Just a reminder on this holy night of that passage from the great Dom Prosper Guéranger regarding the silent canon:
After these words [viz. the Sanctus] commences the Canon, that mysterious prayer in the midst of which heaven bows down to earth, and God descends unto us. The voice of the Priest is no longer heard; yea, even at the Altar, all is silence. It was thus, says the Book of Wisdom, in the quiet of silence, and while the night was in the midst of her course, that the Almighty Word came down from his royal throne (Wis 18.14-15). Let us await him in a like silence, and respectfully fix our eyes on what the Priest does in the holy place.
I wrote previously about
Ratzinger and Guéranger on the silent Canon
Just a reminder on this holy night of that passage from the great Dom Prosper Guéranger regarding the silent canon:
3 comments:
Frankly, the Novus Ordo vs Usus Antiquior has been a non-issue for me until lately. Our parish seems to be intent, however, on making increasingly insistent arguments on behalf of the EF, and making them, what is more, liturgically.
Yesterday there were, for example, the snare drum, the bass guitar and tambourines at the ten o'clock Mass. I am appalled at how noisy these Masses are from first to last. The snare drum seems to be a particularly worldly and unsettling addition.
To compensate, I hope to make a longer, quiet
thanksgiving after Mass, but the entire congregation and I with them are too restless and stirred to bear the least bit of inactivity and silence, so we immediately head out to the parking lot chatting. A swift survey of the Church before fleeing reveals that of the 900 people who were here moments ago "worshipping" not one can be found to have stayed to make a longer thanksgiving.
Exposure to an EF Mass several weeks ago threw all this into relief. In fact, I asked the celebrant if the silence of the EF were not practically the entire attraction. One can pray with the Mass, is caught up in prayer, feels like one has prayed and is inclined to prolong the moment afterwards. Perhaps in that case one can practically say with St. John the Apostle, "I was was caught up in Spirit on the Lord's Day"
Alas, even those whom we think should know better have lost sight of this. At a local celebration of the Extraordinary Form in our diocese the celebrant had taken to using a microphone during the canon because worshipers complained that they couldn't follow the Mass.
Voltaire -- personally I think the worshippers had a right to complain. The pope says "see what the priest is doing" How can we, papa, when his back is turned.... and now we can't HEAR him either? Drums and tabourines at Mass are not my style but is it really asking too much to just get a decent Mass we can see and/or hear as our preference without a lot of folderol!?
Karen
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