphasis mine):

A church, "a house of prayer in which the Eucharist is celebrated and reserved, where the faithful assemble, where is worshipped the presence of the Son of God our Savior…

So I’m not really sure that celebration is contrary to the Mass. It seems intrinsic to it. Now, there’s good and bad ways to celebrate, but framing the problem as being celebration is running contrary to what the Mass is.

 

[GiftofMercy]

Can you summarise the argument without a person having to view the youtube , please.

 

[ontheway1]

Bishop acting like a celebrity, using the church as a stage for his performance.

 

[Erikaspirit16]

Lost focus? Like anything else, it depends on how it’s done! You could have a Novus Ordo Mass celebrated in a very reverent, pious fashion. You could also have it done so that it becomes a showcase for the priest, or the cantor, or the choir, or even the congregation. If that happens, yes, you’ve lost focus.

The virtue (one of many) of the Latin Mass was that it was exactly the same, no matter where you were in the world. There were no options, no chance for grandstanding, etc., so a lot of people (including me) would say it was more focused on God than the NO Mass. But as I said, it depends on how the NO Mass is celebrated. The problem is that it is open to more than one way.

 

[Dovekin]

Has the focus of the mass really shifted away from God? Is it becoming a celebrarion of us? Has it become so already? What say you…?

God is revealed to us by the Son, who lived among us. If our focus is “on God” to the exclusion of that revelation, something has gone wrong. Even if the focus excludes the Holy Spirit, who has been given to each of us, there is something wrong. God gives us our gifts for the edification of all, not so that they will be hidden away.

Of course, we can make mistakes. A procession may attempt to outshine the Lord’s entrance into Jerusalem. Still, the best response is to be grateful, and thank God for reminding us how he led us into Jerusalem. Being ungrateful cuts against the whole concept of Eucharist; leave it to God to judge any excesses.

 

[CilladeRoma]

As usual an oversimplified rant from the King of the Tin-foil hat crowd.

Why does anyone listen to him?

 

[GiftofMercy]

i disagree with theentire culture of celebrity Priest. However, are you sure this is whats going on? Were you there?

 

[phil19034]

Has the focus of the mass really shifted away from God? Is it becoming a celebrarion of us? Has it become so already? What say you…?

Honestly, I think it depends on the parish, the priest, and/or the individual.

But in general, yes, I think there are parishes where it seems to be falling into a kind humanism and entertainment.

In these parishes, the homily has little to directly do with God, and more to do with feelings and more ethics vs morality. Some of these parishes also have a tendency to pick “hymns” or songs that are more entertaining vs. reverent.

But, there are other parishes where it really is all about God - regardless if they use Latin & Chant, or the Vernacular and singing.

I think most of us can tell the extreme in both situations… but where we have trouble in when the parish is somewhere in the middle.

 

[ontheway1]

I see that “This topic will automatically close in 21 minutes” I would like to know who is shutting it down and why?

 

[GiftofMercy]

I have no idea, but just started watching it. It seems like one man’s agenda , he is pushing the ‘guess who destroyed the Catholic Church in America’ agenda. Then I see a Bishop entering a Mass and greeting some of the people he shepherds on the way to the Sanctuary. What is wrong with that? He looks humble, he may be taking special prayer requests from those he is greeting? He may be blessing a person for a condition we know nothing about.
Then I turned it off.
My suggestion is to think critically about what is happening and what evidence is being put forward.

This speaker’s premise is that these two predators tried to make Catholics disbelieve the real presence. I don’t see any objective critical evidence to back that one up. Being a sexual predator is an illness, and a criminal activity. It does not go hand in hand with a conscious and deliberate attempt to make an entire national community of Catholics into rejectors of Catholic Dogma and Doctrine.