Priest not master of liturgy, but servant, says Cardinal Sarah. But what else can he be, counters a reader, put up front as master of ceremonies and performer with a crowd before him?
A Gloria TV special . . .
At a “Liturgy Summit” at a Menlo Park, Cal,, seminary, Cardinal Robert Sarah recently observed that the priest is “not the master of the liturgy, but its servant,” liturgy being "not a place of self-expression, but of adoration" which the priest must celebrate “with devotion, obedience, gratitude, and according to the norms of the Church.”
Inspiring extended commentary by reader Irishpol:
Bishop Sarah [sic] should know however, that the Novus Ordo Mass was created to mirror Thomas Cranmer’s celebration of the Last Supper Mass—not the re-creation of Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary.
So priests’ improvisation is in synchronization with the New Order of things liturgical adopted by Holy Mother the Church in 1969 and vigorously supported by Holy Father Francis and apparently more recently by Holy Father Leo.
Priest-celebrants naturally “tend to mimic the Protestant preachers [a la Cranmer the architect of Protestant liturgy in 16th century] by promoting the clapping and joyful greeting of their neighbors throughout the Mass.”
That is actually what a Protestant service and the protestantized New Mass is all about.
Why then does Bishop Sarah not expect the “presider” to behave much like any Master of Ceremony should behave by joining in with the congregation as the “leader of the band” to encourage the joyful, celebratory atmosphere?
Unless Bishop S. is asking Novus O. priests to kick against the goad on a daily basis, hoping to (a) stay calm all the while and (b) avoid being disciplined by a mean old bishop he maybe labors under.
For Bishop Sarah or any of the other bishops to somehow or another pretend that the Novus Ordo Mass is actually the Traditional Latin Mass said in the vernacular is spectacularly disingenuous.
To be fair, he is urging priests to make the best out of a bad situation. He is unlikely unaware. But Irishpol makes his point, if somewhat hard on the veteran objector to imposition of Novus Ordo who as an “ultra conservative” at odds with the pope on a range of issues has had his knuckles rapped in the process.
Trouble is . . .
The Novus Ordo Mass is a celebration of Protestantism. Nevertheless, it appears those prelates want their flocks and their priests to celebrate a Novus Ordo Mass as if they were celebrating a TLM.
Oh my. Gotta think about that. “I suppose they could continue to do that,” continues Irishpol, “but if they did it would be like putting lipstick on a pig. At the end of the day you still have a pig”!
Well. He’s a great arguer. Goes overboard to make his points? Maybe. I
As for what the priest, or “compere”, does as supposed or presumed master of ceremonies for the joyful gathering he addresses, well, says Irishpol, he has to express himself somehow.
If it’s a “happy meal,” as a thorogh-going traddie friend puts it, then happy must he be, prefering not to be, the snake at a garden party.
Trouble is, Irishpol argues, in such a mass the priest becomes more and Christ becomes less.
“With the rise of vernacular liturgy, priestly ‘self-expression’ is EXACTLY what became inevitable.”
I get that. There he is, up front for all to see, and acting like a funeral director?
Not likely.
. . . more to come on priest at mass and related matters, including what a Jesuit is doing about the "self-expression" problem. Stay tuned . . .