By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK
I was invited to a fundraising dinner recently at which a bishop spoke about the need to promote goodness, truth, and beauty in the Church. He has undertaken a multi-year project to beautify the celebration of Holy Mass as the key to Church renewal, liturgical and otherwise.
Salvation of the world begins in and through the Church, but the Church must first pray properly according to her true faith, lex orandi, lex credendi, in order for this work to come about. This is a common theme among those who love our Church and her sacred liturgy, as it should be. These themes of goodness, truth, and beauty are mentioned often by bishops who are deeply interested in the much needed renewal of the liturgy and who have made promotion of it their mission.
I do not speak here of the Traditional Latin Mass, which has never spawned a crisis of faith such as surrounds us now and can never be made more perfect than we find it in its current form as codified by Pope Pius V.
The Church has officially decided to attempt exclusive promotion of the new Mass, imposing the conditions under which most Catholics must keep the Lord’s Day holy. This is the point at which most of the faithful intersect with the larger Church.
The new Mass is vulnerable to abuses by poorly trained and poorly formed priests. There is no accounting for taste. In the preconciliar period, too many in authority left certain matters of the liturgy up to the taste of the priest, or possibly a lay person who presumes to take control of the liturgy in any given paris.
Beauty is often mentioned along with goodness and truth as the answers to the various crises afflicting the Church. But at the same time the concept is not fleshed out to a very great extent.
There are various means of promoting beauty. In the liturgy these can mean the surroundings, vestments, vessels, music, incense, Latin, chant, and organ, these last three officially prescribed by the fathers of the Second Vatican Council in the document Sacrosanctum Concilium. The most important beauty, however, is not in the things of the liturgy, but rather in those souls sanctified by the offering of the Church’s sacred rites.
Read the rest: https://thewandererpress.com/catholic/news/our-catholic-faith/the-beauty-of-holiness-2/
2 comments:
Even though those of us, who love the beautiful Latin Mass, are being persecuted, God is with us and loves us. He loves you Father. You are a light for us. I thank God for the brave priests and bishops that are the leaders God intended you to be. This suffering will bring so many souls to Christ. Stay brave. We’re praying for all of you. God’s Blessings and Mary’s mantle be around you and protect you.
I fully concur with Mr. Anonymous!
Joseph T. Bonanno
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