Silence and suffering are two things that make humans feel uncomfortable. Good Friday teaches us that silence can be beautiful, and suffering need not feel meaningless.
I ADORE this. I came from a Protestant Evangelical background and as an adult, I have found such BEAUTY in liturgical Christianity, and now find myself drawn to Anglo-Catholicism. The expression of ORDER, of the BEAUTY of liturgy - has added an immense value to my life. To want to know more and learn more - this is my first Easter in this tradition and I love that the Daily Office begins to remove the Gloria Patri, then the Hymns, then the Canticles - everything becomes bare bones - and you are left with the just the core - no filigree. What a beautiful post, and thank you for writing it.
Thank you! And thank you for sharing your experience. There is such immense and inexhasutible beauty to be found in the Church's liturgical traditions, and I'm glad you are able to take that in this year. I also love the gradual transition toward the liturgical minimalism we experience during Passiontide and Holy Week. In the pre-conciliar Catholic rites, I always enjoy watching the ceremonial stripping of the altar after Holy Thursday, as the clergy stand in front of it and recite the office. So powerful. Wishing a blessed Holy Week to you.
Your comment about people feeling threatened by the traditional mass is really interesting. I think in many ways, things with long historical traditions make people feel irrelevant and small. it requires humility to accept your oneness with something that’s so much larger than yourself.
That's an interesting take, and one that I hadn't really considered, probably because I myself don't feel that way about traditions. I find them to be grounding and feel they provide a source of continuity for me from what came before to now. I guess they make me feel small, but not in a bad way!
This is probably a more charitable take than the one I usually default to on this issue (which is based on years of experience walking in VERY traditional Catholic circles). I've found the "threatened" mentality to be more of a willful misunderstanding of tradition as something "backward" and "anti-progressive," when it is really not that at all.
That said, so-called "rad-trad" Catholics are their own thing with their own issues, and view anything post-1962 with great skepticism.
I guess I just don't understand these entrenched mentalities. It's fine to have a preference, and to point out legitimate deficiencies or issues with something. But the close-mindedness is what gets me. Both the new and the traditional rites enrich the church and can enrich each other, if we are open to seeing what is there. Things needn't be so polarized on either end.
I ADORE this. I came from a Protestant Evangelical background and as an adult, I have found such BEAUTY in liturgical Christianity, and now find myself drawn to Anglo-Catholicism. The expression of ORDER, of the BEAUTY of liturgy - has added an immense value to my life. To want to know more and learn more - this is my first Easter in this tradition and I love that the Daily Office begins to remove the Gloria Patri, then the Hymns, then the Canticles - everything becomes bare bones - and you are left with the just the core - no filigree. What a beautiful post, and thank you for writing it.
Thank you! And thank you for sharing your experience. There is such immense and inexhasutible beauty to be found in the Church's liturgical traditions, and I'm glad you are able to take that in this year. I also love the gradual transition toward the liturgical minimalism we experience during Passiontide and Holy Week. In the pre-conciliar Catholic rites, I always enjoy watching the ceremonial stripping of the altar after Holy Thursday, as the clergy stand in front of it and recite the office. So powerful. Wishing a blessed Holy Week to you.
This is a beautifully written article Ellen.
The prostration before the altar is also one of my favorite moments of holy week.
Your comment about people feeling threatened by the traditional mass is really interesting. I think in many ways, things with long historical traditions make people feel irrelevant and small. it requires humility to accept your oneness with something that’s so much larger than yourself.
That's an interesting take, and one that I hadn't really considered, probably because I myself don't feel that way about traditions. I find them to be grounding and feel they provide a source of continuity for me from what came before to now. I guess they make me feel small, but not in a bad way!
This is probably a more charitable take than the one I usually default to on this issue (which is based on years of experience walking in VERY traditional Catholic circles). I've found the "threatened" mentality to be more of a willful misunderstanding of tradition as something "backward" and "anti-progressive," when it is really not that at all.
That said, so-called "rad-trad" Catholics are their own thing with their own issues, and view anything post-1962 with great skepticism.
I guess I just don't understand these entrenched mentalities. It's fine to have a preference, and to point out legitimate deficiencies or issues with something. But the close-mindedness is what gets me. Both the new and the traditional rites enrich the church and can enrich each other, if we are open to seeing what is there. Things needn't be so polarized on either end.
As in most things!
Also with you!