News Item: : Cardinal Canizares Llovera
(Category: Torch of The Faith News)
Posted by admin
Thursday 18 December 2008 - 12:21:52
Picture of Cardinal Canizares Llovera from Wikepedia.
We're a little late in discussing this as we've had a buzy old week. Still, better late than never!
Although it is sad that Cardinal Arinze is retiring it is very good news that the so-called 'Little Ratzinger' Cardinal Canizares Llovera is taking his place as Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship.
Several years ago we began to receive Holy Communion on the tongue. And during the last few months our hearts have been prompted to kneel for Holy Communion; as was the ancient practice. Sadly, many today claim that such actions are examples of false piety. We suggest however, that false piety is a negation of a good thing. That is to say, just because false piety exists, it does not automatically follow that all piety is false.
It would seem to us that to kneel before our God is the appropriate response of the creature before its Creator and Saviour. Neither is this out of a sense of despairing servility, but draws from love in the heart. In worship we express our interior movements of the heart, mind, intellect and soul by the movements and gestures of the body. Too often we have made the liturgy into a wordy and cerebral affair. This is actually more akin to Protestant worship; wherein a grouping of individuals who assent to similar beliefs assemble together, rather than as the Catholic Church does as a body corporate which 'eats into' body-soul Communion with Jesus Christ and His Church. The body and soul union are called upon to become totally engaged in adoration, thanksgiving, praise, repentance and humble intercession.Â
In the writings of the desert Fathers is found the experience of one who was visited by Satan - a fallen angel without knees, because he will not serve...
As our conviction to kneel has increased we have begun to prefer to attend Tridentine Masses because then we may kneel without being either bullied or made to feel like 'fundamentalists'. It is remarkable how belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist has become so diminished that throughout Wales it is now common for people not even to genuflect, but to merely nod in the direction of the tabernacle.Â
All of which makes the words of the new Prefect -reported on Fr. Tim's blog earlier this week - seem so soothing!
Perhaps the Holy Spirit is now prompting an increasing number of souls to restore this practice as part of the urgent reforms needed in the Church and in each of us as her members. We invite you to please contemplate this in your Advent preparations. Â
This news item is from Torch of The Faith
( http://www.torchofthefaith.com/news.php?extend.151 )
(Category: Torch of The Faith News)
Posted by admin
Thursday 18 December 2008 - 12:21:52
Picture of Cardinal Canizares Llovera from Wikepedia.We're a little late in discussing this as we've had a buzy old week. Still, better late than never!
Although it is sad that Cardinal Arinze is retiring it is very good news that the so-called 'Little Ratzinger' Cardinal Canizares Llovera is taking his place as Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship.
Several years ago we began to receive Holy Communion on the tongue. And during the last few months our hearts have been prompted to kneel for Holy Communion; as was the ancient practice. Sadly, many today claim that such actions are examples of false piety. We suggest however, that false piety is a negation of a good thing. That is to say, just because false piety exists, it does not automatically follow that all piety is false.
It would seem to us that to kneel before our God is the appropriate response of the creature before its Creator and Saviour. Neither is this out of a sense of despairing servility, but draws from love in the heart. In worship we express our interior movements of the heart, mind, intellect and soul by the movements and gestures of the body. Too often we have made the liturgy into a wordy and cerebral affair. This is actually more akin to Protestant worship; wherein a grouping of individuals who assent to similar beliefs assemble together, rather than as the Catholic Church does as a body corporate which 'eats into' body-soul Communion with Jesus Christ and His Church. The body and soul union are called upon to become totally engaged in adoration, thanksgiving, praise, repentance and humble intercession.Â
In the writings of the desert Fathers is found the experience of one who was visited by Satan - a fallen angel without knees, because he will not serve...
As our conviction to kneel has increased we have begun to prefer to attend Tridentine Masses because then we may kneel without being either bullied or made to feel like 'fundamentalists'. It is remarkable how belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist has become so diminished that throughout Wales it is now common for people not even to genuflect, but to merely nod in the direction of the tabernacle.Â
All of which makes the words of the new Prefect -reported on Fr. Tim's blog earlier this week - seem so soothing!
[La Razón:] Nevertheless, Benedict XVI has reiterated in some instances the propriety of receiving communion kneeling and in the mouth. Is it something important, or is it a mere matter of form?
[Cañizares:] - No, it is not just a matter of form. What does it mean to receive communion in the mouth? What does it mean to kneel before the Most Holy Sacrament? What dies it mean to kneel during the consecration at Mass? It means adoration, it means recognizing the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist; it means respect and an attitude of faith of a man who prostrates before God because he knows that everything comes from Him, and we feel speechless, dumbfounded, before the wondrousness, his goodness, and his mercy. That is why it is not the same to place the hand, and to receive communion in any fashion, than doing it in a respectful way; it is not the same to receive communion kneeling or standing up, because all these signs indicate a profound meaning. What we have to grasp is that profound attitude of the man who prostrates himself before God, and that is what the Pope wants.
Perhaps the Holy Spirit is now prompting an increasing number of souls to restore this practice as part of the urgent reforms needed in the Church and in each of us as her members. We invite you to please contemplate this in your Advent preparations. Â
This news item is from Torch of The Faith
( http://www.torchofthefaith.com/news.php?extend.151 )