I am a decent musician. I can play a guitar, compose a tune, and lead a group in song. I am good teacher. I can put two words together, and people have told me that they enjoy hearing me speak about the faith. I am an adequate organizer. We went from one bus to seven busses going to the Walk for Life in just four years. I was a pastor for 18 years. I got a parish out of debt, established an adult faith formation program that drew people in from miles around, and made sure the liturgy was celebrated well and reverently with the best in sacred music. In many ways, in the ways of the world, I have been called recently a successful human being.
But all of that is going or is gone. Only Love lasts forever. I am only a successful human being if I love the Lord and seek to do only his will.
The most important thing I can do each day is celebrate Mass. And here I do not get to focus on what I am good at. I get to focus on my weakness, and in humility look to what the Lord has entrusted to my weakness, and that he considers me, in spite of my weakness, capable of acting in his person and in his name, he being fully present. My job is to get out of the way.
I think it was St. John Vianney who told me that if I knew what I was doing it would take my breath away.
So, I appreciate it when people tell me I am good at music. My ego gets puffed up a bit when I am told they like to hear me speak, or that I am a good leader. But I am a little sad when I hear people say to me that “that was the most reverent Mass I have ever been to.” I think it should be that way at every mass.
This is one of the reasons I appreciate the Extraordinary Form so much. First of all, I do not put a microphone on for the Extraordinary Form. The Microphone is the single greatest cause of the destruction of reverence in the liturgy. It turned everyone into a performer. The microphone helps in conforming to the standards of the modern entertainment culture. It makes my voice or song the important thing to listen to and accept.
In the Liturgy it is the Lord who acts. I am but the weak instrument he has chosen, to do his work in the frail human flesh he took on in his incarnation. In the extraordinary form I conform my body and spirit to the liturgy itself, there being no others options I may choose because of my own sensibilities. In the ordinary form there are so many options and the choice is generally about my thinking or feeling on that given day.
But all of that is going or is gone. Only Love lasts forever. I am only a successful human being if I love the Lord and seek to do only his will.
The most important thing I can do each day is celebrate Mass. And here I do not get to focus on what I am good at. I get to focus on my weakness, and in humility look to what the Lord has entrusted to my weakness, and that he considers me, in spite of my weakness, capable of acting in his person and in his name, he being fully present. My job is to get out of the way.
I think it was St. John Vianney who told me that if I knew what I was doing it would take my breath away.
So, I appreciate it when people tell me I am good at music. My ego gets puffed up a bit when I am told they like to hear me speak, or that I am a good leader. But I am a little sad when I hear people say to me that “that was the most reverent Mass I have ever been to.” I think it should be that way at every mass.
This is one of the reasons I appreciate the Extraordinary Form so much. First of all, I do not put a microphone on for the Extraordinary Form. The Microphone is the single greatest cause of the destruction of reverence in the liturgy. It turned everyone into a performer. The microphone helps in conforming to the standards of the modern entertainment culture. It makes my voice or song the important thing to listen to and accept.
In the Liturgy it is the Lord who acts. I am but the weak instrument he has chosen, to do his work in the frail human flesh he took on in his incarnation. In the extraordinary form I conform my body and spirit to the liturgy itself, there being no others options I may choose because of my own sensibilities. In the ordinary form there are so many options and the choice is generally about my thinking or feeling on that given day.
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