The Infallibility of the Rites

[eponymic]

In my lurking, I’ve seen several posts about “Is it right to do X during Mass?”, and most of them involve wholly inconsequential actions that may just be socially awkward. I’m sure there’s been half a million threads on whether it’s appropriate to hold hands during the Our Father, or the very recent thread about gesturing back to the priest while saying “And also with you”. Similarly, there have been threads by people who fear they must find a new church because the music director brought in a guitar or drums.

My question about this is, is all of this just a case of focusing on the minutia of the rites while losing focus on the meaning of what we’re doing? Does it really matter if our arms are up or down if our hearts are in the right place? At the same time, a post in the “And also with you” thread said that the OP had been approached after Mass for not gesticulating and that it had been a “distraction”. Are the people who watch for this interested in the Mass, or interested if they are being “better participants” than their neighbors?

Every time I see a post like this (or people wildly flailing about for the benefit of their neighbors), I think about Matthew 6 and Mark 7. In Matthew, Jesus tells us that we should pray in private and not to make a public spectacle of our faith. In Mark, He chastises the Pharisees for “disregarding God’s commandment but cling[ing] to human tradition”. I feel that people are clinging to the ritual, and missing that the meaning is much more important.

I guess my point here is that it doesn’t really matter whether you raise your arms or not, but what you have in your heart. Are you doing it for people to see you do it, or because it is helping you praise God better? I also think that the rituals should be allowed to change, and the fact that Vatican II occurred and Mass can be celebrated in the vernacular lends a bit of support to this. The ritual of the Mass is not an infallible, set in stone, never changing thing, but the meaning of the Mass is. I thoroughly understand the sentiment that Mass is Mass is Mass, and it should matter which physical building you enter, it should be the same Mass. In these cases, though, it is the same Mass.

 

[Genesis315]

While the Liturgy can be changed, it can only be changed by the lawful authorities (the Pope is the final authority, but he can allow other authorities to make changes, like local bishops’ conferences or individual bishops). No priest or lay person can change the liturgy. Worship is ordered so that we worship as one Body, with one voice, one mind, and one heart. To have people doing whatever they want, even if their intentions were good, would destroy the unity.

We are an Incarnational people. Worship is spiritual, but not just spiritual. It is also corporal. And it is not individualistic, but social.

 

[otjm]

I think if there is one thing that irks me, it is the people who seem to need to gesture with their hands at “The Lord be with you”. (Sigh!)

On the other hand, there also seem to be some people who are so adamant about every jot and tittle that I sometimes wonder whether or not they remember Who is present. I guess I wasn’t around when they handed out the badges and named people to the LIturgy Police Department.

I am old enough to have known fairly well the Mass prior to Vatican 2. I have seen glorious Solemn High Masses, and low Masses said at 6:30 a.m. that were over within 15 minutes and said by a priest with a serious drinking problem - which in my way of thinking is less than overly reverant.

I guess I just think that when I come to judgement, Christ is not going to ask me why I didn’t write to the bishop, or to Rome about something some priest did or didn’t do. I think I’ll have to answer for a lot, but I really doubt that is going to be part of it. I go to worship God, and I expect it to be work, not something that I go to, to get a religious emotional fix. Having ADHD makes it to be work for me. Occasionally a Mass is emotionally very positive, but that is not why I am there, and that is not what I seek.

And as to irritants, well, life is full of them. I got past some of them by changing parishes. There was some silliness in one I attended, and I don’t miss going there.

I do not disagree that the priest does not have the authority to change the Msss on his own and should not. But I also have enough patience that I am not going to look for any and every possible mistake, goof, incident of forgetfulness, or intentional minor change; I am there to worship God along with the rest of the community. That is why I go, that is what I do, and God can sort out the rest of it.

 

[puzzleannie]

I think in general most lay people would benefit from participation in Mass to a far greater degree if the directed their attention entirely to the mystery being enacted upon the altar and gave up the preoccupation with nitpicking about words and actions of the priest. I can say that as one of the longest-term members here, and victim of hundreds of so-called “liturgical abuse” threads, I estimate less than 5% of complaints refer to actual abuse, and 95% are about offended sensibilities and personal preferences. I think a lot of us are using time that could be better spent on positive spiritual growth acting as self-appointed liturgy police.

 

[otjm]

I think in general most lay people would benefit from participation in Mass to a far greater degree if the directed their attention entirely to the mystery being enacted upon the altar and gave up the preoccupation with nitpicking about words and actions of the priest. I can say that as one of the longest-term members here, and victim of hundreds of so-called “liturgical abuse” threads, I estimate less than 5% of complaints refer to actual abuse, and 95% are about offended sensibilities and personal preferences. I think a lot of us are using time that could be better spent on positive spiritual growth acting as self-appointed liturgy police.

You go, girl!

 

[Andreas_Hofer]

I think in general most lay people would benefit from participation in Mass to a far greater degree if the directed their attention entirely to the mystery being enacted upon the altar and gave up the preoccupation with nitpicking about words and actions of the priest. I can say that as one of the longest-term members here, and victim of hundreds of so-called “liturgical abuse” threads, I estimate less than 5% of complaints refer to actual abuse, and 95% are about offended sensibilities and personal preferences. I think a lot of us are using time that could be better spent on positive spiritual growth acting as self-appointed liturgy police.

I think the issue of liturgical abuse vs. nitpicking needs to be viewed from both sides at once in order to have a healthy view of it. You’re right that, on the one hand, if people just focused in better on the mystery of the sacrifice the lesser abuses would not be very consequential. On the other hand, though, many people would be far better able to focus on the Mass if they weren’t presented with abuses that take their attention away from the mystery of the sacrifice.

I always wonder when I hear comments about people “looking for abuses” or “trying to find something in the rubrics/canon law” to show that something is wrong. For those who are interested in liturgy and church law, they don’t need to look things up - the reason they are distracted is not that they dislike something and wonder whether it’s allowed, rather, it’s because they see something they know is obviously not allowed.

Charity can be wanting on both sides, both within those who look for abuse where it does not exist, and within those who act like if others would simply pray better the abuse wouldn’t matter.

 

[jpjd]

It’s the culture of this forum to nitpick about the liturgy. I don’t see these types of discussions on other boards I visit. I think the people who complain about the liturgy tend to be the scrupulous type.

I agree 100% with Puzzleannie, so many of these incidents are really about offended sensibilities and personal preferences, and not about litugical abuse.

What I would suggest to help put your mind on the Mass and not on policing the liturgy:

1. Sit in the front, yes the very front, pew. You won’t see anyone but the priest. Distractions are kept to a minimum.
2. Close your eyes and listen to the Mass. It’s really beautiful to just hear the words being spoken, from the readings to the prayers, to the hymns, and most especially, the consecration. I spend about 70% of the Mass with my eyes closed.