“It’s not that we are prudish; it’s just the conviction that God’s house is heaven on earth and nothing carnal no matter how veiled belongs in it.”
I’ll go even further. The temple, whether the liturgy is taking place or not, is where heaven and earth intersect. Its simply not “here” just as the liturgy doesn’t “happen here and now”. I suspect I have posted this before, but for all, especially you Alex, here’s the report of the emissaries of Prince +Vladimir upon their return from Constantinople in 987:
“When we journeyed among the Bulgars, we beheld how they worship in their temple, called a mosque, while they stand ungirt. The Bulgarian bows, sits down, looks hither and thither like one possessed, and there is no happiness among them, but instead only sorrow and a dreadful stench. Their religion is not good. Then we went among the Germans, and saw them performing many ceremonies in their temples; but we beheld no glory there. Then we went on to Greece, and the Greeks led us to the edifices where they worship their God, and we knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth. For on earth there is no such splendour or such beauty, and we are at a loss how to describe it. We know only that God dwells there among men, and their service is fairer than the ceremonies of other nations. For we cannot forget that beauty. Every man, after tasting something sweet, is afterward unwilling to accept that which is bitter, and therefore we cannot dwell longer here.” Then the vassals spoke and said, “If the Greek faith were evil, it would not have been adopted by your grandmother Olga, who was wiser than all other men.”
Guys, I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me to post this before because it completely explains what Kosta and Tex and I have been saying.
I am very familiar with this passage and cite it myself often; what makes you think my understanding of what the Mass is, is at odds with it?