Yes and amen. Worship is not about us. The consumer mindset has infected what many well meaning Christians think worship should be. They approach it with a “how will going to this service for an hour benefit me” mentality instead of viewing it as our duty to God.
I love the last points especially. They really get to the heart of the matter, and they just lay out precisely what "Gen Z Catholics" have been wanting this whole time. . . get the personal preference out of the Mass!
Unfortunately, the Novus Ordo doesn’t give this impression but usually fosters the opposite. For example, most of the parishes in my area are shaped more like Osteen’s church, in the round and angled toward a stage, versus populum, all vernacular, etc. The Novus Ordo was designed to be anthropocentric from the beginning.
True, unfortunately, the writer is defending the very novus ordo that was made by man. They even say it in the offertory prayers that it is the work of human hands. This person claims to know liturgy but speaks only from a Vatican 2 perspective.
Unfortunately, the Tridentine Mass was also made by man, i.e. the Church, as that is the Church's prerogative as the guardian of the Liturgy. The Tridentine Mass also does not resemble the Mass of the Early Church, which is perfectly fine. What is of great importance is whether or not a specific development of the Liturgy is in keeping with tradition, or whether or not it fundamentally alters the nature of the Liturgy or worship itself. God did not tell the Church how to structure the Liturgy. He gave us the command to "do this in remembrance of me", which we do every Mass in the Eucharist, regardless of whether or not it is the Usus Antiquior or the Novus Ordo.
Also, your claim about the part of the Eucharistic prayer is mistaken. The full text says "Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness we have received the bread we offer you: fruit of the earth and work of human hands, it will become for us the bread of life.” The "work of human hands" is a reference to the bread and wine, which are indeed work of human hands, which is the whole point: the elements of bread and wine are the work of human hands, and God, in His glory, uses those man-made elements and through the words of the priest, they are transubstantiated into the Body and Blood of the Lord.
All very true. I have found that genuinely pure worship of our God will not ever centered upon us, even when the occasion for our prayer is to bring before God our petition of need. This means is that when we tender our prayer to God, no matter what the occasion, we should seek always to be singularly attendant to the Person, the needs, and the desires of God, for His sake alone. An excellent example of this consummately selfless disposition is the incessant and utterly selfless disposition of Christ with respect tour Father and to us. When we petition God, our entreaty should be conducted always in contemplation of the needs and desires of our God, regardless of any other other purposes associated with our prayer..
I think it is worth noting as well, not because this is some sort of caveat to this posting at all, that we look forward to a Life in Heaven defined entirely by the presence of God there. Life in Heaven is one primarily engaged in incessant and consummately worshipful adoration of God as has been discussed here. That same worship of our Triune God, in which we each have the capacity to become participants here on earth, can also enter into a state of lesser or greater ecstasy simply due to the reaction of created beings, not found to be in a state of terminal corruption, in the event of their becoming aware of being in very near proximity to God. Our genuine humanity, because our nature arises from within that of our Creator, will find this state when it occurs to be immensely compelling. it is this very reaction to awareness of being permeatingly near to God, magnified exponentially in Heaven, that renders life in for all who reside there to be, not just a paradise, but Paradise itself.
Yes and amen. Worship is not about us. The consumer mindset has infected what many well meaning Christians think worship should be. They approach it with a “how will going to this service for an hour benefit me” mentality instead of viewing it as our duty to God.
Very well written!
Thank you!
I love the last points especially. They really get to the heart of the matter, and they just lay out precisely what "Gen Z Catholics" have been wanting this whole time. . . get the personal preference out of the Mass!
Thank you! Exactly! It’s so much easier when you don’t try and invent it yourself. Just do what the Church has always done, in line with the rubrics!
Unfortunately, the Novus Ordo doesn’t give this impression but usually fosters the opposite. For example, most of the parishes in my area are shaped more like Osteen’s church, in the round and angled toward a stage, versus populum, all vernacular, etc. The Novus Ordo was designed to be anthropocentric from the beginning.
I agree with your assessment. That is why all of the "extra" stuff, music, architecture, vestments, etc. all REALLY matter.
True, unfortunately, the writer is defending the very novus ordo that was made by man. They even say it in the offertory prayers that it is the work of human hands. This person claims to know liturgy but speaks only from a Vatican 2 perspective.
Unfortunately, the Tridentine Mass was also made by man, i.e. the Church, as that is the Church's prerogative as the guardian of the Liturgy. The Tridentine Mass also does not resemble the Mass of the Early Church, which is perfectly fine. What is of great importance is whether or not a specific development of the Liturgy is in keeping with tradition, or whether or not it fundamentally alters the nature of the Liturgy or worship itself. God did not tell the Church how to structure the Liturgy. He gave us the command to "do this in remembrance of me", which we do every Mass in the Eucharist, regardless of whether or not it is the Usus Antiquior or the Novus Ordo.
Also, your claim about the part of the Eucharistic prayer is mistaken. The full text says "Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness we have received the bread we offer you: fruit of the earth and work of human hands, it will become for us the bread of life.” The "work of human hands" is a reference to the bread and wine, which are indeed work of human hands, which is the whole point: the elements of bread and wine are the work of human hands, and God, in His glory, uses those man-made elements and through the words of the priest, they are transubstantiated into the Body and Blood of the Lord.
Your comment requires a detailed answer, so I will reply in an article.
All very true. I have found that genuinely pure worship of our God will not ever centered upon us, even when the occasion for our prayer is to bring before God our petition of need. This means is that when we tender our prayer to God, no matter what the occasion, we should seek always to be singularly attendant to the Person, the needs, and the desires of God, for His sake alone. An excellent example of this consummately selfless disposition is the incessant and utterly selfless disposition of Christ with respect tour Father and to us. When we petition God, our entreaty should be conducted always in contemplation of the needs and desires of our God, regardless of any other other purposes associated with our prayer..
I think it is worth noting as well, not because this is some sort of caveat to this posting at all, that we look forward to a Life in Heaven defined entirely by the presence of God there. Life in Heaven is one primarily engaged in incessant and consummately worshipful adoration of God as has been discussed here. That same worship of our Triune God, in which we each have the capacity to become participants here on earth, can also enter into a state of lesser or greater ecstasy simply due to the reaction of created beings, not found to be in a state of terminal corruption, in the event of their becoming aware of being in very near proximity to God. Our genuine humanity, because our nature arises from within that of our Creator, will find this state when it occurs to be immensely compelling. it is this very reaction to awareness of being permeatingly near to God, magnified exponentially in Heaven, that renders life in for all who reside there to be, not just a paradise, but Paradise itself.