The snap prayer and other celery

  • Thread starter Thread starter kmuestwin
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
K

kmuestwin

Guest
This is the snap prayer:

“Father, Son and Holy Ghost
Here’s to the one we love the most.
He’s hip, He’s cool, He’s quite a dude,
We thank Him for our daily food.
Now it’s time to raise a toast
to the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Amen.”

The whole time you say it, you snap on all of the points of the sign of the cross.

I was taught this prayer last weekend at a retreat. The retreat was for college students from the age of 18-22. That isn’t the focus of this though. The main problem is much larger.

I feel like most of the things we do in my parish are to elicit an emotional response rather than actually instruct and guide in the faith. For liturgical music we are given Hillsong United. What happened to music that is liturgically correct and teaches a lesson?

I’m just hungry and need some sustenance rather than celery.

The worst part is that I feel like others are spiritually starving like me and don’t even know it. I’m frustrated and tired.
 
Miserere nobis, Domine. What have we gotten to :crying: May the Holy Spirit mercifully take pity on us all and grant an overabundance of His gift of Fear of the Lord, that we may learn the meaning of reverence again.
 
I honestly think that the only real problem with prayers like this is that it takes away from prayer. We are more concerned with snapping in the right place and singing along (and looking silly) than actually praying.
They did one similar at my marriage preparation class a few weekends ago, and I was annoyed by it! What happened to “Bless us oh Lord and these Thy gifts”!? That prayer is more meaningful to me than being concerned with snapping and singing.
I can understand in some circumstances, say, working with children, and introducing them to prayer in a way that they will comprehend and enjoy (because what 5 year old wants to say “boring” prayers, honestly), and will lead them into enjoyment of their faith. That said, whyyyyy on earth would you make college students sing that? Also, I feel that snapping the cross is making somewhat of a mockery of the actions we take.
Blah! I wish we could remember that while we need to stay engaged and find ways to bring people to the church, making a mockery of things isn’t the way to do it. There are MUCH better ways to keep things “interesting”!
 
I don’t know, you’re always free to say your own prayers/more traditional prayers.

As to the music though, I’m not familiar with Hillsong United, so I can’t comment.
kenj89 said:
There are MUCH better ways to keep things “interesting”!
Click to expand...
Such as?
 
kmuestwin said:
This is the snap prayer:

“Father, Son and Holy Ghost
Here’s to the one we love the most.
He’s hip, He’s cool, He’s quite a dude,
We thank Him for our daily food.
Now it’s time to raise a toast
to the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Amen.”

The whole time you say it, you snap on all of the points of the sign of the cross.

I was taught this prayer last weekend at a retreat. The retreat was for college students from the age of 18-22. That isn’t the focus of this though. The main problem is much larger.

I feel like most of the things we do in my parish are to elicit an emotional response rather than actually instruct and guide in the faith. For liturgical music we are given Hillsong United. What happened to music that is liturgically correct and teaches a lesson?

I’m just hungry and need some sustenance rather than celery.

The worst part is that I feel like others are spiritually starving like me and don’t even know it. I’m frustrated and tired.
Click to expand...
Oh my goodness. That’s horrible! :eek::eek::eek:

“He’s hip, he’s cool, he’s quite a dude!” :eek::mad::mad:

What in the heck. At that point I probably would have walked out. We do have a lot of problems within our Church.

Find a reverent parish and attend there. They do exist.
 
kmuestwin,
I am so with you. I recently moved. I needed to find a new church. Luckily there are a number of options.
One was what I grew up with, light on tradition, faithful, and not either evangelical or that super liberal non conformist bunk
Two were so full of the super liberal non conformist bunk that I question that their Eucharist is valid!:eek:
Two seem to care more about the music being uplifting… which is fine by me outside of mass, within reason (and um, one guy who leads the music is so full of himself…and not all that great in my opinion, although I think its wonderful he is using his time and talent to bring Glory to God… now if he could just leave the arrangements alone so the faithful could sing along:rolleyes:)
One was way more traditional and full of sustenance, but still fell short of what I was craving.
Then I found a quiet mass, where the music was what my mother grew up with, the Holy, Holy, Holy is sung in Latin, the Kyrie is in Greek. It may not be perfect, but I can pray when I come in and after mass, without being interrupted by others’ conversations.

I think we are starving whether we know it or not. First we must find where to get filled, then we must lead others
 
VeritasLuxMea said:
Such as?
Click to expand...
Have you tried to pray the Holy Rosary in Latin? I know plenty of young people who find it truly fascinating. To sing the Pater Noster or the Salve Regina in plainchant? Also wonderful and much more deep than any modern-day song will ever be. We confuse innovation with irreverence, very often. Things can be made more interesting, for instance, by slowing them down and doing them more carefully…which focuses our concentration, makes everything flow in a smoother way, and kindles the fire of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. Introducing sacred silence in our prayers is also a powerful means to make everything stand up one step closer to the divine realm, much more than any loud noise will ever do.
 
It´s not how we pray, but if we do. St. Teresa de Avila God bless:thumbsup:👍👍
 
VeritasLuxMea said:
I don’t know, you’re always free to say your own prayers/more traditional prayers.

As to the music though, I’m not familiar with Hillsong United, so I can’t comment.

Such as?
Click to expand...
Well, since we’re talking about college students here, where I go to school there is a Catholic college right smack dab in the middle of an incredibly liberal school. As you can probably imagine, it is really hard to keep people focussed, and interested in their faith when there are so many temptations surrounding us, especially outside of Mass. BUT we do things like having talks by interesting speakers (a lot of the time priests who are very knowledgeable, but also very interesting!), we sing some of the more “modern” worship songs (after being reviewed to make sure the theology lines up), and movie nights, where we watch films and then talk about the theological issues or maybe the good theological things inside of it. I’m not sure why people feel the need to make prayer and Mass more “exciting”, because if you ask me, bread and wine turning into the body and blood of Jesus is pretty exciting itself… 🤷
 
It seems like we spend so much time and effort making things fun in order to evangelize students that by the time we actually have students to teach, we don’t have any substance to offer them.

I yearn for substance.
 
TheRealJuliane said:
Oh my goodness. That’s horrible! :eek::eek::eek:

“He’s hip, he’s cool, he’s quite a dude!” :eek::mad::mad:

What in the heck. At that point I probably would have walked out. We do have a lot of problems within our Church.

Find a reverent parish and attend there. They do exist.
Click to expand...
We do have one.

I used to attend Mass at the same church with the OP. When I recently converted and started attending Mass it was perfect for me there. I was used to praise and worship and it was a good transition for me into the Catholic faith. As I grew though I started to crave a more reverent Mass. Having the lead singer go into rock star mode during the communion hymn wasn’t what I was there for. I am now going to the most reverent church in the area. Like I told the OP last night. When I walk in there I feel the presence of God. When I inhale deeply it’s like I’m inhaling the Holy Spirit.

Please pray for the priest at the church where the OP attends. He’s a wonderful man of God who is overworked and spread to thin. He pastors two churches.
 
VeritasLuxMea said:
We do? Really? :eek:

I would love to know more about these student groups you have been attending. 😛
Click to expand...
Well, I’ve been active in the campus ministry on my college campus since it started and I can tell you for certain that spiritual growth has not been the goal of many of our programs.

At our mass every week, the band is only 50% catholic. They have moved up to the front of the church and are now the closest people to the altar. This band has taken to giving short testimonials before every song during the mass and has been known to play a seven minute song during the processional. None of their song choices have anything to do with the liturgy but they are all very upbeat and poppy. They practice 30 minutes before the mass so there is no time for traditional devotions or quiet prayer.

There have been instances where people have been brought in to teach lectures on prayer and their lessons were completely heretical. “When I pray, God comes to me as a Jewish woman God.” Said a Catholic nun teaching on contemplative prayer.

RCIA boils down to a 6 week course where real questions are not answered and more people enter the Church without really knowing what they are getting into.

The worst part is, the family who gives the most money to the church feels like they own a stake in what the church does. They don’t find the liturgy exciting enough so they brought in the band. They don’t know their faith but they feel inclined to teach and train people to be Lectors and EMHC’s. We have a church council but they are silently vetoed if this family doesn’t like what’s going on. They do not understand some of the fundamental differences between Catholicism and the Southern Baptist majority in the area.

EVERYTHING is about feelings and emotions and not about true spiritual growth.

This parish should be called Cash is King rather than Christ the King.

I’m just tired of letting these students who are hungry for true faith, who are trying to understand their faith for the first time outside of their homes, being fed garbage when they come to this parish.

This is not what I worked for years to build and it is not what I want to spend my time and effort helping. The only thing keeping me involved is the students that need a voice and someone to talk to.
 
Are you familiar with the “horizontal and vertical” analogy in worship? The “horizontal” is our co-worshippers, the community. That makes the horizontal arm of the cross. The “vertical” is the reverence, awe, and praise we raise up to Almighty God. That comprises the vertical part of the cross.

Carrying that a little further, if you make the horizontal arm part too long it overbalances the cross. (I know there are Christian cross symbols with all arms the same length, but basically it’s a good simple analogy to keep in mind when planning liturgy and catechesis.)
 
R_C said:
Miserere nobis, Domine. What have we gotten to :crying: May the Holy Spirit mercifully take pity on us all and grant an overabundance of His gift of Fear of the Lord, that we may learn the meaning of reverence again.
Click to expand...
Yeah, when I was a kid, we were taught something similar. It was called the “Rap Prayer” (I think it’s the Key of C Rap prayer, if you catch my drift).
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top