"I have ordered all things in measure, number, and weight." That was God speaking, of course, from the Wisdom literature of the Old Testament. It comes to mind as I set out upon my one hundred and fiftieth post on the Ranger, having wondered for months what this specific column would be about. After all, the number 150 must be significant to the creator of arithmetic, as there are 150 psalms in the Bible, 150 Hail Marys in the 15 mysteries rosary - plus the three that start it off after the Our Father, and 153 fish in the net Jesus ordered the apostles to lower after their previously unprofitable hours. I had different subjects in mind, but always lacked that special little intrusion of the Holy Spirit that I know has to be there to make it all fall into place, and make it look easy.
How many times did I say to Him: well, what am I waiting for?
The answer has come: the incredible idiocy of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.
For years, over this or that issue, they've been shooting themselves in the foot, busily interfering, on the advice of God knows whom, with the orderly, devout, worship of Canadian Catholics, and now they've done it again. They're trying to forbid Catholics to quietly offer their gratitude to God for the Eucharist after receiving communion in the way sensible worshippers have done for centuries, by kneeling down to pray as soon as they get back to their pews. The Conference's experts on innoculated insanity have got it into their heads that the people should all stand as a body until the last communicant has got his or her Host.And then they don't kneel anyway, they just sit.
Have Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini come back to life? Or are the bishops so unaware of history and current Church leadership that they cannot grasp that a Pope raised in the Nazi era is particularly sensitive to such mob psychology? Or are they deliberately trying to create a schism?
They've certainly created, yet again, serious variations in practice. Certain bishops and priests are already refusing to follow the party line, and we may even see a few brave local laity follow their example, once they get it through their chronically sheepish heads that the garble that is coming off the pulpit is not endorsed in Rome, as all the print outs we've seen so far lead them to believe.
Our little circle will behave as always, listening to the Holy Spirit and acting according to His promptings, which so far have always been to maintain the standards set by the Archdiocese of Vancouver, at least as early, in the face of group hysteria, as 1969.
How the angels are going to behave is another story. When I looked into my Summa this morning Thomas' first paragraphs about them had a particularly intense light.
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4 comments:
Hey- glad I'm not the only former Nelsonite who thinks the CCCB is out of line. I am one of a number of people in our parish who will continue to kneel for the whole consecration, and after Communion. Standing until the last person has received Communion is a sign of respect for humans; kneeling as soon as you get back to the pew is a sign of humility and respect for God. It's a no brainer. (oh- did I say that with my outside voice?)
Shirley,
You are your mother's daughter. Good for Creston. So far, I'm utterly scandalized by the cathedral parish. What a bunch of wimps. As they stand after communion I don't know if they look more like zombies or the mob that stoned Stephen, the first martyr. I was also scandalized by the bishop, especially by his attacking me personally at the daily mass that followed the official weekend announcement. Pray for him. He has fallen among thieves, yet he has probably always been a bit slack as a theologian. Because Benedict and I have been in correspondence since 1983, the year before I became a spiritual director to John Paul II, Benedict probably thought I was the only theologian in the church, being a mystic, who could straighten the silly bugger out, and thus dinky little Nelson amazed the rest of the church by getting the retired minister general of the Capuchins as its next bishop. He's ordinarily a great preacher, but when he was trying to explain the new procedure, and when he was attacking me, he sounded like a perfect fool. I've seen God take grace away from other clergy, including bishops, who tried to challenge my theological abilities, but I honestly never expected I'd see it happen to John Corriveau. He's going to be in huge trouble with his order when the news gets around. As I said, pray for him.
Cardinal Arinze champions the cause.
http://youtu.be/Cc0g3UMRtMM
We have a family here, the Depreys, whose son Erik became an FSSP priest, we are blessed that when he visits his parents he is allowed to say low Mass in our church. I can let you know next time he comes if you'd like.
Thanks for the link. I see that Fr. Erik is the pastor at Holy Family in Vancouver. Let us know when he visits even though we can only share at a distance. Marianne
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