Friday, June 11, 2004

Last Wednesday...

... i found myself wandering in greenbelt park. after walking for such a long period, i felt thirsty and so i decided to go to G4 where i could get a free glass of water. as i was walking by the greenbelt chapel, i halted immediately when i chanced upon ms. gayatgay with 3 guys seated on one of the short steps along the path i was taking. i later discovered that ms. gayatgay acted like some sort of walking fly-paper catching bosconians as they passed by. i was the 4th bosconian she caught in that area.

gayatgay, being a religious person, asked us we if we still went to mass on sundays. i declared that i've become a skeptic and thus sunday mass was no longer in my weekly schedule, although i think i surprised her more when i told her that i was appalled to see "liturgical dance" in the main mass in celebration of the golden jubillee of don bosco makati. she rebutted that such things are already acceptable practices, using the often used "spirit of vatican II" excuse. i would have loved telling her more about the things i've read about how the liturgy has been abused and vandalized because of "vatican II" although not even a single letter of endorsement of such "accepted practices" appears on any of the documents on the liturgy that were prepared during and after the council. there are, however, instructions from rome that condemn grave abuses of the liturgy, like "liturgical dance."

anyway, i was reminded of this particular encounter when i found today this article about Improving the Liturgy, which runs contrary to the current thoughts on the liturgy and asks catholics to reconnect to the ancient ways the liturgy has been celebrated. i like the article, i would love sending it to the various "tv sunday mass ministries" who display sunday after sunday the very manner of celebration of the liturgy that has driven many catholics from the church.

yes, i'm still a skeptic (not for the flimsiest reasons, mind you), but i like still like the church's liturgy. i discovered the beauty of the liturgy during my freshman year in high school, and my appreciation for it hasn't diminished but has, in fact, grown. now if i can only find the most fundamental reason and purpose behind it...

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