tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37512247.post8769447039942088821..comments2023-12-24T11:20:38.708+00:00Comments on The Muniment Room: Sing As We Go - To Communion?Ttonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15185875893212146794noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37512247.post-23145794496591715702012-11-22T20:20:44.499+00:002012-11-22T20:20:44.499+00:00Matthew H: in a sense it's all academic, in th...Matthew H: in a sense it's all academic, in that either the PP, the choir mistress, or the leader of the worship group will normally decide, and if there are no musicians, we get shuffling silence anyway, so I'm used to having to bear what I don't like. I was just surprised to see that something I associate with spirit-of-VII silliness was actually something mandated by the Church.Ttonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15185875893212146794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37512247.post-12886688219083979232012-11-22T12:13:46.528+00:002012-11-22T12:13:46.528+00:00I think I object to anything which detracts from t...<i>I think I object to anything which detracts from the sense of Holy Communion as being my (and NOT our) meeting with God-made-Man.</i><br /><br />But I think this is a both/and issue, not an either/or one. <br /><br />Of course, one's reception of Holy Communion is an intensely personal act. But in the Church, sacraments are communal as well as personal. We are all members of the body of Christ, but we are also one body, who individually and corporately benefit from the Sacrifice of Christ whose Body and Blood are eternally given for us.<br /><br />Try to see the communitarian and individual dimensions as complementary, rather than have one "detract" from or supplant the other. I'm not saying this is easy - I'm sure we've all been to parishes that appear to worship themselves as a community more than they worship God - but I think it's what the GIRM taken as a whole points us towards.<br /><br />(I'll also point out that the option of a "song" at this point in the Mass is the third option the GIRM gives. If more parishes did the first or second options and had their choir chant the <i>Graduale</i> antiphon and psalm (or sang it as polyphony or some other choral setting), I don't think you would feel quite as strongly as you seem to about this. Chant, after all, is "specially suited to the Roman liturgy" (SC 116)!)Matthew Hnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37512247.post-44853748886200340662012-11-21T18:14:09.742+00:002012-11-21T18:14:09.742+00:00@Benedict: too much shorthand by me - sorry. I te...@Benedict: too much shorthand by me - sorry. I tend to use "spirit of Vatican II" to mean the justification of heterodoxy or heteropraxy with no justification in the documents of Vatican II. The GIRM is another order of things entirely.<br /><br />@blondpidge: I think I object to anything which detracts from the sense of Holy Communion as being my (and NOT our) meeting with God-made-Man.Ttonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15185875893212146794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37512247.post-58004051613096991602012-11-21T09:29:25.980+00:002012-11-21T09:29:25.980+00:00Sorry but you have confused me a little. You stat...Sorry but you have confused me a little. You stated:<br /><br /><i>just in case you hoped it was some E&W spirit of Vatican II thing, its foornote refers to an Instruction of the Sacred Congregation of Rites of 1980.</i><br /><br />Forgive me but didn't VII begin in the 1960's? Surely the GIRM of 1980 then puts it firmly into the 'spirit of VII' camp?benedicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01119070101706364578noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37512247.post-244934731575341192012-11-21T08:41:49.438+00:002012-11-21T08:41:49.438+00:00I've been thinking about this and I'm incl...I've been thinking about this and I'm inclined to agree re the chant. <br /><br />Though Mass should not be about my liturgical preferences, I find it really distracting when only having just got back to my seat to kneel, a frantic flipping of hymn books takes place. Maybe I'd feel differently if it were a sound communion hymn, instead of the trite banalities of Mayhew et al but as you say it's hardly transcendent.<br /><br />Communitarian is an odd word admittedly but I wonder if perhaps you might be over thinking this one? I guess we have to process to the altar somehow and we do so as the Body of Christ. Maybe if we processed around the church you could be right, but I don't see the element of audience participation implicit although the Eucharistic prayer is a dialogue.blondpidgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12631604905862504882noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37512247.post-14578321344001424042012-11-20T19:56:54.528+00:002012-11-20T19:56:54.528+00:00The easy way out is the EF...The easy way out is the EF...Ben Trovatonoreply@blogger.com