Let Us Pursue What Makes For Peace And For Mutual Upbuilding
We are given a wealth of devotions in the church, and each of them can and do much good for those who practice them. The rosary, the Jesus prayer, eucharistic adoration, icon corners, novenas, chaplets, scapulars and the like are all wonderful and capable of helping devout souls attain salvation. If it is good for you, do it. However, one of the worst things to do is to universalize one’s own private devotions and to think something less of those who do not do the ones you do. Not everyone is going to pray the rosary, but this, of itself, does not indicate anything ill about those who do not (if they oppose the rosary, of course, one can point out the error of their objections, but merely not praying the rosary is not indicative of an unfaithful Catholic). We have to realize that the wealth of spiritual resources and traditions in the church are there for us; they are to be used to help us in our pursuit of holiness. If we turn our devotion as a tool to criticize others, we fail to understand and appreciate the tool for it what it is. If we have not love, we have nothing. “And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing” (1 Cor. 13:2-3 RSV). Our devotions should serve to help us increase in love. If we find they are leading us to be critical of others, of judging them because they do not do what we do, we are not following them properly. We are turning our devotions as a thing of self-praise, seeking to prove ourselves better than everyone else, just like the Pharisees of old. “”Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 6:1 RSV).
If we want to be critical of someone, we should be critical of ourselves:
Do you want to play the judge? Be one for yourself and your own faults – no one will stop you; in fact, in this way you will correct your own sins and sustain no harm from the exercise. But if you neglect your own case and sit in judgment on others, you will not be aware you are amassing a greater burden of sins on yourself.[1]
It is very easy to confuse one’s own methodology of showing appreciation and love to God as being the only way this can be done. The church, in her wisdom, does not think this. The church gives a large variety of practices, even in liturgical celebration. It recognizes different people can and do have different ways of showing their love for God. What is in one’s heart is where one’s devotion is to be found. The actions you do may or may not show irreverence, but if the church permits a particular practice, it indicates reverence can be had in that practice. We must not confuse the ways we best express our reverence as being the ways others best do so. Standing during the consecration can be a sign of great respect or irreverence, but the church has both within her long-standing tradition, and we can find both practices being emphasized in different liturgical rites today. If it is the tradition in a rite to kneel, then one should kneel; there is certainly a kind of humility involved, and so, it does allow for (but not necessitate) reverence. If it is the tradition to stand, then one should stand; the ancient practice was to stand during liturgy as a sign of respect, just like in many public events, it is a sign of respect to stand until a guest of honor is seated. However, if you are looking around and judging what others are doing, it is certain, in your silence you have neglected respect for the eucharist and the communion of love which it is meant to bring. The same can be said in many other liturgical practices: if communion in the hand is allowed, then one cannot judge those who engage it as being irreverent. They might be, but your judgment on them has already turned you away from the communion of love, and therefore, your judgmental attitude has already turned you away from true reverence of the Lord: you are heaping upon yourself the condemnations you put on others. If you want to show reverence to the Lord, judge not your neighbor and their relationship with God. “Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls” (Rom 14:4a RSV).
Follow your conscience, act in the way you feel you are called (as long as the church allows it), and leave the rest up to God.
[1] St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis 18 – 45. Trans. Robert C. Hill (Washington, DC: CUA Press, 1990), 425.
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Amen. So be it.
Good post and I agree. In the world I live in, though, what frequently occurs are comments like “Yeah, the Rosary just isn’t my thing”. These comments are made by Catholics who exude a decidedly evangelical protestant religious sensibility (many of them leaders). If there’s a bit of learning curve and an emotive religious experience isn’t immediately accessible – regardless of the endorsements and spiritual dividends touted by saints – they simply say it isn’t their thing. One wonders if it’s simply not their “thing” or if it’s something more consistent with the pervasive narcissism of the dominant consumer culture.
Chad
Thanks.
It might not be their thing for many reasons, and unless they give bad reasons, we should give them the benefit of the doubt, but if they give bad ones, we should explain with charity why we don’t agree. For example, as a Byzantine Catholic, the rosary is not native to my tradition; I respect it, and pray the rosary from time to time, but other forms of Marian devotion (with icons) are more natural for me. And, even in the Roman tradition, great saints like St Therese were not too fond of praying the rosary, and I wouldn’t say it is for bad reasons (and I doubt you would, either). We shouldn’t wonder, however, if they don’t say more, because then we start going in the wrong direction.
Henry, again, I agree with you. I think maybe I should have limited my comment to those specifically in leadership positions because that’s really who I was thinking about. In this sense I think it is appropriate to “wonder” because their spirituality (or lack there of) can influence the spirituality of others. If they are promoting a spiritual way that is both foreign to Catholicism and seemingly reflective of the pathologies in the broader culture, I think it warrants our concern, no? Anyway, I think I am probably veering slightly off topic.
Hello Henry.
I can’t help but notice that the examples you mentioned in your article lean a little more biased against tradtional critics/traditionalism of liberal or mainstream Catholics/Catholicism. I can only see one example meant for liberal critics of traditional practices. The tally of examples:
“Not everyone is going to pray the rosary, but this, of itself, does not indicate anything ill about those who do not.” –> trad criticism of non-rosary practicing liberals/mainstreamers
“Standing during the consecration can be a sign of great respect or irreverence …” —> trad criticism of NO/liberal or mainstream Catholicism.
“if communion in the hand is allowed, then one cannot judge those who engage it as being irreverent” –> trad criticism of NO/liberal or mainstream Catholicism.
“If it is the tradition in a rite to kneel, then one should kneel; there is certainly a kind of humility involved” –> libearals criticize trads on this.
In total 3 trad criticisms vs 1 liberal criticism. Having seen your prior reflective and insightful past works on VN, I’ll chalk this up to an overshight and that your main point didn’t mean to come out in text that way.
All in all, I do understand you main point: Catholicism has a rich tradition of practices associated with both the extraordinary form/traditionalism and the novus ordo. When not banned in any way by the Magisterium, these practices are proper expressions of our faith. And neither side has the right to, nor should, criticize the other, unless there exists the presence of an attack on the faith or a need to be catechized/evangelized to (usually due to misinformation or bad past experiences by our “institutional” church.)
Julian
I’m Byzantine Catholic and quite, quite traditional. Our tradition doesn’t have the rosary as something native to it, but as I pointed out to Chad, I do pray it from time to time and see it as good. But I have other Marian devotions I normally follow.
Standing during the liturgy is also our norm. If you look at the Council of Nicea, the canons even say we are to stand on Sundays. Now, I am not saying kneeling is bad, but we must understand that there are often many traditions which go around, and standing is — as I said– quite normative in the East. To make this an argument against traditional Catholicism is to miss the point.
Communion in the hand, again, is allowed by the church. And if I wanted, I could point to how it was also a part of the tradition in the early church, and indeed, other forms of eucharistic devotion might surprise people. When I see people saying “I only receive on the tongue, and those who do not, are not reverent” (if not saying worse things about them), I think it is important to remember what Paul said about judging God’s servant (and this is something I saw yesterday on another blog). We must not confuse our ways as the only or “best ways” of reverence. This is something the Church had to learn to appreciate (as can be seen in the rather silly debates between the East and West).
Julian
But you are right, my main point was to show — when the Church allows, diversity in unity is important.
Nice bit of writing. It goes back to the idea of being many parts of one body. It is unfortunately all too easy to get caught up in the idea that “my way is the right way and yours is not”. Everything seems to break down to “is that a liberal view” or “is that a conservative” view. Reminds me of Matthew 7:3 “Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye but fail to notice the beam in your own eye?”
Brian,
Yes, it is important for us to go beyond “liberal’ and “conservative” and accept that the plurality of possibilities are neither liberal nor conservative, if followed properly. And the verse you give is one of many which fit this theme!
Excellent post. It is quite refreshing to hear someone say this, especially after reading through the comments on another blog that were the exact opposite of the spirit of this post. I love the line, “when the Church allows, diversity in unity is important.” God and the Church give us many ways to tap into God’s grace.
As for myself, the prayer I find myself turning to most often is the Jesus Prayer, especially when I can’t muster up the discipline to say a Rosary or another, more involved, prayer. I am glad to hear you mention it, and see it mentioned in Catholic circles.
And quick question (because you mentioned you were Byzantine rite): I attend N.O. mass, but there is a Ukrainian Catholic Church not far from where I live. I am interested in attending, but am unsure if there is any preparation I should do before going? As in, will I be able to understand/follow Byzantine/Ukrainian Catholic masses? I’m actually not even sure whether Byzantine and Ukrainian masses are similar. Any information you can point me to would be most appreciated.
Thanks – yes, I saw a post elsewhere which had all kinds of comments that led me to write this one. Perhaps (probably) we saw the same one. It’s sad it goes that route. But I am glad people find this post to be of value. The Jesus Prayer is a major one for me, and it is one I suggest to many because of the way it can and does help in many situations!
As for a Ukrainian service, it is likely they will have a liturgy book, and hopefully it will have a translation of the liturgy in English if the service is not done in English (which is quite common with Ukrainian Catholics).
The service is different and yet has much in common all in one. It is much more interactive, but one deacon I know has always said the first time at a Byzantine Rite liturgy, one might just want to follow along in the book and see how everything is being done, and worship in spirit and in one’s head follow with the prayers, but still pay attention to what is going on. There is quite a bit of symbolism in the liturgy.
This is an introductory video on Eastern Catholics which might help you or someone else:
There used to be a video online which introduced the Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom. I cannot find it right now. You can find videos on youtube from the Divine Liturgy, even of Ukrainian Catholic services, though usually they are only parts of them and not the whole one.
http://nativityukr.org/worship/divine_liturgy.html is an introduction online to the Ukrainian Catholic service, which should help.
http://nativityukr.org/worship/divine_liturgy_text1.html is their text of the liturgy (in English)
That should hopefully help, though it depends upon where you go, you might find it in English and so easier to follow, but it doesn’t always happen.
Thank you for these resources. I’ll check them out.
You are welcome