Father Ted and Father Dougle would like to remind us, 
:)
Posted on 05/02/2014 1:49:13 PM PDT by Pyro7480
The other day I took a funeral for Arthur– one of our WWII vets. He was a sweet, faithful and good Catholic gentleman and a decorated WWII pilot.
At the graveside a couple of Marines were present in their dress uniforms for the flag ceremony. They stood tall with shoes shined and hat brims low. After the Catholic ceremony one soldier stood at attention while the other bugled “Taps”. Then he stepped forward, smart and correct. They took the flag and folded it into the famous triangle and handed it to the widow with the set formula of words. It was a powerful and moving ceremony.
I thought afterwards how happy most people are to have the soldiers there in their dress uniform. They are drilled and correct and their personalities are subsumed by the ceremony they offer. Nobody has a problem.
Why then do so many people make a fuss over a Catholic priest wearing the correct uniform, mastering the ceremony and delivering the ritual at Mass. So I hear dull utilitarians say, “Why does that priest have to wear all those fancy clothes? Doesn’t he know Jesus was a carpenter?”....What if those comments were to be transferred to the Marines doing the flag ceremony?...
...This is why when people criticize the Catholic liturgy, vestments, ritual or ceremony they only reveal how little they know about the beautiful, mystifying and moving ceremonies of life. People not only love ritual and ceremony. They need it. Some part of us communicates deeply through the language, gestures and ritual of liturgy. There is a secret place in the human heart that longs to worship, and beauty is the language of worship.
Take that away and we are an impoverished people....
(Excerpt) Read more at patheos.com ...
I don’t understand how my grandmother and her sisters could run a pressure-cooker in an unairconditioned kitchen in the summer and not die. When I was a teenager and spend summers at the farm in Missouri, Grandma would get up at night and shut off the air conditioner because it was “too cold,” and then Dad would get up and turn it back on.
They handed out fans at the Eagle Scout ceremony we attended last Sunday! They said, “Mint Hill Historical Society.” We’d just come from Mass, so I was in my church outfit, including nylons and a hat, but some non-Scouts were in shorts. My oldest son and #2 daughter went home right after the ceremony, because they were “too hot,” but the rest of the people stuck it out. It was only in the 80s.
Back in the good ole days, we wore dresses, nylons and heels to football games. I thought it was crazy and as a high school senior, I told my senior year English teacher my views. She thought I was nuts for even thinking that. I doubt if I could do that now! I am be if the spoiled ones. I remember one summer my mom and I were canning veggies and someone was there. She thought I was terrible for having a fan on in the kitchen. I still laugh at what she told me-—”didn’t I know that little fan would not let the stove temp stay the same?” I wonder what she would think,of ac kitchens. I have wonderful memories of growing up in MS.
We moved all over with the Navy, but my grandparents’ place in Missouri was “home.” My grandmother was appalled when I told her I didn’t know how to cut up a chicken - we got skinless, boneless parts at the grocery store. She liked my husband because he could handle a dead bird!
Have you ever been to a funeral where “Taps” was played? Was that ritual offensive to you too?
And? Are you implying that the "Reformed"/Protestant/non-Catholic denomination members never do the same?
I have no taste for the pomp and the ritual...The church of the bible never participated in that junk...For a number of centuries the Catholic religion didn’t either...
I believe there is a motive in all that stuff and that motive is to put your eyes on the Catholic religion and its clergy instead of Jesus...
I am like Paul... and I promote Christ, not a human organization or CULT!
1 Corinthians 1: ...23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength....
...30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”
My mom and I would can too. In fact, I won a prize in 4-H for that. Won a trip to Chicago 4-H Congress.
We always had fans going!
“Where is the Bible is that found?”
You’ve never read about the special clothing the priests wore in the Old Testament? http://www.catholic.com/quickquestions/do-priests-vestments-contradict-scripture
http://www.bible-history.com/tabernacle/TAB4The_Priestly_Garments.htm
“I doubt if Jesus wore clothes like that when He was teaching.”
This is worship, not teaching. Jesus wore special things when He worshiped: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tefillin
You might want to read this: http://www.amazon.com/supper-ceremonies-liturgy-observed-passover-ebook/dp/B00GU0M5A2/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1399085619&sr=1-1 The comments and descriptions of clothing is fascinating.
When I was in the 6th grade, we moved to our own farm. My dad and a few relatives added a room off the back porch for canned food. They put shelves on 2 or 3 walls and by the end of summer, the shelves were full. We hardly ever went to a grocery store. We grew our own chickens, beef and pork. We had farm fresh eggs too. We also canned all kinds of fruit-—apples, peaches, pears, blackberries and plums. It all tasted so gooood. I never understood why the jars did not freeze. One of my close cousins would come down, go to our little room, get a quart jar of plums, the salt shaker and eat the whole jar. She and her 2 older sisters died a few years ago. All 3 had cancer. I miss those happy carefree days. I was blessed that most of my aunts, uncles and cousins lived near us. God was good.
Father Ted and Father Dougle would like to remind us,
:)
The Old Testament was a history lesson designed by the Holy Spirit to demonstrate our Unrighteousness. Christ was/is our high priest and wore no special clothing anywhere specified in the new Testament.
This is worship, not teaching. Jesus wore special things when He worshiped: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tefillin
Chapter and verse for such a proclamation, please.
We are the temple...
Ephesians 2: ...11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
We stored our stuff in the basement — dusty — and there was an old coal bin with no light in it that was so scary. But we would use it for hide and seek.
When my folks rented their farm and moved into town once again they had a canning storage room in the basement. No windows — so it was where my kids got a taste of tornado warnings when my husband I am went to a Marriage Encounter convention.
Hiding out in the canning room is one of their best memories of that stay with grandma and grandpa. LOL!
I am sorry if my post seemed antagonistic to you - Ecumenical posts allow disagreement. If you don't care to see an opposing view, perhaps a caucus designation would be a better choice next time.
I think that is awesome. My late husband bass fished a lot. He kept telling us how he enjoyed God’s artwork. We did not understand until we went fishing with him. Night fishing was the best when we could really see the stars. It WAS awesome. I would have scared away every fish if I had broken out with, How Great Thou Art and he would have been disgusted.
It IS AWESOME! And it is almost literally in my back yard (If one considers end-of-the-road + 40 miles 'back yard').
I get a little kick out of Evangelical praise/worship... I will tear up at a well known hymn sung by a choir...
But when I need to *worship*, When I want to draw near to YHWH, there is nothing, and nowhere made by man, that is even a pale comparison to what I get out of the solitude of the deep woods. In that peace and grandeur and raw power, the Spirit comes easily.
It makes 'pomp and ceremony' rather pointless and gaudy... I really get nothing from it at all.
Thanks for the poem/prayer. I read it years ago. Cowboy work in hard but they get to enjoy God’s handiwork every day. They are not like the people who are stuck in a small room day after day. I don’t care for pomp/ceremony either. God sees what is in people’s heart not the fancy clothes. God bless.
It wasn't about your opposing view. You can disagree without being disagreeable.
I wasn't being disagreeable.
"I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of Thy house; and the place where Thy glory dwelleth."
Wonderful, thoughtful essay. Thanks for the ping.
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