Posts tagged liturgy
The Highest Form of Worship
Feb 12th
Mass
With so many prayers to say and devotions to follow, how does one make time for them all? My shelf and desk are full of beautiful saintly, pious, devotional books. I have read many of them, but sometimes the overwhelming duty to pray overtakes me.
The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy says that the liturgy is the highest form of worship. It is the summit of what all Church activity should strive for. From the liturgy, especially the Eucharist, a font of grace is poured out upon us.
However in order to partake fully in the Liturgy proper preparation is needed. This preparation is prayer. Our minds need to be in tune with our voices and our souls must cooperate with Divine graces.
The Constitution emphasizes the role of pastors have in preparing their flock for the Liturgy so they may have full, active, and conscious participation in the Liturgy. But his preparation can start at home.
Important Phrase: full, active, and conscious participation.
It is what we do before, doing, and after the liturgy. We have done a good job on the celebration of the liturgy, but we have not done a good job on catechist for before and after it.
Two Levels of Worship
The Church says that the highest form of worship is the Liturgy, but it also states there must be two other levels of worship.
- First – Private Prayer
- Second – Popular Devotion
Ok, if the Liturgy is the highest form of worship, but what are the effects.
The 3 Effects of Liturgy
- We become one in holiness
- We hold fast in our lives to what we celebrated in Faith. We now live out the mysteries that we celebrate.
- Set on Fire with compelling charity
Catholic Church
These effects are incredible. What Catholic parish doesn’t want holy people, living the faith, and set on fire with charity.
This is why it is essential to properly prepare for the liturgy and place special importance in our prayer life in preparation.
Learn about the Mass, read Scripture, reflect on what is going on, and pray for receiving our Lord in Holy Eucharist.
Next time I can’t decide on what book to read, I’ll just remember to prioritize on the Liturgy and have everything revolve around that.
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Loading ...How to Fix a Bad Liturgy Planning Committee
Jan 19th
The Vatican
Imagine. Mass is about to begin. As you kneel down to say your prayers you look up and see a multicolored sheet placed over the alter, 100 candles placed below the tabernacle, 25 sets of flowers, and all the statues removed from the Church.
Ok a little much, but we have all seen some pretty crazy things at a Catholic Mass.
The Liturgy Committee
First the need the right leadership, second members, third formation, forth prayer
Where is the committee going? Who ever leads the committee should have a solid understanding for liturgical norms. They should also have the intention to follow them. In addition they should be able to relate the intentions of the Church to the other members.
Members of the committee also need to have some understanding of liturgical norms, but be willing to listen and follow direction. These members are essential to the parish because without them who would help prepare for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass?
The leader and members must be formed in the truths of the Church. It is important that the pastor selects members who desire to follow the Church’s rubrics and not create their own.
Without prayer the committee will run astray. Prayer is essential to participating in the liturgy. Asking the Lord for his grace and guidance will provide a more productive committee.
The Bad Committee
If you are so unlucky to have a ‘bad’ liturgy committee let’s go over some remedies.
First – Start with the prayer element. Begin the meetings with the rosary. It’s an easy prayer and will bring many graces. In addition the priest could offer a reflection on scripture or could offering a teaching as the beginning of each meeting.
- Monthly Holy Hours
- Weekly Mass attendance
- Frequent Confession
- Yearly Retreats
Second – Personal Formation. The leader should know a little bit about each person. Does someone have an agenda or are they just misinformed? Is it time for someone to retire or just change their role? Helping someone understand the liturgy and grow in their prayer life should be essential to the role of the leader. If the committee members have a deeper faith life and understanding of Mass they will be more willing to follow liturgical norms.
Third – Resources. The Vatican and many diocese offer extensive documents on do’s and don’ts of liturgy. Start reading and following them. Don’t go astray. Check your local seminary and see if they have courses on Catholic liturgy.
Fourth – Disband. Yes it’s an extreme, but sometimes you just have to start on a new foot.
What do you think are some remedies to making Sunday Mass more beautiful?
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Dec 9th
How many times have you dealt with the ‘folk group’ problem. The one that can’t stop singing or getting in the way. That group with guitars and the tambourine….The tambourine should never be used.
I have put together some resources that I used while working for dioceses across the country to correct the usual problems. These types of groups frustrate me, too. I do believe this is the correct label to call these groups, but I would never call myself a ‘folk musician.’ Nor when I was at Franciscan University would I call them ‘folk groups.’
There are three problems that I saw consistently throughout the diocese with music groups. Poor or inappropriate song selection, poor performance, and lack of regard for liturgical norms. I believe these problems are inherent to any music ministry, but are much easier to see in music ministry that organ is not the main instrument.
Here are three quick remedies that may help:
1. Franciscan University Canticle Hymnal – Franciscan University published a guitar/piano accompaniment hymnal that carries the approval of the Committee on the Liturgy, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (This is written on the 2nd page of the book). This eliminates the problem of playing secular music at mass. Often times musical ministry groups are not aware of high quality music and stick to playing what they can ‘get their hands.’ This is found at www.franciscan.edu.
2. Be Perfect – Many times there is little emphasis placed on a musicians talent and only on their willingness to give of their time. Strict standards are required to lead music at Mass. For example in college auditions were required, mandatory two hour practices, music ministry guidelines were published, and annual retreats for formation. In addition there were two leaders who actively oversaw all music selection, ministry teams, and taught through example.
3. Liturgical Norms – Musicians are constantly breaking norms because often times they do not know them. A simple way to alleviate this problem is by creating packets of do’s and don’ts.
There can be many distractions from the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and music should not be one of them. Formation of music ministers is essential to proper ministry. When I was younger I made many mistakes that today I would never repeat. However this is only because I finally was in an environment with exceptional musicians who lead music from their heart and their heart was formed in Christ.
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