Just as the creative directors of the Paris Olympics were finalizing plans to blaspheme the Lord's Supper, a remarkable event took place in America, the very opposite of the demonic Parisian mockery of the Eucharist. Some 60,000 faithful Christians filled Lucas Stadium in Indianoplis for a Eucharistic Congress from July 17-21 to adore and celebrate the living presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar.
Such a thing hasn't occurred here in over 80 years, and how timely. Right at the moment the institution of the Eucharist was being mocked with satanic, perverted, derision the Real Presence of Our Lord was being worshipped by tens of thousands of the faithful, and in North America no less. Congress organizers of this grass roots movement of the Faith likened the event to a "new Pentecost" and an "historic outpouring of grace."
Here at the Compound we pray that it is, and ask you to reflect, whatever your belief, on the contrast of faithful Christians giving themselves in love to our Savior in his sacramental presence and the mocking, derisive, degenerate, condescending, weird, thin attack on that same Presence. One is holy, the other most manifestly not.
Let's see which side of the medal will be blessed by God.
Ad Maiorem,
LSP
Footnote:
An aeon ago I was at an Anglo-Catholic seminary in Oxford, and a well-meaning reverend lecturer asked the class what we'd do, PR style, to grow the Church. I suggested a return to triumphant liturgy and sunburst monstrances. He hated that and thought it backward and perhaps stupid. He was a creature of the late '60s and early '70s, not unlike the present Pope. Sorry, LP, I was right and you were wrong. Saying.
Funny, my wife and I were just discussing the failings of the modern Catholic Church last night.
ReplyDeleteShe was confirmed at a local church, a church I always found... depressing. Dark. Oppressive in construction. And how it seemed to affect the churchgoers. Years later we started going to a new church in the same diocese. Open, light-feeling and you could tell how it affected the congregation.
We then moved to old cathedrals. Which most people think are dark, oppressive and have been taught that by various humanity teachers. Which is opposite of what real cathedrals that have been cleaned properly, with the stonework scrubbed of dirt and soot, the woodwork stripped of old hardened stain and shellac and properly oiled and sealed and the stain-glass windows cleaned. Suddenly a dark 'oppressive' structure shows light, airy, open and inviting. Instead of crushing the worshipper's soul, the soul is uplifted and enlightened to the grace of God.
Same with vestments and altar furniture. The old stuff just shines. Think theater. Do you dress your actors in dark flat clothes and paint the stage in dark flat colors? Or do you exaggerate and emphasize the stage and the actors? That's what old-school vestments and altar furniture, altars and crucifixes do. They stand out in brightness and help focus the congregation's attention to the act of the Mass, rather than making it a boring event.
@ Beans - We just replace our very large crucifix with a huge painting of the Coronation of the Virgin by Diego Velázquez (1635–1636 painting oil on canvas). Now a large golden crucifix stand in front of the painting.
ReplyDeleteAt first I was a bit disturbed, but it only took one Mass to appreciate the colors and light it brought to our current altar (the new church is not built yet.)
Look up the painting and the description on Wikipedia where they did a credible job. Wait - here's a link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronation_of_the_Virgin_%28Vel%C3%A1zquez%29
"The old stuff just shines."
ReplyDeleteIt sure does, Beans.
I said my first Mass in vestments which were, allegedly, made from the coronation robes of Elizabeth I. Perhaps. They were certainly ancient and glowed with a three dimensional beauty.
Word to the wise, tell your priests, if they're in the business of buying vestments and liturgical stuff to go OLD. Second hand. Used. 1930s at least. Even better, inspire young people to create beauty again. Not easy, but it can be done.
I've always loved that painting, Adrienne. At what dimension, and does it sit above the Tabernacle or partly behind it?
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of which, a retired RC priest, what a good guy, spoke to me the other month about restoring the sanctuary of his former church. He'd discovered maybe six larger than life oil paintings of the saints in the garage of the clergy house, where they'd lain for a decade or two, and he restored and put them back up.
What a good man, and we have to wonder at the idiocy of the clergyman who took 'em down in the first place.
There's a "Used Vestment" market? I never though of where vestments come from, or what happens to them after much use. I know the vestments are treated with great care and reverence, but nothing of their manufacture, cleaning, or disposal when beyond repair or use.
ReplyDeleteDrjim, there totally is, and it's the best option.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened was this. All these RC churches threw out their vestments and smart people collected them and resold them, they're doing so today.
I loved the altar boy outfits I wore in the early 70's at Kwajalein. Old school Cassock and surplices, red cassock and white linen with lace sleeves surplice worn over said cassock worn over church clothes (being Kwaj, short sleeve shirt and Bermuda shorts.) Old school. Qality material, properly taken care of. Holy days, of course, cassock was silk and surplice was even finer linen than normal. So... choice. Like wearing an Italian sports car. It felt... right. And proper.
ReplyDeleteCame back to the States for Dad's retirement, and it was monk outfits, of questionable mix of fabric content. Too much poly. Like wearing a 2nd hand Yugo where the previous owner farted in it all day long. Bleh.
So, for those out there who are shopping or part of a specification committee regarding liturgical clothing for priests, deacons, brothers, sisters, altar servers... Even if you don't buy old school 2nd hand altar threads, specify high quality linen, summer-weight wool, silk. Stay away from plastic clothes. Priests and other people performing the Holy function should sound dignified, look dignified. They should not sound like they are wrapped in saran wrap.
Same if you have access to a talented sewer, either tailor or seamstress. Make sure they know how to sew high-quality fabric, know how to hang the fabric to ease it and let it settle (yes, hanging material before washing, after washing and between bouts of sewing to let the stress out and the fabric to recover IS A THING!) and how to do hand or machine decorating properly so as to properly mesh any lace (better be linen or silk, duh) or other decorations to the base fabric.
Same with altar covers. And hangings. And all the other cloth thingies used in a church. Quality matters more than quantity. One piece of fine linen or silk outweighs 10 poly-cotton abortions.
And, yes, I can run my hands across bolts of fabric and pretty much tell you what it is and the quality of it. Rough linen like you make a light doublet out of is vastly different than the fine linen used in good liturgical clothing, let alone the various grades of really good wool or silk. Same with clothing. Had some hack try to sell me a cheap suit as if it was high quality and I could tell right away, nope, plastic and low-quality cotton.
Adrianne, that sounds like a wonderful display. So much better than ugly stucco or rock or wood paneling.
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I were watching some show last night, a rerun of "Expedition Unknown" (season 11, The Search for Spain's King Arthur) and there was a large church/small cathedral where the altar backdrop was a floor to stained-glass wall of carved and painted bible scenes. Absolutely beautiful, gorgeous, a literal feast for the eyes and very inspiring. Sooo beautiful. Much better than all the English churches that had their insides gutted during the English Civil War by the Parliamentarians after they won, and by the Scottish Levelers during the war. And then by the Victorians because Medieval and Renaissance Men couldn't be refined and cultured and had to live in ugly non-decorated stone huts.
One of the key scenes in "The Monuments Men" movie, about the US military's art recovery and restoration unit. was the attempt to find and protect the Ghent Altarpiece from being destroyed by the Nazis, literal nazis. Which, if you look it up, is so beautiful it's beyond comprehension.
Why does the modern world want these treasures destroyed or hidden or removed in favor of some variation of garbage? Because real art, and here's where I'm potentially stepping into semi or actual heresy, has a living spirit inherent in it. Has the ability to affect one's very essence. The Shinto belief of kami, places or objects having spirits, either recognized as having existed before, or being created by the craftsmen who created the objects or places and/or the people who use it and are around it, explains this 'art has soul' thing.
Like a warship, picking up sentience or emotion from all the crew that lived and died in her. Or a tool that, either new or used or well used, just feels 'alive.' Talk to someone who has an old rifle they refuse to trade for a newer one and though the old rifle may be worn, it is alive in the hands of the gunman, often being talked to by the owner and the owner 'feels' the gun talking back.
Have you seen the statues and statuettes that look like someone is showing a person (or a head) under a see-through veil? Looking at those, yeah, they are alive.
Good statuary shows it. La Pieta by Michelangelo, alive, very much alive, and, oh, you can feel the sorrow and sense of loss by Mary in just the photos of it. Can't imagine actually seeing it in real life. I'd probably fall to my knees and cry from the emotions coming from it.
That. That engagement, that 'spirit' or 'soul,' that presence of something more than just the work. That is ART. Real Art.
By the way, if you are ever in New Orleans, it is a must to visit the Old Ursulines Convent and the attached church. Where you'll see an altar backdrop that will stun your soul.