tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086833995941525990.post3990662790533570123..comments2024-03-22T18:43:00.710-04:00Comments on Unam Sanctam Catholicam: Praying Through the MassBonifacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10672810254075072214noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086833995941525990.post-28468198721479694532019-04-14T10:44:48.260-04:002019-04-14T10:44:48.260-04:00Just a Nobody,
Lol...I don't know what you me...Just a Nobody,<br /><br />Lol...I don't know what you mean. I wasn't deflecting the question. You asked if I was alright. I said yeah, everything is normal. Also, that wasn't humor. That was deadpan serious.Bonifacehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10672810254075072214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086833995941525990.post-51198302692819437892019-04-13T20:26:16.332-04:002019-04-13T20:26:16.332-04:00Boniface,
deflecting questions with self-deprecat...Boniface,<br /><br />deflecting questions with self-deprecating humour is my trick!Just a Nobodynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086833995941525990.post-26307963919400213952019-04-10T11:53:13.152-04:002019-04-10T11:53:13.152-04:00@Just a Nobody,
Why wouldn't I be? Lethargic ...@Just a Nobody,<br /><br />Why wouldn't I be? Lethargic and depressed is basically my normative state 60% of the time when I come to Mass throughout my whole life. Bonifacehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10672810254075072214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086833995941525990.post-89650200851307438272019-04-10T03:21:47.181-04:002019-04-10T03:21:47.181-04:00Are you all right, P?Are you all right, P?Just a nobodynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086833995941525990.post-35358890633258832352019-04-08T04:27:06.047-04:002019-04-08T04:27:06.047-04:00The state of prayer you describe is what I normall...The state of prayer you describe is what I normally enter even as an altar server in the ancient rite. It's not just the language or the rubrics or the music specifically, it's that the ancient & new rites contain an entirely different concept of liturgy or ritual. All the theological speak about the liturgy being an "action of the Church" or "action of Christ" is present in a real spiritual-psychological way in the ancient rite, because it's built to function in a way where the priest, servers, and even congregation just "slot in" to the boat and let the river carry them downstream; it has an <i>automatic</i> nature to it where the liturgy sort of plays itself out, as if it has a <b>Mind</b> of its own. Because the liturgy has its own Mind (which is really the Church's & Christ's Mind) it leaves the participants plenty of mental space of their own, letting their minds wander and usually in the direction of prayer and interior examination. The new rite, however, built according to the pseudo-principle of "active participation", demands the constant attention of the participants' discursive intellect, the foremost part of the rational mind; and because this foremost part of the mind is constantly being harassed in order to keep up the liturgical performance, it is not free to go on its own spiritual wanderings. Meanwhile, the intuitive or innermost parts of the mind are hardly employed at all, because the discursive mind is being so rigidly employed.<br /><br />From what I know the liturgical reformers were bothered by the ancient rite's "rubricism", i.e. that it is very prescriptive in what it expects of the ministers. They thought it was "rigid". Actually it's almost the opposite, the fact that it is so "rigid" in its rubrics is what makes it so liberating, because you're not having to worry about what to do next seeing as it is hard-coded into the liturgy – you just follow along. The new rite, on the other hand, with its apparent flexibility or freedom is really rigid and binding, because it demands such "creative" input from the ministers and congregants that they are too mentally exhausted or distracted to make their own prayer. The ancient rite only feels "rigid" and "binding" when you are very lukewarm about it and would prefer not to be there; then, surely, it becomes a chore. But this is just as true in any rite or in anything in life really. It's just that this lukewarmness in the old rite manifests itself principally in the way the liturgy is rushed through, and in the new rite by the extremely casual, borderline irreverent attitude of the celebrant.<br /><br />I wrote a little bit about this in respect to the Chinese concept of "wu wei" (non-doing, non-ado, inaction). I sent it to traditioninaction and you can read it here: <br />https://www.traditioninaction.org/Questions/B999_M079_Wue.htmlJackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13858873453982708283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086833995941525990.post-1264906124401506292019-04-08T01:48:45.532-04:002019-04-08T01:48:45.532-04:00Your experience sounds exactly like what my FSSP p...Your experience sounds exactly like what my FSSP priests have been teaching. There is a certain quieting and ordering of the soul's faculties that needs to happen in order for contemplative prayer to happen, and the gregorian chant and overall quietness of the EF really facilitate that. Dr. Peter Kwasniewski's articles on liturgy always mention the "ascetical-mystical" purpose of the Mass, and I really wish he would unpack that phrase more because I think this is what he's getting at. In the meantime, if you ever have time to read any mystical theology by Garigou-Lagrange, you won't regret it.A.R.https://www.blogger.com/profile/06531328897397201309noreply@blogger.com