Kill Me Now!

“Kill me now.” For if this be our exile, what shall our consolation be?

“All my life I have been taught that we live in the true Church, that all the means of grace are ours, and that things essential to the Church’s life were lost by Protestants at the Reformation. And yet this morning I endured the wretchedness of that first Mass, only to experience in Protestant worship the most breathtakingly beautiful liturgy I have ever seen. I don’t understand.”
--From Fr. Jay Scott Newman's new blog.

Bring on the Reform!

Cleansing the Temple (click image to enlarge)

Ashes and Sacrifice

"The time I burned my guitar it was like a sacrifice. You sacrifice the things you love. I love my guitar."
Jimi Hendrix

Dreaming of Change

(Tune: Wouldn’t it be Loverly)

All I want is a church somewhere
Where musicians and priests will dare
To have good music there,
Some chant and some polyphony!

Who will tell the guitars to go?
Benedict, you can make it so,
A motu proprio
For chant and some polyphony!

Oh how wonderful will it be when there’s some dignity
In our Catholic liturgy!
Oh, is it too much to ask?

All I want is a real good choir
Trained musicians we'll have to hire
The situation’s dire
For chant and some polyphony!

Entertainment Liturgy

Tune: AUSTRIA (Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken)

Father has a sour expression
church attendance has decreased
No one’s going to confession
Mortal sins have yet increased
Can he find a way to way to fill the pews
What will bring the people back?
Strummers, drummers, dancers, jugglers
Old Sister Martha had a heart attack!

Some folks want a liveli'r setting
Older ways will not suffice
They complain that they’re not getting
entertainment Sacrifice.
Smells and bells and pray’rs and chanting
can’t with our TVs compete.
Can you tell me how to get to,
how to get to Sesame Street?

These days Mass has recreation
Sing along and clap your hands!
Karaoke inspiration
microphones and big praise bands.
How can liturgists make the liturgies
bigger, better than before?
Pyrotechnic Consecration,
Charismatics falling on the floor!

When you find your faith is lacking,
don't be tempted to define
Holy Mass as entertaining,
void of art and things divine.
Superficial extravaganza
does not help to sanctify.
Humble hearts and contrite spirits
offer, instead, to God on High.

We believe in Real Presence,
Holy Sacrament Divine!
Spare us, then, from hymns that tell us
there’s no more than bread and wine.
If the Mass were all about us
there’d be nothing to extol.
Let us offer praise and sacrifice,
not half-time at the Super Bowl!

Recovering Means Uncovering

what was swept under the carpet

Defense