America Magazine: Why liturgy is not a space for self-expression

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JMJ

Introduction

I subscribed to Jesuit Review America Magazine in order to improve my perspective on the crisis of the Church.

At first, I found that I had a hard time reading through the articles that caught my attention.  Actually, at best, I didn't get further than a few sentences.  Mostly due to demands on what time I have left on this Good Earth.

Then a title caught my eye in a latest article ... someone is saying that the Liturgy is not a space for self-expression.  Then there's the Performative Piety?  What does this mean?

What is Performative Piety?

I had a sense that "Performative Piety" is the practice of making external acts of piety to be seen by others and Matthew 6:1 (link) confirms this thought.

Let's break down the Knox translation:

1. Be sure you do not perform your acts of piety before men, 
1. for them to watch; 
1. if you do that, 
1. you have no title to a reward from your Father who is in heaven.

If you stopped after the first phrase, you would perform no acts of piety in public.  However, that would result in an absence of the true meaning of the scripture.

Reframed we have:

• If you perform acts of piety for people to watch, you act is meritless.

Who Is The Author Talking About?

The target is a Traditional Catholic:

• It’s a common sight: 
• A young person shifts from the Communion line leading to the eucharistic minister to the one leading to the priest. 
• He then drops to his knees and sticks out his tongue for the priest to place the host on it. 
• I roll my eyes as he walks reverently back to his pew, 
• thinking Geez, he must think he’s so much holier than the rest of us!

First, I hope that this sight is becoming more common as it fans the embers of hope for the 'Modern' Church to recover from this diabolical disorientation.

I do find extremely judgmental of the author to assume the inner sentiments of a person who has just received Holy Communion and I guess that leads us to the next section - what is the point?

Faith Is Expressed

The Dogmas of the Catholic Faith are expressed in the liturgy. In the comparison of the New Mass vs the Tridentine Mass, we know that the latter expresses these Dogmas more fully.  See this article for a more detailed review (Tradicat: Comparison of the Tridentine, Cranmer and Novus Ordo Masses).

Similarly, Catholics express their belief in the Faith in either actions or words. 

For example, the Nicene Creed:

1. I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. 
2. And in one Lord Jesus Christ,the only begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages; God of God, light of light, true God of true God; begotten no made; consubstantial with the Father; by Whom all things were made. Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven; (the celebrant genuflects and adores the Word mad flesh) AND WAS INCARNATE BY THE HOLY GHOST, OF THE VIRGIN MARY; AND WAS MADE MAN. He was crucified also for us, suffered under Pontius Pilate, and was buried. And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven. He sitteth at the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead; and His Kingdom shall have no end.
3. And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and giver of life, Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, Who together with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified; Who spoke by the Prophets.
4. And one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the remission of sins. And I await the resurrection of the dead, (make a sign of the Cross) and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Daily Missal by Dom Gaspar

Catholic Encyclopedia: The Nicene Creed

This is an expression of the Faith and if you leave out the Filioque: Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, you open a door to the heresy of the Orthodox.

That is the same with Communion in the Hand. Although there are reports of Communion on the Hand in the early Church, it is nothing like what is practiced now (See Tradicat: Communion In The Hand).

So receiving Communion on the Tongue is neither 'Performative Piety', nor is receiving from the priest instead of the Eucharistic Minister, nor is it about the person receiving. It is about their belief in what and who they are receiving.  

It is reverence and humility.

More About the Author than Trads

The author goes on to express his own feelings and I think it is safe to say that in his 'First Fervour' he did things from an extreme perspective. Trying to do externally what he believed he needed to feel interiorly. 

This is not bad over the short term and I do several of the things he mentions.  For example, I tend to make a sign of the cross when passing by any Catholic Church, which in itself is a profession of Faith ( see Catholic Encyclopedia: Sign of the Cross link).  I also pray for the repose of the Souls in Purgatory as I pass a cemetery - Catholic or otherwise.

Here are some of the things he did (Red) with my thoughts (Blue):

• Beyond the Mass itself, I would cross myself ostentatiously whenever I passed by a church
• This would be ok if it was done modestly out of reverence.
• especially when I was walking with non-Catholic friends. 
• If it is something that he did to show his fervour to his friends ... then Matthew 6:1 applies.
• And I never left home without wearing a large cross and several saint medals, 
• In our first fervour as Trads several members in my family had strings of medals (6+).
• It took a while but I quickly reverted to a simple miraculous medal and brown scapular.
• if not also a Catholic-themed graphic T-shirt. 
• No biggy.
• I would also go out of my way to “defend the faith” as much as possible. 
• Being combative in the First Fervour is, in my experience, dangerous because one argues from Fervour instead of knowledge and charity. The end result is alienation of those who you wish to help.
• This usually took the form of starting arguments with people who did or said things that challenged the church’s moral or theological teachings.
• There is a danger of pride taking place of charity. So ... yeah I agree that this was not good behaviour for a neophyte.
• I frequently told my family members that they were in error for being “cafeteria Catholics” and sincerely hoped my corrections would bring them back to the right path. 
• See above.  Plus name calling is never a good policy.

In my experience, I found that it is more effective to wait until someone either asks religious questions out of curiosity or forces an argument.  At that point say a prayer to the Holy Ghost and proceed. When challenged, I was motivated to perform a deeper study of the Faith so I understood it enough to defend it.  

In parallel, it is crucial to deepen one's spiritual life.  

The author hit a turning point:

• But it wasn’t until a friend corrected me that I started to realize the errors in my own mentality... “The liturgy is not about you.” 
• The fact that this simple statement seems to indicate that the author had a poor foundation.
• She went on to explain that she believed that the best policy
• was “when in Rome, do as the Romans do.”
• Unless what the priest and parish community is doing objectively constitutes liturgical abuse or heresy, 
• it’s best to go along with the others rather than to distinguish yourself from them—no matter how noble or sincere your intentions are. 
• There is something to unpack here.  Receiving on the tongue is something that is your right as a Catholic. If driven by reverence for OLJC in the Holy Eucharist - standing out is well within the boundaries of diversity that is the hallmark of the modern liturgy.
• “The liturgy is about communion with Christ through your being part of the body of believers. 
• This is a wholly protestant notion of  communion with Christ via community. "... the chief element of divine worship must be interior. For we must always live in Christ and give ourselves to Him completely, so that in Him, with Him and through Him the heavenly Father may be duly glorified..."  (Vatican.va: Mediator Dei)
• Further the purpose of the liturgy of the Mass is: (Vatican.va: Mediator Dei)

• 71. The first of these is to give glory to the Heavenly Father. 
• From His birth to His death Jesus Christ burned with zeal for the divine glory; and the offering of His blood upon the cross rose to heaven in an odor of sweetness. 
• To perpetuate this praise, the members of the Mystical Body are united with their divine Head in the eucharistic sacrifice, and with Him, together with the Angels and Archangels, they sing immortal praise to God[63] and give all honor and glory to the Father Almighty.[64]
• 72. The second end is duly to give thanks to God. 
• Only the divine Redeemer, as the eternal Father's most beloved Son whose immense love He knew, could offer Him a worthy return of gratitude. 
• This was His intention and desire at the Last Supper when He "gave thanks."[65] 
• He did not cease to do so when hanging upon the cross, nor does He fail to do so in the august sacrifice of the altar, which is an act of thanksgiving or a "eucharistic" act; since this "is truly meet and just, right and availing unto salvation."[66]
• 73. The third end proposed is that of expiation, propitiation and reconciliation. 
• Certainly, no one was better fitted to make satisfaction to Almighty God for all the sins of men than was Christ. 
• Therefore, He desired to be immolated upon the cross "as a propitiation for our sins, not for ours only but also for those of the whole world"[67] and likewise He daily offers Himself upon our altars for our redemption, that we may be rescued from eternal damnation and admitted into the company of the elect. 
• This He does, not for us only who are in this mortal life, but also "for all who rest in Christ, who have gone before us with the sign of faith and repose in the sleep of peace;"[68] for whether we live, or whether we die "still we are not separated from the one and only Christ."[69]
• 74. The fourth end, finally, is that of impetration. 
• Man, being the prodigal son, has made bad use of and dissipated the goods which he received from his heavenly Father. 
• Accordingly, he has been reduced to the utmost poverty and to extreme degradation. 
• However, Christ on the cross "offering prayers and supplications with a loud cry and tears, has been heard for His reverence."[70] 
• Likewise upon the altar He is our mediator with God in the same efficacious manner, so that we may be filled with every blessing and grace.
• So the Mass (ie Liturgy) is not about communion with OLJC through being a part of the body of believers. This statement could apply equally to the baptized non-Catholics who form a 'body of believers'.  
• The reality is that the Encyclical Mystici Corporis (link) dealt with this matter with clarity.  
• 1. The doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ, which is the Church ...  13. If we would define and describe this true Church of Jesus Christ - which is the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church
• 15. But a body calls also for a multiplicity of members, which are linked together in such a way as to help one another. And as in the body when one member suffers, all the other members share its pain, and the healthy members come to the assistance of the ailing, so in the Church the individual members do not live for themselves alone, but also help their fellows, and all work in mutual collaboration for the common comfort and for the more perfect building up of the whole Body.
• 22. Actually only those are to be included as members of the Church who have been baptized and profess the true faith, and who have not been so unfortunate as to separate themselves from the unity of the Body, or been excluded by legitimate authority for grave faults committed. "For in one spirit" says the Apostle, "were we all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free."[17] As therefore in the true Christian community there is only one Body, one Spirit, one Lord, and one Baptism, so there can be only one faith.[18] And therefore, if a man refuse to hear the Church, let him be considered - so the Lord commands - as a heathen and a publican. [19] It follows that those who are divided in faith or government cannot be living in the unity of such a Body, nor can they be living the life of its one Divine Spirit.
• 23. Nor must one imagine that the Body of the Church, just because it bears the name of Christ, is made up during the days of its earthly pilgrimage only of members conspicuous for their holiness, or that it consists only of those whom God has predestined to eternal happiness. It is owing to the Savior's infinite mercy that place is allowed in His Mystical Body here below for those whom, of old, He did not exclude from the banquet.[20] For not every sin, however grave it may be, is such as of its own nature to sever a man from the Body of the Church, as does schism or heresy or apostasy. Men may lose charity and divine grace through sin, thus becoming incapable of supernatural merit, and yet not be deprived of all life if they hold fast to faith and Christian hope, and if, illumined from above, they are spurred on by the interior promptings of the Holy Spirit to salutary fear and are moved to prayer and penance for their sins.
• So the Liturgy has purposes but everything is oriented towards OLJC. In a way our communion with Christ creates the communion with the other members of the Church - not the other way around.
• It’s not about your ‘self-expression’ or personal piety,” she said. 
• Receiving on the tongue kneeling is neither 'self-expression' nor 'personal piety'. 
• Suzanne clarified that while one’s personal connection with God indeed plays a role in the liturgy, 
• Let's make certain we understand that the state of a person's soul (state of grace vs mortal sin) has a huge bearing on what they receive. If that's what she meant by 'personal connection', that is ok. If she meant it in alignment with the 'personal relationship with Jesus', then the thinking is skewed away from Grace and Charity, and tending towards a protestant understanding of communion.
• Catholic Encyclopedia: Communion of Saints (link): 
• The communion of saints is the spiritual solidarity which binds together the faithful on earth, the souls in purgatory, and the saints in heaven in the organic unity of the same mystical body under Christ its head, and in a constant interchange of supernatural offices.
• The participants in that solidarity are called saints by reason of their destination and of their partaking of the fruits of the Redemption (1 Corinthians 1:2 — Greek Text). 
• The damned are thus excluded from the communion of saints. 
• The living, even if they do not belong to the body of the true Church, share in it according to the measure of their union with Christ and with the soul of the Church. (i.e. Invincible ignorance and In Voto membership)
• St. Thomas teaches (III:8:4) that the angels, though not redeemed, enter the communion of saints because they come under Christ's power and receive of His gratia capitis. 
• The solidarity itself implies a variety of inter-relations: within the Church Militant, not only the participation in the same faith, sacraments, and government, but also a mutual exchange of examples, prayers, merits, and satisfactions; between the Church on earth on the one hand, and purgatory and heaven on the other, suffrages, invocation, intercession, veneration.
• These connotations belong here only in so far as they integrate the transcendent idea of spiritual solidarity between all the children of God. Thus understood, the communion of saints, though formally defined only in its particular bearings (Council of Trent, Sess. XXV, decrees on purgatory; on the invocation, veneration, and relics of saints and of sacred images; on indulgences), is, nevertheless, dogma commonly taught and accepted in the Church.
• it should not take precedence over your being one with the people among whom God has placed you at Mass.
• So this is where things get a little weird. Obviously, one shouldn't act out during Mass, but does that mean you can't follow the liturgy in different ways?  
• I've witnessed bishops obsess about people uniting with the Sacrifice of the Mass by saying the Rosary.  There is this obsession of everyone needs to be ok with what happens following the 'When in Rome' statement made earlier.
• This obsession with almost servile unity in what is banal to the point where I know Catholics persecuted for wanting to exercise their rights and kneel for Communion and at the Consecration.

Conclusion

The key point missing in the article is that kneeling for communion from the hand's a priest is not about the supposed sanctity of the person doing the receiving ... its all about the person being received. This is the difference between a human focused perception of the liturgy (as voiced by the author's friend) and a God focused belief in the Real Presence.

So ... I think that while some of the author's actions needed correction in order to maintain Charity, the friend derailed him.  Whether or not their current state is better than where they were heading is debatable and unknowable. 

I've seen some in their First Fervour fall easy prey to the various theories and reactions to the crisis in the Church.  I think particularly of sedevacantism but others follow an extreme scrupulosity sometimes end up losing the Faith like Luther because their version of the Faith and God are unsustainable.

Performative Piety is wrong. 

However the unthinking conformity with the Masses when the Masses at Mass are following the protestantized Mass and liturgical practices - that is where many who need to stand (or kneel) fall to the wayside.

Pray that we all keep our steps on the right path.

P^3

America Magazine Jesuit Review: Performative Piety: Why Liturgy is not a space for self-expression