Tuesday, March 30, 2010

a quote

I am (finally!) reading "The Spirit of the Liturgy" by our beloved pope, and I found a quote worth sharing in the chapter on "Music and Liturgy."

He is contrasting "Rock" music... "in opposition to Christian worship. People are, so to speak, released from themselves by the experience of being part of a crowd and the emotional shock of rhythm, noise, and special lighting effects."

hmm, I thought to myself, that reminds me a bit of the Easter Vigils of certain un-named churches, no?

2 comments:

totustuusmaria said...

Well, I've only ever been to the Easter Vigil at one unnamed Church -- for 24 years straight. I have nothing to compare it to. Of course, I like it an awful lot. It would be a big decision for me to go to another Church than this unnamed one.

At the same time, I must confess, it is jarring to me how, by the end of the vigil, EVERY YEAR, the congregation has lost the distinction between the sacred and the profane. People start making jokes -- even the clergy sometimes. There is laughter. There is applause for human accomplishments. Immediately after Mass everyone stands up and starts talking.

While none of this /per se/ invalidates or disproves the claims this community make about worship, it has become a great scandal to me. I wonder, if the people cease to distinguish between what is God-centered and what is man-oriented because of the emotions caused by the excitement they have in their worship: how much of that joy they associate with Easter worship is truly sacred? how much of it is actually self-reflexive? Is it really opening them to God or is it creating an enclosed circle with little room for the transcendental?

These are disturbing questions that this Easter Vigil causes in me. Questions I don't have the answers to.

But I'm glad you're reading this book. I sat down and started reading it for the second time just last night.

Unknown said...

They live in you...