Body of Christ
The Church is both visible, and at the same time, spiritual. The visible Church is an institution with rules and customs. It also has a hierarchical government, what I like to call the “pecking order.” You can see the Church in the people who gather together to worship and who, hopefully, go forth to “love and serve the Lord.”
The spiritual aspect of the Church, often described as the Mystical Body of Christ, is guided and protected by the Holy Spirit. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus said to Peter, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” We became members of this Body of Christ by our Baptism, and as members, we are bound to believe this to be true.
When we read Acts of the Apostles, which tells us about the beginnings of the Church, we can see that it didn’t take very long for trouble to start. From the beginning, the Holy Spirit guided and protected the Church. Are we to assume something has changed since then? Is the Holy Spirit “missing in action?”
Some people today would like you to believe this preposterous supposition. It is becoming routine to hear folks refer to the “downfall of the Church”. Along these lines, we hear that bad liturgy, bad music, and bad Bishops will succeed in overthrowing the promises of Christ, and that ugly architecture and nasty vestments will prevent the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
There have always been problems associated with the visible aspect of the Church simply because it is made up of people, and people are flawed. As members of the Body of Christ, we are joined spiritually to all other members. By virtue of our baptism, we are all called to build up the Body of Christ - not tear it down.
I don’t like bad music or ugly architecture any more than the next person, but it would never occur to me to sound the death knell of the Church based on someone strumming a guitar. Our faith should inform us of the invincibility of the Church.
We are certainly free to discuss these and other problems of the Church, but it should be done in charity and with a view to solutions that are also rooted in charity. Ask yourself everyday what you are doing to build up the Mystical Body of Christ.
The Church is both visible, and at the same time, spiritual. The visible Church is an institution with rules and customs. It also has a hierarchical government, what I like to call the “pecking order.” You can see the Church in the people who gather together to worship and who, hopefully, go forth to “love and serve the Lord.”
The spiritual aspect of the Church, often described as the Mystical Body of Christ, is guided and protected by the Holy Spirit. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus said to Peter, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” We became members of this Body of Christ by our Baptism, and as members, we are bound to believe this to be true.
When we read Acts of the Apostles, which tells us about the beginnings of the Church, we can see that it didn’t take very long for trouble to start. From the beginning, the Holy Spirit guided and protected the Church. Are we to assume something has changed since then? Is the Holy Spirit “missing in action?”
Some people today would like you to believe this preposterous supposition. It is becoming routine to hear folks refer to the “downfall of the Church”. Along these lines, we hear that bad liturgy, bad music, and bad Bishops will succeed in overthrowing the promises of Christ, and that ugly architecture and nasty vestments will prevent the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
There have always been problems associated with the visible aspect of the Church simply because it is made up of people, and people are flawed. As members of the Body of Christ, we are joined spiritually to all other members. By virtue of our baptism, we are all called to build up the Body of Christ - not tear it down.
I don’t like bad music or ugly architecture any more than the next person, but it would never occur to me to sound the death knell of the Church based on someone strumming a guitar. Our faith should inform us of the invincibility of the Church.
We are certainly free to discuss these and other problems of the Church, but it should be done in charity and with a view to solutions that are also rooted in charity. Ask yourself everyday what you are doing to build up the Mystical Body of Christ.
8 comments:
Brava. While I don't usually like guitar music at Mass (more because of the songs done with it than the instrument itself) the world as we know it will not come to an end. [Classical guitar I like, and maybe at some point in the Mass it would be nice.) People seem to forget that Silent Night was originally played on the guitar, because the church organ wasn't working.
Karen
I agree. Too much focus on piddling little details and not enough on what it's all supposed to be about!
Thanks so much for your e-mail, I am still composing a reply! In the meantime, come over, where you may find something to your advantage!
I don't believe these 'bad' liturgical practices, vestments,music will destroy Christ's Church. That is impossible.
But...I do appreciate many genres when they are done well as intended and are conducive to worship and recollection.
A jazz mass...well, I have to get used to that one!
But I do believe that bad music and bad liturgical practices and bad architecture can hold back the Body of Christ from spiritual growth in many ways.
A great book on this subject and an eye opener is Michael Rose's
'Ugly as Sin'. Plenty of photos to prove his point are included.
Destruction of the Church? No.
Damage, restraint and hundrance? Yes.
Give me Bach any day...(regardless of his denomination.)
FWIW
teresa_anawim
most excellent post!
Bravo! Keep it up.
Auntie Adrienne-
Very nicely stated! The "prophets of doom" that Pope John XXIII spoke about are as present today as they were during the incipiency of Vatican II.. I, too, detest (more than anything) bad music and ugly architecture (I have a book in my collection called New Spiritual Architecture. Some of the Catholic structures in this book are as appealing as a modern art masterpiece). But the Church has managed to overcome many obstacles since Christ institutionalized His teachings. It will undoubtedly survive bad music, bad vestments, and crappy architecture.
I went over to Amazon and glimpsed some of those edifices you mentioned, Tom in Vegas, and ...what an eyefull!
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