A tale of two alters...
The author had quite the informative talk yesterday with a dear friend. Pope Pius XII's encyclical Mediator Dei was the topic of discussion. This writer (we'll call him A) believes he had it in the bag, while friend B thought so too...
In paragraph 62 when it says it would be straying from the right path to wish the altar restored to its primitive tableform, I didn't think there was much wiggle room. My friends answer was he doesn't think the new alters are table form. He sees "primitive table form" where it was like the Last Supper and everyone has his or her seat. He doesn't see the four legs and a top as tableform, so I don't know what else I can do. Is it me? Am I wrong thinking that Pope Pius meant something when he said table form? I know friend B is not stupid, but look at it! I have provided a picture of two altars, and I would like you to point out the table. If it looks like a table, it smells like a table, it barks like a table, it is a table.
Also in that paragraph, the Holy Father warns us not to get rid of black vestments. Oops!
Paragraph 109. " Let everything be done with due order and dignity, and let no one, not even a priest, make use of the sacred edifices according to his whim to try out experiments."
Well some brave priest out there must have said, "You know what? I am going to try something new and say Mass toward the people today." And then everybody went along with it and that is the normal way now.
B was anxious to point out that A's priest is the rouge here, and that he is more or less doing what ever he wants. If a priest is faithful to the way the Holy Mass has been celebrated for well over a millennium, how is this according to his whim?
Man has been walking upright for at least 8,000 years :). Somewhere in history, someone experimented and found out that it is possible to walk on your hands. You cannot get very far, but you can get from one location to another. That is what we have here. There is a fun cool way to get around nowadays, and it is called the Novus Ordo. But if my priest chooses to put one foot in front of the other, like the fathers have taught him, who is experimenting?
My dear friend B had an idea. He said that all the Masses around the world should be said like how the Holy Father says Mass. (Hey, you could even kneel and receive Our Lord on the tongue! This writer gives it to B, he hates Communion in the hand as much as A does.) He basically told me that if the Pope is wrong, then that is his sin, and we will be judged whether we were good sheep and followed the head.
That is why Holy Mother Church sets up rules, canons, and laws that foresee the problems of today! You just have to take of your Modernism glasses and think clearly and listen to logic.
Also, Pope Pius XII has some black and white things to say about Gregorian Chant! The music that has been in the priests' hearts and on their lips for over 1400 years. He also has some gray things to say about modern music. I find it hard to believe Pius XII would find 1947 modern music the same as 2010 modern music, but we shall see. We shall see.
A pray that all two of my readers have a fruitful Holy Week. May our suffering bring us closer to the Cross. No Resurrection with out Crucifixion! May all of those present at the foot of the Cross some 1,977 years ago pray for us.
Mother of Sorrows, Pray for us,
St. Mary Cleophas, pray for us,
St. Mary Magdalen, pray for us,
St. John the beloved, pray for us,
St. Joseph of Arimathea, pray for us,
St. Nicodemus, pray for us
the penitent thief, pray for us!
St. Pope Gregory the great, pray for us!
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