It has been a long winter. Within the last fifty years the crust of the Church's liturgical landscape has trembled and split wide open as a result of the volcanic forces that have exploded beneath it. For the Christian savant who has carefully followed the formation and development of the various layers of modern thought, this shaking of the liturgical foundations was not unexpected. Indeed, it was long overdue. Underground pressures had been building against the city of sound liturgy for at least three centuries. Today is a time of rebuilding.
Amen, brother! I am blessed to attend Holy Family parish in Columbus, Ohio, home to The Jubilee Museum, the largest museum of diversified Catholic artwork in the United States. One area of the museum showcases antique vestments. Our parish pastor, Fr. Lutz, occasionally wears some of these vestments while celebrating the Tridentine Mass. Although some may think of vestments as "over-the-top" in appearance, there is as much beauty and meaning in them as in the great cathedrals and high altars. Vestments are a way to place a demarcation between the profane and the sacred.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful vestments help guide my eyes toward the grandeur and beauty of our Lord Jesus Christ. He deserves our best, not tablecloths.
What an improvement indeed! Now, we hope the pontifical mitres will improve as well.
ReplyDelete(BTW, who is the other bishop with Cardinal Sodano? What was the occassion for the hierarchs to walk on this picturesque cobble Italian street?)
Existentialism had a big influence. The uniqueness of each human existence in freely making its own self-defining choices about whatever.
ReplyDeleteJOHN! This is Jared, writing to you from sunny Tucson, AZ. I have a favor to ask. We at the Classics Dept at the U of A are hoping to find a suitable image for a large Department banner -- I've recommended that we use the Arch of Titus. Do you have any good photos of the Arch? Such a photo would ideally show the front ("Senatus Populus Que Romanus" etc.) If I can get a good photo from you, I may be able to convince the faculty to put it on our banner.
ReplyDeleteWith SC there was let loose a whole batch of forces that had been simmering in the Church for many years, as well as countless trends and tendencies aimed at bridging the gap between the Church and the world. All acquired a kind of droit de cite from that moment which could not be gainsaid, despite the continuing frowns and threats of the Curia.
ReplyDeleteThe very small mitre worn by the one attending bishop is very reminicent of the type of mitres bishops wore in the 12th century. Very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI personally prefer the tal, highly ornamented Baroque mitres, but these are classically beautiful, and recall the days of Catholic glory of the 12th-13 centuries before the stain of the Protestant reformation.
Existentialism of Bultmann's theology and Heidegger's philosophy led to the Marxism.
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