Friday, August 24, 2012

SILENCE

The golden silence, the filled silence, of the Low Mass in the ancient Rite of the Latin Church is the silence that infuses the soul with thoughts of higher thing and also with the thought that we are one moment closer to that final meeting with Him who gave us life.  This silence is a precious thing.  It is nourishment to mind and soul, it directs us to meditate on the mysteries before us.  It is needed.  It is a holy thing.  Only half in jest did one famous Catholic state that the only thing more beautiful than a well-sung High Mass is the quiet silence of the Low Mass.
We hear the sotto voce murmuring of the Priest followed by the soft voices of the altar boys and we watch the precise and graceful movements with fascination and an inner exaltation.  We are participating, in a way far superior to the forced participation of the mundane rite which was bequeathed to the Church in 1970 by men who either hated silence or simply could not understand its effect as a balm to the troubled.  But this sublime participation is being eaten away even in the ancient Rite due to the influence of that updated 1970 liturgy, the influence of which has even crept into celebrations of the Old.  It is being eaten away by noise.
Perhaps understandable, nevertheless those who begin to say the traditional rite after nearly four decades of cacophony in the new forms seem to think it necessary to adorn the Low Mass with some kind of sound.  They have forgotten the value of meditation during Mass.  Not surprising when one knows the type of liturgical shows they have become accustomed to since the 1970s.  Perplexed by all this silence they begin to say the Mass prayers aloud.  They bring in their organist and instruct him to bang away at the keys almost nonstop, though allowing a brief welcome respite during the Elevation.  The Mass I attend here in Milwaukee is cursed with such a situation.  A traditional order of priests has been given custodianship of a local parish and has brought to it beautifully coreographed rubrics and dreadful, deafening nonstop organ music during Low Mass, from before Mass begins to the very end, when the last parishoner rushes out the door.  I would like to say that we suffer in silence but, alas, that is not the case.  But we suffer.  The latest brainwave of this Order is to have what might charitably be called a tenor singing a solo during the Last Gospel.  Yes, during the Last Gospel.  (It strikes me as odd that a religious order, especially one that dedicates itself to bringing back the beauty of the traditional Rites, can be so tone deaf.)  Pleas to the priest have been rebuffed.  Even the fact that the poor tenor has a voice like a strangled chicken has not moved the celebrant to rethink this strategy of having wall-to-wall sound of one kind or another.  The French priest who initiated this rather idiotic idea has since moved on to another parish in another country but his successor has not seen fit to restore a contemplative quiet to his Masses.  I am told it is a French thing to have the organ droning incessantly during Low Mass.  I do not believe it.  I have heard Low Masses in France. 
 A constant organ distracts the faithful, takes them out of the meditative frame of mind, indeed takes them out of the mystery of what is taking place before them.  A silent film can benefit from a thoughtfully composed music score; Low Mass does not need such accompaniment.  There are reasons why there are times when  we must hear nothing at Mass.  A recent position paper by the Una Voce organization explains:
"The silence of the prayers is a dramatic indication of the intimacy of the priestly task: they are addressed to God alone.  This is important to stress both for the priest himself, and for the Faithful who are to associate themselves with him and follow his example of humility before God."
All of this goes by the boards when an organ drones on (especially offensive when it is badly-played) or when a priest thinks he must entertain the crowds in some way, even by audible prayer.

A sung High Mass is in another category entirely.  Accompanied by a skilled choir under an artistic conductor a High Mass can be a foretaste of Heaven itself.  Yet it, too, has long stretches of of that beneficial silence.

The Canon of the Mass is decreed by the Church (particularly at Low Mass) to be in total silence.  At High Mass there is some brief overlap allowed between the singing and the begining of the Canon prayers.  In discussing the silence of the Canon during a sung High Mass the Una Voce paper says the following:

"The otherwise complete silence of the Canon gives it a particular sacred atmosphere, and raises it, in importance, above what goes before or comes after it.  It recalls the words of the prophet Habbakuk, used in a hymn of the Liturgy of St James with a well-known English translation:  'the Lord is in his holy temple.  Let all the earth keep silent before him.'  Again, the book of Wisdom:

     'For while all things were in quiet silence, and the night was in the midst of her course, Thy almighty word leapt down from heaven from thy royal throne, as a fierce conqueror into the midst of the land of destruction.' '

This excellent summary from Una Voce reminds us that the silence of these prayers "is a dramatic indication of the intimacy of the priestly task: they are addressed to God alone."  Indeed.  And those in the pew need a noiseless atmosphere to address their prayers to God alone, but will never be able to if there is to be a constant din in the church.  And if the Canon is there to remind us of the silence of Calvary, broken only by the Last Words, all the more reason to maintain a hushed and beautiful ambiance.  St Robert Bellarmine:

    "Again, when Christ hung upon the cross, as exemplar of all sacrifices, he made his oblation in silence."

Some well-intentioned priestly Orders who are dedicated to the ancient rite have forgotten it seems these kinds of symbolic thoughts.  They have yet to realize that "silence communicates the sacrality and importance of key moments in the liturgy with great force, even to the people of our own day."

These orders needs to understand that we are bombarded with bad music and noise all day, from our stores and places of business, in our television-infested homes, even in our streets as cretins blare their unspeakable and ugly "music" from their cars.  We look for solace in our churches and at our Masses.  And if it be a Low Mass we want only to contemplate, not be entertained.

Our priests need to rediscover the value of silence.




Friday, August 17, 2012

OH MY: THE WHITE HOUSE CONDEMNS THE RUSSIANS

The White House has weighed in on the story of the Russian government's quite laudatory jailing of a group of air-headed female blasphemers, condemning Russia for taking the actions they did.  O frabjous day!

Although our politicians in Washington are world renowned for their stupidity and amorality this action by the Blowhard-in-Chief is not stupid, from the point of view of an anti-Christian stooge of the reigning Oligarchy.  These hapless women in Russia - now joined by another hapless woman in Kiev who has just taken a chainshaw to a wooden crucifix and cut it down - are supposedly protesting the policies of Vladimir Putin, policies, by the way, that are far more benign than US policy at home and abroad.  Rt.com has been all over the story for weeks now and has provided generally good coverage of this escapade.

I won't go into the details of this protest because they are unworthy of comment.  They do, however, illustrate the degeneracy of our present times, a degeneracy foretold a long time ago by writers from Dostoevsky to Belloc.  I will not repeat that blood-curdling quotation from Belloc which covers this situation to perfection - especially considering the cheers these women are getting from around the globe - but it should never be far from anyone's mind.  Indeed do we "tolerate the Barbarians."

Now our president has weighed in, once again showing his utter and complete hatred for "that Syrian peasant" who arrived on the scene 2,000 years ago and who, as we all know, is the Son of God.  Mr Obama and his lick-spittle supporters cheer while Churches and crucifixes are desecrated, and condemn the Russian government for doing the right thing.

But fear not, Catholics:  the deadly serious Obama will face his adversary at the upcoming Al Smith Dinner, whose host is seen here in his famous attitude of grim determination:





Friday, August 10, 2012

EMINENCES AND EXCELLENCIES: IT IS NOT ABOUT 'FREEDOM'...

When a horse cart or a motor car is running out of control it is time to apply the brakes.  My dear Bishops, Archbishops and Cardinals: it is time to apply the brakes.

When you are fighting with that despotism rising in Washington on the issue of  "the mandate", do not speak to us about fortnights of freedom; speak to us instead about what is right.  "Freedom" is what has gotten us into this mess in the first place; worship of the American system is what has brought us to this crucial pass; placing inconvenient truths on the back burner, so as not to offend your fellow Americans, is what has brought us to this disaster point.  Your Lordships, start to teach the truth again about contraception.  Tell those Catholics in your care why it is wrong, evil and an insult to God.  Tell your priests that they had better start preaching the truth from their pulpits and to stop telling their penitents in the Confessional that it is up to them whether they want to contracept or not.

If "freedom" is your goal, why should there not be freedom for anyone to do anything they wish or desire?  Why not the freedom of two homosexually-disturbed people to live together and commit unnatural acts, acts which cry to Heaven for vengeance?  Where does your freedom begin; more importantly, where does it end?  If Your Lordships imagine for a single moment that appealing to "freedom" is going to get you out of this you are, with due respect, being delusional.  The time for freedom is over; it is now time for Catholics to act like Catholics.

Do not imagine, Excellencies, that your contradictions go unnoticed.  On the one hand you tell the world that refusing God's gift of life via contraception is a bad thing; on the other hand you tell the world that refusing God's gift of life via Natural Family Planning is a good thing.  You all know perfectly well that avoiding children is seriously wrong whether one uses natural or unnatural methods to do so.  But you don't make these distinctions, Your Excellencies.  I dare say some of you don't even understand, or, at least, have never thought about these distinctions.  Yet I assure Your Excellencies, that many in the pews understand.

There is no longer the slightest doubt whatsoever that the United States is in the hands of a perverse, murderous and anti-Catholic oligarchical despotism every bit as evil as those of the past.  Indeed if we factor in its lust to befoul the country with unnatural vice the USA can legitimately said to be even worse than the past regimes of the 20th century.  Every level of government is now poised to bring a terror upon its citizens undreamed of in times past.  Legislative, Judicial and Executive branches alike commit injustices and outrages that only a few years ago would have been thought of as the purest science-fiction.  Do not, Your Lordships, expect your calls for "freedom" to impress such people.

There are hopeful signs here and there in the Church, a good Bishop here, a courageous priest there, even a few religious orders who have kept up with their ancient rules.  But the sickness is still there, and it is nearing malignancy.  A Prince of the Church like Donald Wuerl can humiliate and try to destroy a young priest who tries to do his Catholic duty, other High Ecclesiastics in places like London and New York still, to this day tolerate "masses" designed for homosexually-disturbed persons, a Cardinal Dolan can invite a murderer of the innocent to an Al Smith Dinner.  The Vatican, which should have put an instant stop to such horrors, allows it to continue and even promotes the perpetrators of this malfeasance.  That is how deep the problem is.

To our Bishops and Cardinals I say this:  brace yourself for the wrath of the media, the jackals in Washington, London, Tel Aviv, etc., the indifference of most so-called Catholics, the treasonous and soothing words of some of your fellow Bishops, the queer mafia, the financial elite, the superpatriotic Catholic bloggers who will defend America no matter what evils or war crimes are committed by her and all others whose shallow thinking have brought us to this state.  Brace yourself and fight back, not with calls for freedom but with calls for penance, teaching Catholic truth, fasting and offering reverent Masses.  For God's sake use the tools that God has given you to fight such evil.

The Church is on the verge of shipwreck, Your Lordships.  An Angelic Intelligence is behind this, as you well know.  And that Intelligence will all but destroy the Church if nothing is done to change course.  Rid us of the apostates, the heretics, the rotten apples.  If a priest is a homosexual, defrock him.  If a convent has turned into a hothouse of dissent and worse, shut it down.  If Holy Mass is turning into insipid, banal shows turn the clock back to the Mass that nourished the Church for twenty centuries.  We've had quite enough of Vatican 2.  Let's talk, for a change, about Nicea, Ephesus and Trent.  Or Vatican 1.

If the Church crashes against the rocks and Your Lordships want to apportion blame for the disaster, Your Lordships will only have to look in the mirror.

Friday, August 3, 2012

ROTTEN EGGS NEEDED

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Today all poofdom is going to descend on the Chick-fil-A restaurants, wherever enough homosexually-disturbed people can be rounded up, and are going to stage a "protest", of which kind we can well imagine.

All right, real men( and ladies): gather your eggs, rotten or not, and prepare to meet these protestors in a very effective way.

I assure you....it works.
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