Encouraged by Pope John Paul II just before he passed away the following year, RS was a sort of last ditch stretch in the twilight of a long pontificate to touch on certain matters "to be observed or to be avoided" regarding the Most Holy Eucharist.
I remember thanking His Eminence for such a great effort. Then, with a nervous smile, he asked: "Will anyone listen to it?" Feeling terribly embarrassed, I said the opposite of what I was thinking, "Yes, of course!"
When you make a law you must make the sanction too. It seems that REDEMPTORIS SACRAMENTUM is a PAPER TIGER.
ReplyDeleteI asked three priests about the abuse of not using the communion plate:
-first one, now the communion plate is used in one row to the communion(5 years old ministrant holding it bad, for example), the extraordinary(ordinary) minister of Holy communion didn't use it.
-second one, he answered me that he is not using it and that if in the particles is present Christ is a theological debate
-third one, my parish priest, use the communion plate only when there is a ministrant and never purificate it unless I am the ministrant and put communion plate on the altar after the distribution. In the other parish church he even has a extraordinary minister who every sunday goes to distribute the Holy Communion to the choir (no communion plate obviously).
It causes me a lot of pain, because I know that sacrilege is inevitable.
Very good blog. Greetings from Catholic Istria(Slovenia).
2001: A Space Odyssey??
ReplyDeleteAlas, too little, too late. And no ooomph behind it, no consequences. No one listened indeed.
ReplyDeleteWow. A very sad photo. A lame boring chair and a white (white?) piano seem to get more attention than the Bread of Life.
ReplyDeleteWow. Very sad. A boring chair and a white (white? what the?) piano get more care and attention than the Bread of Life.
ReplyDeleteWhat does it say about the wreckovators expectations of the mindset
ReplyDeleteof the celebrant that they would place his seat in the center and higher
than the Real Presence? Why is a mere bit of furniture given greater
precedence than the Real Presence? Why this insistence on breaking
the link between tabernacle and altar?
Were I a priest called upon to celebrate Mass in a sanctuary ordered
like that, I'd flat refuse to sit there-- better to sit on the floor than in
the place that should be occupied by my Lord. It is one thing to have
the tabernacle in a chapel, as is done in large churches where it is
often necessary to do so to preserve a quiet place for adoration. This
arrangement pictured here keeps the tabernacle near the altar for
convenience's sake, but places it as though the Host is an afterthought
and secondary to the 'presider'. It is a denial of the Real Presence.
If the veil was lifted, and Christ was visible as He is and not merely
under the appearance of bread and wine, would He still be made to
stand aside while pride of place was given to Fr. Showboat?
As you can guess, I utterly loathe this sort of un-Catholic arrangement.
The liturgists who promote this are incompetent and the priests who
accept it are fools.
Spare us, O Lord, of more St. Cloud granite.
ReplyDeleteRestore the original sanctuary lamp (given away to the Basilica).
ReplyDeleteI think my Greek neighbor has the same tabernacle stand in his yard. Why not match it with the byzantine capitals of the church?
ReplyDelete