tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853204965986587589.post3537901444100506492..comments2024-03-17T22:48:00.427+08:00Comments on Reflections and Ruminations: Participating in the insipid and the dull in this lifeFr Luke Fonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03079016104331055895noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853204965986587589.post-42292861346144360412012-03-20T21:09:34.211+08:002012-03-20T21:09:34.211+08:00Somehow you have made a rather ‘’dry ’’ and ‘’insi...Somehow you have made a rather ‘’dry ’’ and ‘’insipid’’ subject quite palatable and - interesting too. I guess it’s because you have cut it down to bite-able size for us for easy digestion – ( jocund rejoinder to your prata ) I have tasted the matzo once and if taken in small bites and chewed slowly it tastes better than rye bread – nevertheless, dry and bland. <br /><br />You said - ‘’ .....that on this side of heaven, there is no perfect liturgy...’’ and I don’t think I can quarrel with that - because the mass is meant to be participative liturgical worship for the whole congregation and not a performance for an audience on the look-out for perfection, so it cannot be orchestrated to perfection. However, for each and every individual in the congregation, I am sure that there comes a day when the mass was just ‘’perfect’’ for you – not because the choir was that fantastic or that the lectors ‘’ read with flawless precision....’’ or the preacher preached with much conviction ( though that helps, sometimes......) – but because somehow – you feel deep within you, a thrill that at this particular time and space you are alive, freely doing what you really wanted to do......gathering together to worship in words and song the One who made all this possible. So again, what you said that “ perfect liturgy requires the full giving of everyone and everything present.....’’ is true. For the problem is always with the self.<br /><br />Celebrating the Eucharist in the community requires preparation even if we are not the preacher, lectors or cantor – especially spiritual preparation or we would end up like the little tot yawning in your post, except we would not be so engagingly candid in showing our boredom! Sometimes, familiarity breeds contempt and if one is not properly attuned to worship, one ends up treating it as routine and .....even receiving the Host can become ‘’bland and insipid’’. Indifference would be the most insufferable hurt ! <br /><br />God bless you, Fr.<br />tessaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853204965986587589.post-3140256295122155142012-03-20T16:13:59.391+08:002012-03-20T16:13:59.391+08:00Good post, Fr. Luke.
As Fulton Sheen said, we onl...Good post, Fr. Luke.<br /><br />As Fulton Sheen said, we only get out of the mass what we put INTO it; so complaining that the mass is "dull, lifeless and bland" is rather a reflection of our own insipid-ness, or lack of fervent participation.<br />Btw, St. Paul's letter to the Theologians - that must be right next to the Book of Moses (?)<br />Peace and Joy,Robbie Jnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853204965986587589.post-53557383718793751912012-03-19T18:16:18.513+08:002012-03-19T18:16:18.513+08:00While I can understand your revulsion to this so-c...While I can understand your revulsion to this so-called 'cultural cringe', try to understand too that I have tried very hard to look for an Asian bored, yawning child in stock-photo images, and couldn't come up with anything suitable. Notably, there are thus, far more caucasian bored, yawning children, than Asian ones! Isn't that good news then? But at least the article itself is "interesting", as you have noted. That's far more important. The photo was just an embellishment. You didn't miss the forest for the trees! Thanks for the comment though.<br /><br />Fr LukeFr Luke Fonghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03079016104331055895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853204965986587589.post-1302059661796424842012-03-19T14:35:22.064+08:002012-03-19T14:35:22.064+08:00Why do you have to feature a photo of a causasian ...Why do you have to feature a photo of a causasian child? Isn't there a picture of a cute enough local babe to head up your interesting article?<br /><br />Frankly, I am quite tired of being bombarded with images of whities left right and centre of every imaginable marketing/publicity media platform.<br /><br />Time for a real cultural revolution: and that is to rid ourselves of this cultural cringe (a predisposition to anything smacking of whities)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com