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Sunday, August 25, 2013

THE LAW OF PRAYER IS THE LAW OF BELIEF AND IT IS ALSO THE LAW OF GOOD OR BAD, ORTHODOX OR HETERODOX, CATHOLIC SANCTUARY DESIGN

The following is the Latin Opening Collect for today's Mass which has been in our revised Ordinary Form Missal since 1973 and unchanged all these years:

Deus, qui fidelium mentes unius efficis voluntatis, da populis tuis id amare quod praecipis, id desiderare quod promittis, ut, inter mundanas varietates, ibi nostra fixa sint corda, ubi vera sunt gaudia.

The following is the former Opening Collect (Prayer) for this Sunday's Mass, a loose equivalent translation into English of the Latin prayer above for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time from the 1973 Roman Missal. The last time we heard this was two years ago:

Father, help us to seek the values that will bring us lasting joy in this changing world. In our desire for what you promise make us one in mind and heart.

It is quite fitting for the prayer above to be associated with this kind of church interior architecture:

This is the revision of this prayer using the more literal method of translating the original Latin into English which we heard for the first time last year and will also pray today (21st Sunday in Ordinary Time):

O God, who cause the minds of the faithful to unite in a single purpose, grant your people to love what you command and to desire what you promise, that, amid the uncertainties of this world, our hearts may be fixed on that place where true gladness is found.

The renovation of this English translation of the original Latin fits quite well with the renovation of the same Church above into this:


In other words, this is to the old English translation of the Mass:

To what this is to the new and glorious English translation of the Mass done right:

But the most dramatic example of how the dumbed down equivalent translation of the Mass from Latin into English fits in well with the most dumbed down Catholic sanctuary that was most common in the 1970's is this before photo:

But in anticipation of and because of the new glorious Literal English translation of the Roman Mass, the Church was renovated to reflect the actual theology of the Ordinary Form of the Mass, which was always present in the Latin version of it, but made clear in the new and glorious translation that we now experience by the grace of God and because of Pope John Paul II and his good buddy, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and also by God's grace. For without them, we would have had an even worse revised English translation of the Mass that would be better suited to the immediate photo above rather than the reformed sanctuary below, which is the photo of the after the renovation of the same church, believe it or not:

MY FINAL COMMENT: We can see in pictures worth a thousand words that the law of prayer is the law of belief.

The dumbed down English translation of the Mass and its corresponding sanctuary design leads to the Pelagian/gnostic heresies revival and the new and glorious English translation of the same Mass and its corresponding sanctuary design leads to the orthodox/orthopraxy revival. So this really is about heterodoxy and orthodoxy, heteropraxis and orthopraxis isn't it?

Thank God for giving us Pope John Paul II, and the good triplets, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and his other good triplet, Pope Benedict the XVI and his other good triplet, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI!


12 comments:

qwikness said...

I wish Pater Ignotious would consider putting the tabernacle directly underneath the crucifix and moving the priests chair to the right or left. Does the Bishop need to approve this sort of change?

John Nolan said...

It is always a surprise to me that the authors of the Novus Ordo trawled through ancient Sacramentaries to include Collects which had been long lost, while at the same time allowed vernacular redactions (ICEL 1973 is an egregious example) which made a nonsense of the text.

Forty years ago I was prepared to accept the NO when done properly, but in my old or middle age I shall not accept the post-V2 dumbed-down sacraments and have the Rituale Romanum on my bookshelf for the use of the priest who visits me in articulo mortis.

I was born in 1951, was confirmed in 1959 and served Mass in the same year. If this makes me a Pelagian I shall challenge Pope
Francis directly. Popes are not omnicompetent.

Henry said...

I think you've said here precisely why those of a certain type were and are so adamantly opposed to the new English translation--not because of concerns regarding Latin and English style and language, but because of their heterodox beliefs which a faithful translation does not countenance.

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

Major changes to church interiors should be approved by the bishop. Of course Holy Spirit would do well to strive to over come its 1970's starkness and Presbyterian look. In fact it might be too stark for Presbyterians, to Calvinistic. So I am sure the bishop would appreciate any Catholic enchantment that PI would suggest for his wonderful parish, such as moving the choir to the back, getting rid of microphones galore for them and expanding the sanctuary by ridding it of book cases and obstructions, and pushing the altar back a bid, placing the tabernacle under the crucifix on an elegant pedestal as well as enhancing the altar with a move permanent look and the Benedictine Altar arrangement. Wouldn't take much to make the sanctuary look Catholic rather than a kind of Catholic looking Baptist worship space.

Joseph Johnson said...

Fr. McDonald,
I thought it had been Bishop Boland's preference (policy?) that tabernacles should be in the center? I know he asked (several years ago) why it was not in the center in the little Queen of Peace church in Lakeland, Ga. Am I wrong about this? Also, does Bishop Hartmayer have a policy or preference on the placement of tabernacles?

We have had the tabernacle in the center and the priest's chair on the side at St. Joseph, Waycross (a church built in 1983), since some time in the 1990's, to best of my recollection. A large, realistically styled, Crucifix hangs directly above the tabernacle. (Now, if we could just start having some ad orientem Masses facing that Crucifix and a Communion rail . . .)

Gene said...

You mean that thing with the green lights is Holy Spirit?
LOL!LOL! Now, if that doesn't fit Ignotus there ain't a cow in Texas. LOL! Hell, no, he's not gonna' change anything!
Are you kidding me? That mess is an insult to Presbyterians. The first Presbyterian church I pastored was built in the 1800's and had a wooden altar rail, a small pipe organ, stained glass windows with Biblical scenes, and a large, heavy oak cross directly behind the pulpit. The choir sat in a pit behind and to one side with a low wooden divider and could only be seen when they stood up to sing. It had high ceilings with exposed beams...heh, heh...if I raised my voice during a sermon it had a great echo.

George said...

"amid the uncertainties of this world, our hearts may be fixed on that place where true gladness is found."

I prefer

"amid the uncertainties of this world, our hearts may be fixed on that place where true HAPPINESS is found."

... or JOY

As far as a Catholic Church looking more like a Presbyterian, Methodist, or Baptist(and I am
speaking here of the interior) I was of the thought at one time that it would bring more
Protestants in. Of course the Holy Spirit doesn't work that way. They might
come in and feel more comfortable being in similar surroundings but once they concluded that
the preaching (homily) and music was not up to the standard (or at least the style) they were accustomed to they would be back again attending their previous Churches.

I read somewhere (it was in one of the biographies on her) that Bernadette brought about conversions just in the way she made the sign of the cross.

I would say that it is in being more Catholic with more reverence and piety(in the celebration of the Mass and other external devotions) that helps bring people into the Faith (it opens their spiritual eyes to allow the Holy spirit to show them what is the True faith).

John Nolan said...

"Ubi vera sunt gaudia". Plural in the Latin, and notice the position of "vera" in the sentence. "Where the only joys are true ones"

Anonymous said...

No picture of Holy Spirit Church is found on this post.

Gene said...

Oops, I'd sure like to see one,though. LOL!

Henry said...

Surely, Holy Spirit Church in Macon is not so awful as Fr. McDonald's comment makes it seem.

So Yes, for those who haven't seen it, he might well do it more justice by showing a photo of it.

Gene said...

I don't know, Henry. I drove by Holy Spirit the other day and there was a girl on the steps with her head turning all the way around and she was vomiting green pea soup-looking stuff...