Posted on 04/13/2020 8:58:34 PM PDT by frogjerk
A great silence spreads over the Christian world each year on Good Friday, to be broken by the explosive joy of the Gloria at the Easter vigil. But this year the silence has been with us already for a few weeks, with churches closed and public liturgical celebrations banned.
Many zealous pastors have tried to fill the void with drive-in liturgies and livestreamed private Masses. God bless them for those efforts. But they aren’t the same. A car is not a sacred space, and for anyone who believes in the Real Presence (see Father Pokorsky’s comments on that topic), pixels on a screen provide a comfort but not a substitute.
Yet when some of us have chafed at restrictions and urged bishops to make the liturgy more accessible, we have been chastised, described as “irresponsible,” and—in a rhetorical tactic that I consider irresponsible—blamed in advance for deaths.
Let me set the record straight. No one that I know has recommended that we ignore the danger of CO19. Those of us clamoring for the sacraments have acknowledged that there must be some prudent restrictions. We ask only that our pastors examine each proposed restriction carefully, to see if it is really necessary, when weighed against our need for (and right to) the sacraments.
Gerard Nadal, a microbiologist, has offered a sensible rundown of what might be possible. He concludes that the distribution of Communion cannot be done safely. But in a typical parish church dozens of people could attend Mass without violating “social-distance” guidelines, and in some of our cavernous cathedrals that number could safely be multiplied. Pastors could be allowed to schedule more Masses to ease crowding. Disinfecting pews between services would be a simple task. It is absurd to suggest that a church is a more dangerous venue, in terms of contagion, than a grocery store or a take-out restaurant.
As for other sacraments, it takes only a bit of imagination and preparation to arrange a confessional system in which priest and penitent are the prescribed six feet apart. And priests in suitable protective garb can anoint hospital patients without unduly endangering themselves or others. We have come to expect that every wedding will be an extravaganza, but in fact the ceremony only requires a couple of witnesses. Baptisms and funerals, too, could be scheduled without violating orders against meetings of ten or more people.
There is a way. The only question—the question that the faithful are asking—is whether there is a will.
We need to go to our own parish churches in a responsible socially-distanced manner and let our pastors and bishops know we need The Lord and The Sacraments now, not in a few weeks or next month.
Bookmark
“pixels on a screen provide a comfort but not a substitute.”
In a time when so many clergy are faithless, even evil, perhaps comfort is the best we can hope for.
That’s all Our Lord received in Gesthemene, IIRC.
“A car is not a sacred space...”
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What’s that part...”For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20). I seem to have overlooked the exclusion of a car somewhere in that. Of course perhaps God’s presence in the car doesn’t qualify in making the car a sacred space. Maybe I missed that part about how it all depends on what some “authority” man deems a “sacred space”, and the man has not deemed a car to be a sacred space?
I have written to my bishop...who has disappeared from sight, literally hasn’t been seen for weeks, even at the Cathedral on Easter...and received a fear mongering and insulting email from the chancellor. The Church is shutting itself down in a way not required by the state, and in fact the state made exceptions for churches.
Some priests have tried to do something for their people, others have kept their churches shut tight and stayed out of sight. It’s disgraceful and I think people won’t forget when all this is over. They thought they were in bad shape financially before? Having the bishops and priests run away has shown people exactly how little the Church cares, and they’ll respond likewise.
“The Sacred Body of Christ is found in the tabernacle, his real presence on the Altar. You either believe that - or you don’t. There is no middle ground.”
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Whereas, Matthew 28: 20 ... “and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”
Will you take this to mean God is only with you when you are inside the tabernacle, but when you exit the building you are on your on?
Also, perhaps you have no belief in death bed conversions, since they take place somewhere other than in the tabernacle.
“.....(though really would be no need for any deathbed conversions then).....”
Deathbed conversion certainly is a wee bit helpful for those who never knew the Lord during their life until that moment, and it takes place outside the tabernacle, and the Lord is there when He is called. No need to go inside some building that I could ever find in scripture.
Agreed… sincere deathbed conversions that would be….
Ironically in todays Mass Gospel…the Road to Emmaus.. Christ presents and reveals himself post-resurrection - as he invokes the Hebrew Scriptures, the Last Supper and his Sacrifice on the Cross…. Revealing himself in a way that he became truly present to him. That’s what happens in the “building.”
Remember Christ sent St. Paul out to preach – and to build this Church Christ promised us – which becomes the basis for many of Paul’s epistles to his Church communities he is building. Now Paul did not have New Testament Scripture with him at this time - that would come later- and even the availability of scriptures did not happen until the 1500s… While you find in Scripture everything you need… remember was not the way from the beginning…
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