When Christ is present on the altar, I like to think that Heaven and Earth meet for that moment. And for that reason, as much respect as a person can show should be exercised. However, I think sometimes we as Catholics are so used to the rubrics of the Mass, we forget that He is here. Laity and priests.
I had the opportunity recently to attend a weekday Mass where the number of people was small. The priest had already finished Consecration and was ready to raise the Body and Blood . . . this is Christ the Lord . . . when suddenly a cell phone rang in the church.
And the person answered it. And began a conversation. Poor form! Can anyone add to this lack of disrespect?
Well, sadly, someone did, in my opinion. The priest was not too happy, and chose to stop and yell out at the person, "TAKE IT OUTSIDE!!"
I was taken aback. Now, I believe the priest was justified in being angry. But he was standing at the altar, with Jesus truly before him, in sacred space. Better he should have stepped momentarily away from the altar, quietly instruct a parishioner on the side to go back and ask the peron to leave with their cell phone and stop the conversation, wait silently until that was done, clear his heart, and step back to the Lord. In Scripture we are admonished to not come before God if we have a quarrel with our brother, but to go first and reconcile.
Later, at Communion, I overheard the priest also counseling a woman who knelt to receive Communion about the proper stance for the Diocese of Orange. *sigh* Okay, so there is a "rule", but I think the instruction is best given after Mass by the priest rather than at the moment this person is coming to receive the Lord. I am a Eucharistic Minister for my parish, and I can tell you a multitude of people shuffle forth mindlessly to receive Communion because to them it appears to be just another routine in their lives. At least this woman believed strongly enough in what she was doing to make a gesture that she felt did homage to Jesus Christ - not to mention she could have been a visitor from a diocese where people do kneel to take Communion and she was unaware that it would be different in Orange County. So much for making welcome the stranger among us.
People, Mass is a sacred and special time. Recognize that the reason we bless ourselves coming into the Church is to ready ourselves to be in another dimension. Turn off the cellphones - the majority of people are simply not that important that their time with God should be disrupted.
Fathers, I know you like your Masses to go without a hitch, but if a person needs correction, try to do so so as to cause as little distraction to the Mass as possible. Obviously, drastic times call for drastic measures, such as when a lunatic might burst into the church during services, but if you are going to yell across a mostly empty church at someone, at least step away from the altar, especially when Christ is present on it.
Thank you. I feel better now.
Update: I ran into the priest today during a charity walk in the diocese and had the chance to discuss this incident. I would like to make some corrections - it was a man who knelt to receive Communion, and the priest did give him Communion in that position, only counseling him after the fellow had received it. As it turns out, he later showed up at this priest's offices with several stapled pages from the Internet, showing why his kneeling was okay. I would also like to mention that I do not consider this priest to be incompetent and while I can appreciate his frustration, I think he did get my point when I said that his comment to the woman with the cell phone was immediately followed by "This is Christ Our Lord - happy are we to be called to His Supper" and that made for a strange and uncomfortable juxtaposition.
Selah.
10 comments:
WWJD? Maybe He woudl borrow some of those items Gem is trying to "unload" and give that cell phone a couple of rounds. There was one parish in New Mexico where one of the priests (a big Hawaiian who wore those touristy flowered shirts under his collar). He would stop whatever he was doing on the Altar and STARE at the guilty party (either a late arrival or a parent with a fussy child who wouldn't use the cry room) until the issue was resolved (this was before there were cell phones. Yes kids, there was a time before cell phones!).
On another note, I always have felt that when He is on the Altar, we are outside of time & space. It is the only way I can reconcile the Sacraficee of the Mass being the 1 and the same Sacrifice as Calvary being the 1 & the Sacrafice as Holy Thursday being the 1 & the same offering of Self to the Father the Son has always done, does and will do forever.
Amen.
An altar boy (lumenary? Whatever. You know the boys that hold the six candles behind the priest during consecration at a big Mass?) fainted with a tremendous crash last year during a big Mass, and the glass part of the candle, which fell with him, broke and everything.
Father did not even. turn. around. He had no idea what had happened, just that someone had obviously crashed to the ground and some glass had broken, but...
He just kept right on consecrating, and left the child in the capable hands of two of the fellow servers, who without a word dragged the little guy out into the sacristy and returned.
No harm, no foul.
I was laughing on the inside. I mean, he didn't even FLINCH.
And re: the Diocese of Orange - they NEED to reread Redemptionis Sacramentum, specifically the part where it states that a kneeling person (or a standing person, for that matter) is NOT to be denied Communion just because they prefer to receive that way.
Ugh. That makes me sick.
And re: the Diocese of Orange - they NEED to reread Redemptionis Sacramentum, specifically the part where it states that a kneeling person (or a standing person, for that matter) is NOT to be denied Communion just because they prefer to receive that way.
Yes! That bears repeating. So, I did. ;^)
As for the cell phone situation, someone inconsiderate enough to bring their phone (!) to Mass, is perhaps so self-involved and self-important a quiet reprimand would have no effect. Frankly, I say bravo to the priest for having the gumption to put a stop to such disrespectful behavior immediately.
Far too many people behave as if they're in a gymnasium, instead of at Mass.
Well, I wish I'd been there. I really have been wanting to see a priest finally "lose it" over the cell phone thing.
Bet you one thing .. that person NEVER talks on a cell phone at Mass again.
What I hate is when these dumb bunnies let the phone ring....ring....ring....ring.
bat enough they forgot to turn it off ... but geez, we've ALL figured out the guilty offender, must suck it up and turn it OFF. [she said, remembering we had "lovely" cell phone rings during the last THREE Sunday Masse.] I think on this Palm Sunday before Mass I'm going to announce be fore Mass to please turn off the cell phones, ESPECIALLY "those that sound like Fisher price toys."
We had one priest a number of years back who was retired and finally lost it during a sermon. Some parent had let their kid keep screaming and crying for several minutes to no avail...finally Fr. Reid "lost it" and said "Madam, will you PLEASE take your child outside for a while." She was so stunned she did.
Fr. Reid's personal vision of hell was to be surrounded by the noise of screaming children.
My issue with the priest was not that he chose to correct the cell phone user, but how he did so. Instructing a parishioner to step outside with a screaming child during a sermon is one thing. But this caused the strange juxtaposition of having the priest yell at the woman, and then in the next moment reach before him, lift the Body and Blood, and say, "This is Christ, Our Lord - happy are we who are called to His supper." But I do agree the woman was an idiot and sadly, she probably will do it again.
As for the kneeling woman, I don't think people need to be "instructed" when they are receiving Communion, especially when it was a weekday Mass and the priest easily could have spoken to her afterwards since there were not a lot of people. Again, going to Mass in other dioceses on occasion, there is no consistency and this woman could have simply been following the norm in her own diocese without realizing Tod brown has made genuflecting before the Lord verboten.
If I were the priest--cell phones are so irritating--I might have reacted the same way--not only having your phone at Mass but then answering and talking during the consecration--how insane! Your solution would however, have been the better choice.
In the old West they used to confiscate guns before entering certain buildings, perhaps at church we should have a place to "check you phone."
I'm like Gem - would have loved to have seen that go down.
I like the little old ladies who have been given a cell phone by their kids and have no idea of how to operate the darn thing. When it goes off at Mass they pull it out of their purse and go batshit crazy trying to figure out how to make it quit ringing. One Sunday I just took it away from the poor women and hit the appropriate button for her. She was grateful and very, very embarrassed.
Or the time a stray kitty wandered in the open door of the church and made herself quite present in the sanctuary. Father just kept going like it was perfectly normal to have a cat next to the altar.
As to the kid fainting - at a certain point of the Mass rubrics mandate the priest cannot stop. Kid dies? Cover him up and keep going. Great place to die, though.
A,
LOL on several portions of your comment!
;)
Again, going to Mass in other dioceses on occasion, there is no consistency and this woman could have simply been following the norm in her own diocese without realizing Tod brown has made genuflecting before the Lord verboten. digi
Actually, the point is, kneeling to receive the Eucharist isn't forbidden anywhere, if that's what the person feels inclined to do.
The lack of consistency, in reality, has nothing to do with the woman who kneeled, but more to do with the lack of respect and, sometimes, total disregard, by our Bishops and priests, for the 'orders from headquarters'.
[91.] In distributing Holy Communion it is to be remembered that “sacred ministers may not deny the sacraments to those who seek them in a reasonable manner, are rightly disposed, and are not prohibited by law from receiving them”.[177] Hence any baptized Catholic who is not prevented by law must be admitted to Holy Communion. Therefore, it is not licit to deny Holy Communion to any of Christ’s faithful solely on the grounds, for example, that the person wishes to receive the Eucharist kneeling or standing.
It also states that the priest should counsel the kneelers at an appropriate time after Mass.
Often the person is kneeling to make a point. How much better to want to kneel and not. The old "offer it up" thingy.
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