A very short post for today.
I have encountered two people over the past year, American Catholics, who are both of a very high level of culture. Both of them have said to me that they prefer a "quick, vernacular (ICEL vernacular!) low Mass," to the fullness of the Church's traditional liturgical heritage - whether ordinary or extraordinary usage. You know, Latin, Gregorian chant, incense, etc. Without giving away the names or locations (and I have been all over the country in the past year), I will just say that it isn't as if they haven't had access to and a good sampling of the Church's liturgical tradition where they are from. Somehow, they want beauty when it comes to poetry, architecture, literature, music, etc. - and they will willingly sit through a three-hour long opera - but when it comes to the liturgy they consciously choose brevity and spartan simplicity. Can someone explain this to me?
There may be practical explanations (e.g. I wouldn't exactly want a Pontifical High Mass at 6 AM on a Wednesday morning - but that is not what they meant). There may be personal explanations peculiar to these individuals' make-up. I, however, think the explanation is more cultural. I think that this is the triumph of the "Mass as legal precept" and the "just the facts, ma'am - valid form and matter is enough, thank you very much" model in the West to the point that it is integrated even into some people's spiritual lives. These people were hardly what I would call spiritual slackers, either.
Don't get me wrong. I think there is room for a quiet low Mass during a busy weekday, but it should be as beautiful as possible. And it can be without that much effort. The church has done it for centuries. After my experience in Europe - where you see the traces of beauty much more strongly - I have pondered this more.
I do not think these people are totally alone - and I think Thomas Day has dealt with this (although I don't want to blame the Irish totally). There are more people like this, but not quite so extreme. Does anyone have any ideas?
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7 comments:
I think that many people either take far too literally their "obligation" to worship God and try to get it over with using a minimal amount of effort, or they just prefer the quiet of a low vernacular Mass. I know several people who have confided that it is easier for them to pray and concentrate in a simpler liturgical setting.
A fascinating question, Dr. Poterack! Maybe we have all felt the experience of being a bit "distracted" by the beauty of a high liturgy, sacred music, etc. What does it mean to be "of a high level of culture," exactly? I don't know if many people have truly imbibed what we would call culture to the point where it becomes their expression of love for God, not just something external to them that they happen to enjoy or that moves them. I don't know if this is something peculiarly American or not, but certainly it's more unusual for us to experience beauty, visual or otherwise, in our daily lives than maybe it is for Europeans.
My thoughts are that people should pray how they can best pray, but when it comes to the Mass, because of the character of what it is, everyone should at least try to let themselves be stretched in that direction, in the direction of culture, by the beauty and richness of the liturgy.
Also, I think that it's one of the best gifts that Christendom (College) has given to us that we are able to sing and pray, to chant in Latin, to listen to the beautiful words of the Tridentine Mass, as something natural and normal in our worship and not as an oddity or liturgical "novelty." Instaurare omnia in Christo!
I think that both of you have touched on an important point. The extent to which beauty is a normal thing within a culture is the extent to which people will normally want, nay, EXPECT it in worship - and it does emerge first in worship, historically. It then goes out to other things. When all you have are the "remnants" of it in a few "cultural institutions" (museums, concert halls, art museums, etc.), then even people who have an appreciation of it in those venues will not necessarily expect - or even want - it in worship.
It think there is still more to it, but this is a start.
I think there might be a degree of fear involved. It has sometimes seemed to me that people are afraid that because they can't understand something about the Liturgy they are attending, they aren't really worshipping. This is definitely the case with people who are not used to the eastern rites. They go to an eastern liturgy, they don't understand how it works, the "symbol system" is different, and they leave saying they don't feel like they've gone to Mass. They almost feel guilty for not having "gone to Mass." However, once people understand the reasons behind the symbols--once they understand how the use of those particular symbols constitutes an act of worship, they usually become more open to participating in higher forms of liturgical expression.
People are funny. Eastern rite liturgies always confirmed my conviction about the "naturalness" of worshipping God in beauty - even if it wasn't an apporach I grew up with. In fact, the beauty in Eastern rite liturgies always struck me as natural and "folksy" in the best sense (i.e. of the "Volk"). The whole phenomenon of "High Church" liturgies which can sometimes get overly stylized, artifical and "precious" is more a phenomenon of the West.
Well, there are aesthetes who prefer minimalism in some disciplines and not in others (the lover of the most extravagent opera is just as likely to wish to live in po-mo sterility.
And I think sensory overload is a real problem for many people.We all live in such damned noise and brightness.
And I am noticing that the longer one is in love, the less one feels the need to do things. Silent communion, as it were ;o)
(Save the Liturgy, Save the World)
Still, don't aesthetes always prefer something . . . "aesthetic" - whether simple or complicated? That was my original point: people who seem not to care AT ALL when it comes to worship, even thought they do with other things.
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