“The active participation of the faithful consists not so much in singing and prayer, rather in the visual apprehension of things, which happen on the altar.” – Cardinal James Louis McIntyre († 1979)
Have you ever gone to Mass – a N.O. – in a very somber mood because of things weighing heavy on the mind? And, it happened that you just didn’t feel like being vocal, but you were praying in the stillness of your soul because you understood that THE Mass is the greatest prayer one can offer to God? You expected to find comfort, a lessening of the weight of your burden, a lighter heart. But, instead, exactly the opposite happened. It was not so much the talking and levity of the congregation. That, like an annoying insect, you were able to ignore. It was Father. He just scolded you, and all the rest who either were not making the responses, or were not making them loudly enough. Father told all of you to turn up the decibels!
What! After Vatican II God began suffering from sensorineural hearing loss?
What a pity that even at Mass, a soul cannot find rest.
They just don’t get it.
The above quote is from a post on Eponymous Flower. The full article can be found there.
