Here’s the thing:
I went to Mass. Not here in the ‘Ham. Somewhere else.
When I go to Mass I try very hard to leave any Critic Hat I might be harboring at the door.
Often unsuccessfully of course.
(I say that as a caveat. As an attempt to divert the Giant Internet Hand of Spanking/Catholic Edition. Remember my late husband wrote the book on leaving the Critic behind at Mass. So I have awareness, people.)
So anyway (!) – this Mass was a great example of how the purported intentions of the post-V2 reforms went horribly wrong because they failed to take Ego into account. Years of tradition and development and more organic-like stuff know about the Ego. Quick fixes forget.
Which means quite simply: When you declare that “the local community” should in some way shape the liturgy, what will often happen is that the only “community” shaping the liturgy will be the musicians and the priest. Ipso facto, untethered from rubric or the specter of sin and set loose by the fateful phrase “in these or similar words” – the liturgy will reflect the egos of both.
So at the beginning we were instructed to “turn and greet Father with our opening song.”
The celebrant ad-libbed much of the Mass (not the Eucharistic prayer, though) and spoke for five minutes after the Greeting – about Hosea, which was the source of the (Weston Priory, of course) processional hymn, but not the First Reading (which was from Ezekiel), preached a thirty-minute terrifically disjointed homily that barely alluded to any of the three Scripture readings (but did make ample reference to Hosea) , and then spent another five minutes at the end of Mass selling the parish golf tournament.
The priest became the center of the Mass – and not in the alter Christus offering sacrifice mode he’s supposed to – and for the rest of us, there was no escaping him.
But I’ve gone over that before in this space. Here’s what struck me this time.
The parish has a special intention for which they are praying to the Virgin.
So after Mass the priest led the people in this prayer to the Virgin for this special intention.
He turned around. Away from the congregation. With them.
He recited the words of this prayer to the Virgin, on his knees facing her statue – which stood in the sanctuary.
He turned , he faced the statue, he prayed.
With us.
I could not help but wonder why embracing this stance and this mode of praying which did not deviate from the given, “rote,” prayer one bit – leading us, but in the same direction – was acceptable now, but not during Mass.
“Years of tradition and development and more organic-like stuff know about the Ego. Quick fixes forget.” This is perhaps the clearest summary of our liturgical situation I have heard. And yes, it seems the only place in the Church, or even in the world, where we don’t face the one (the One) we’re addressing is in the Mass. The Mass should be the prime example to the world of turning away from ourselves and towards the Divine Other. It’s all very strange, although I suspect that serpent wrapped himself around our egos to create this disorientation.
Appreciated the airing of these topics. My critic hat is entirely obsessed on homilies and why do ours often have slow speed, monotone expressionless delivery, and rarely touch on the severe topics like the place of demons and of the Fall in the tragedies we see on the nightly news.
Then I turn on TV and a Protestant preacher has excellent speed and excellent variety of tone in verbal delivery and has Aquinas’ memory of individual scripture passages….but he’s urging people to seed their faith by sending their last thousand dollars to his church which will bring a windfall of money to the giver in good time….something like buying Autozone common stock a year and a half ago and feasting now while hedge funds are down 20% for the year. Oy…..and the young know not where to go.
I don’t think it has anything to do with ego. It has to do with architecture and space.
The altar is set in the round. The priest goes “behind” it and faces the people. He becomes the “center” of the Mass. It’s been this way for nearly fifty years.
Most statues are not set in the round. They generally are against a wall or a pillar. The priest has to stand before them, with the people, facing the statue.
It’s just that simple.
Not in this church. The statue was set up so that he could have stayed right where he was near the presider’s chair to the side of it. and led the prayer. It wasn’t in a niche but somewhat forward in the sanctuary. He didn’t have to turn and face the statue at all to pray a Marian prayer with the people of course anyway.. No one does. You can just sit there and face whatever way you’d like as you pray. But the intuition was to move down and face in the same direction as the people. It was fascinating.
Wow I didn’t expect that last turn at all. Curious. It makes it seems so clear that, as so often is the case, the problem really is not malice but ignorance. It’s sort of a bad habit that no one ever corrected. Like as a parent responsible for training young ones in manners, I’ve become sorely aware that somehow I never developed a good habit of saying “please”. I don’t know why but I didn’t. I don’t intend to be rude, but of course seem that way to those who have a more highly developed habit. So the bad habit of letting ego take over has crept unchecked. If Father were even made aware of how much his personality has taken over the mass– as I’ve become aware of my bad habit– he might even be able to rein it in. But he’s oblivious.
I have the SAME experience at our parish. Mass is versus populum, of course, not full of abuses, but modern and ad libbing nonetheless. But, on every Friday after mass, we pray the Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. As we sing the recessional, Fr comes down in front of the sanctuary, faces the altar and crucifix, and with his back to us he LEADS us in this devotion. I found the contradiction interesting as you did. I wish he could see this LEADING of the faithful for the celebration of the Mass as well.
I think I am rather fortunate. The priest where I am currently attending mass stands off to the left hand side (behind the readers lecturn but still on the sanctuary) for all of the Mass except where he needs to be in the middle. As soon as communion is over he returns to the side and stays there for the dismissal etc.
I find this very helpful as there is no possibility you could focus on him except during the preperation of the gifts and the consecration itself – at which point you have other things to be thinking about anyway.
A few years ago I attended Mass a couple of times in a parish in another city in which the priest stood at the left in the sanctuar. y. The few times he was to address the people – he addressed us. And then when it came time to pray he turned ever so slightly toward the Crucifix. That movement was quite small in terms of physical space but huge spiritually. It was discernible.
Note the title here:
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/09/accidently-praying-together-or-reason-7873-for-summorum-pontificum/
It takes a superhuman saintly priest not to let ego into things when he is ‘facing the people’
In the Byzantine rite, it is ad orientem- but my husband has bi-ritual faculties and celebrates at his hospital in the Roman rite. The chapel is so small I think ad orientem would be impossible, but I think it would be very beneficial to keep the focus on JESUS
I agree!
And in my experience *most* priests would be perfectly fine facing in the same direction as the people. Hardly any are comfortable with those awkward “where do I look” moments during the Credo and Sanctus and so on.
I stand and sit off to the left side of the sanctuary during the entire mass except the Eucharistic Prayer and the Offertory and the Communion. And of course I preach from the ambo. A few people have complained that they can’t see my face during the whole mass. My response is ” why are you looking at me?”
Thank you for commenting, Father!